Quarterly Goals - Summer 2016

I think the main thing I learned here was that I do much better when my goals are a one-time task vs ongoing things.  I'm constantly vacillating between more and less structure, so my summer goals are a little looser than the spring ones.

Enough yammering - here's how I did for Spring!

Spring Seasonal Goals (March, April, May)

Fun & Frivolous Goals

1. Host a social gathering - Check!

Sooo... it's not technically until June, but it's a murder mystery and it's been a long time in the making.  I'm counting it.

2. Finish my painting projects - Check!

So so so glad this is done!  Things I have learned: 1) Painting is fun but being an adult = being much more aware of all the flaws and I don't enjoy the end result as much 2) Just because I watched someone else do it online does NOT mean I can do it too.  I'm delighted to have color in the 2 rooms I spend the most time in but I'll be taking a break from painting for a while and possibly hiring someone next time.

3. Follow the 40-day plan from May Cause Miracles - Fail

I really, really like the idea of this.  But follow through is hard because it requires me to do something first thing in the morning and at the end of the day and those are my least disciplined times.  You're also supposed to check in at lunchtime so that's three times per day you have to do something and if you miss one, it messes up the schedule for the other activities.  It's too much.  Maybe at some point I'll read through and try to make myself a simplified version but for now I'm accepting that it's more than I'm willing to do right now.

Business & Design Goals

1. Treat my business like a business - Fail

This was mainly referring to setting daily and weekly objectives and I failed pretty hard.  I continue to be reactive and scramble around working on whatever feels the most urgent.  Getting client projects done!  But not in as organized a fashion as I'd like.  I'll figure it out - I just need to experiment until I find the system that works best for me.

2. Get my business bank account set up - Check!

'Bout damn time.  Seriously, this took way too long.  I struggled with getting my business properly set up but I am now licensed AND in possession of the proper "formation of LLC" paperwork, along with a bank account.

3. Pick a weekly learning project - Fail

When I dropped my class I thought I'd magically opened up piles of free time and it would be a piece of cake to pursue education on my own.  Ha.  Hahahahaha.  No.  I will always find ways to fill "free time" and I wasn't as motivated to do this as I'd hoped.  The new plan is to build "learning projects" into client projects.  Client wants to do a mobile site?  Instead of saying, "Sorry I don't know how to do that" I'll say "Sure - you can have it at a reduced cost and here's the potential setbacks of dealing with my learning curve.  As long as you're cool with it, I'd love to give it a try!"

Relationship Goals

1. Have a home-cooked meal with Ryan 3 nights a week - Fail

Bleghghgh... we're just too lazy.  We couldn't do it.  We did continue to focus on weekly date nights, but that all too frequently involved going out, rather than doing things at home and I can't quite muster up guilt about it.  Cooking and watching TV always feels a little bit like a letdown as date nights go.

2. Take a family trip with Ryan and the dogs - Fail

We did take a trip, but the puppies did not come.  :'(  One day.  It's difficult anyway, with Toast not being house-trained yet.

3. Walk the dogs 5 days a week - Check!

I started strong and finished less so, but I'm still comfortable checking this off.  Walking the dogs isn't too hard when I work from home, and my mom and I typically include a walk at the beginning of our pilates workouts, so that's 3 freebies right there.

4/9 - Mehhhh...

Like I said, a bit shaky!  I'm going to focus on one-and-done type goals for future posts, mainly because expecting myself to keep up with something ongoing for 3 months is too much.  That sort of thing works better for monthly goals, which I'm not currently doing.

Here's what I've got for summer.

Summer Goals

1. Kindle Catchup! - Read all my extra books (for Dani and Erin's challenge)
2. SEO tutorial - Follow and apply to my website.  I need to learn how to do this and I keep putting it off.
3. Escape the Room! - Ever since I heard this was a thing, I've been dying to go.
4. Toast/People Training - We need to hire an official trainer for at least a session or two since her skittishness is making it difficult to really teach her much.  Although she knows sit!  And "outside."  Basically we need to be taught how to teach.
5. Task List Zero - Clear it, just once, and leave it empty for one full day before filling it up again.
6. Belated Spring Cleaning - It's about time to fight the dog smell once again.
7. "Finish" Bedroom/Office Decor - Now that everything's painted, I just need to hang stuff and buy a new bedset to match the green walls (current one is red and gold).
8. Complete the Month of Happy - I'm going to attempt to try out everything everyone's suggested to me for June and then I'll write a post about what I liked best and what I'll continue.
9. Take 1 Day Per Month to Do Nothing - This sounds fun but is actually really hard and I'm terrible at this.  But I would enjoy it so much if I could make myself do it!

This time around should be easier, and a couple of these are already in the works (though to be fair, they weren't when I wrote this!).

Do you make seasonal goals?  What are you planning for this summer?