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This week’s Home Simplified task is Goal Setting And Priorities.

I have realised in just six short weeks that setting goals has made a huge difference to my everyday life.

I was never a goal setter in the past.

A dreamer, yes, most definitely.

I would think about all sorts of things that I wanted to do, or wanted to start to do, and then that was as far as I would go.

Since starting to use my kikki-K Wellbeing Journal and Inspiration Diary, I have been setting all sorts of goals, some as small as something I want to achieve in a day, and others that I’m planning out over weeks and months.

Obviously right now my focus for the next 12 weeks is primarily on my health and fitness, as I am investing my time heavily in the 12wbt program.

My goals for this week were to plan as many meals as I could in advance, and schedule out the time each night when I will be exercising.

This afternoon I’ve pre-prepared and frozen all the food I need to take me up until Thursday, when I will cook again to take through until Sunday. Instead of having to worry about cooking each day, I’m only cooking twice a week!  That’s the sort of organising I like.

This also means at night that I will have plenty of time to focus on my exercise, so there’s another goal sorted right there.

As we are in the middle of a major bathroom renovation, my goals for The Shoebox are to keep the place running as smoothly as it can over the next few months, even though I know there will be times where it will feel like a never ending project.

As is the case once you start renovating, you find yourself looking ahead to the next thing and the next, which in our case will be re-polishing the floor boards, and then re-painting, so I’m also starting to think about how we can change each room with mini-makeovers in the process.

One of the things I’ve wanted for a long time is to have a hallway filled with simple white frames housing black and white prints of us, our travels, our wedding, and of course Miss A over the last two years.  All of these things take time, so I will literally be setting aside a few hours here and there specifically with the intent to sort through the digital files on the computer from the past five years and choose pictures and design layouts.

Also with regards to photos, I want to get a whole heap printed of Miss A from birth to now and put them into a photo album.  Before I know it she’ll be at school, and I don’t want to be wading through five years worth of images.  I still think nothing beats good old fashioned albums that you can look through and see just how much your precious ones have grown and changed (as have we!), and this is something I want to maintain throughout Miss A’s childhood.

In terms of family time, we are looking at ways to ensure quality over quantity.  As Mr G works on Saturdays and plays golf on Sundays, we really need to plan our weekends so that we have the opportunity to enjoy family time, balanced with relaxation, and not just end up staying home because we’re too tired or unmotivated to do anything.

Today we tried something new which worked really well for us.  Mr G went to golf later in the day which gave us the morning together, and we simply went to a local park for an hour, but it was just so lovely, and then when Mr G did go off to golf and Miss A slept, I got my cooking done for the week.

A perfect example of a day of kicking goals I would say!

Financially we’re obviously counting our dollars more than usual with the expense of the bathroom renovation.  Even with Mr G being a plumber, it’s a costly renovation, and I’ve managed to save more money in the last six weeks than the last three months by setting a specific dollar value target on savings.  I have found meal planning has helped immensely in this area, as we are saving on average $50 to $60 a week by shopping specifically to a list of what food we need for an entire week, and we’re also not wasting a further $20 or $30 a week on top of it on takeaway.

In terms of blogging, this year is the first that I have set myself goals, and I’m finding it very rewarding and motivating.  Again, some are daily goals, like last night I set aside two hours to sit on the computer and go in search of new blogs.  I find blog hops are such a great way to do this (and this challenge has helped me connect to bloggers I may never have otherwise come across), and it’s so refreshing and uplifting.  As much as we all have the blogs we follow and have adored for a long time, I definitely think that continuing to seek out new blogs is very inspiring and can give you many ideas and thoughts about how to improve, extend, and most importantly enjoy your own blog too!

So that’s where I’m at the moment with goals.

I feel like I’ve got enough variety to keep me motivated and focused, but not too overwhelmed at the same time.

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This week’s Home Simplified task is to Catch Your Breath.

With no specific task to complete, I did exactly that, and stopped for a moment to catch my breath.

And then I took another, and another.

This pattern continued throughout the week, and before I knew it, all the thoughts in my mind – the ones that I feel I’ve been going over and over for months - they just started to float away.

Breath Is Spirit.  The Act Of Breathing Is Living. – Author Unknown

Physically, I felt a change.

I went to the gym. 

I cross trained. 

I walked. 

I ran a little. 

I did strength and circuit training. 

And all the while, I just kept on breathing.

Night time brought with it sleep.

More than I’ve had in months.

The breathing patterns that only come from good, solid sleep.

And each morning, I’ve woken with a soft breath.

An easy breath.

One that I carry all day, with lightness in my step, and fullness in my heart.

A Healthy Mind Has An Easy Breath.  – Author Unknown

This week’s Home Simplified task is to create a Wheel Of Life.

Once again I’ve taken a slightly different approach, and used a template I found here.

Each area is scored from 1-10, and this is how my Wheel Of Life looked:

The breakdown for me was:

Career 6/10 

Right now I am working as a full time nanny because it allows me to be with Miss A, and until she starts school I am putting thoughts of my own career on the back burner for a while.  I know at the end of next year I’ll definitely be at a crossroad, as I have spent eight years in a corporate environment, and then another eight in childcare, and I really don’t know which direction I want to head.  Perhaps something new altogether!

Money 6/10

I’m not particularly stressed or concerned about our financial position, as we are able to meet all of our commitments each month, but sometimes I do get a little overwhelmed by our mortgage.  When I see that in the three years since we’ve had The Shoebox we’ve already paid off a quarter of the debt though, I know that we’re actually doing okay.  I also worry sometimes that I’m not earning as much money as I should or could be, but when I take into account the fact that I have no associated childcare costs for Miss A as she is with me all the time, I realise again that we’re doing okay.

Health 7/10

It disappoints me to say my health is at a 7, as a year ago it would definitely have been at an 8.  Obviously I am focused on this right now and over the next few months I intend to get it back up to at least an 8.  Over the years I have seen just what a dramatic effect a healthy lifestyle has on my sense of wellbeing, and I really hate seeing it slip down and for me to have a negative mindset associated with it.  If I spent the same amount of time focused on my health as I do thinking about, it would be a 10/10 for sure!

Friends and Family 8/10

Again, this is another area of my life that just a few years ago I would have scored much lower.  I had some friends and family around me who were quite negative and often brought be down, though at the time I didn’t actually see it.  Moving on from feeling that I needed these people in my life has allowed me to become much more positive and open as I have built stronger relationships with others, and feel for the first time ever that I am truly loved and supported by all of those people in my life.

Relationships 7/10

I think Mr G and I have fallen into the common trap of making time for the three of us as a family, but not so much for us as a couple.  This is partly due to the fact that we’ve not spent any time alone since Miss A was born, and two and half years is a long time to not have a dinner, date or movie night.  I realise that we can make more of an effort to have ‘date nights’ at home too, but I’m also hoping that this year Miss A will be able to spend a few hours being looked after by family so that we can have a little time out together.

Personal Growth 7/10

Last year I would have put my personal growth at a 6, so it is definitely starting to improve.  I am focusing a lot more on myself and the ways in which I need to change, as I know that I had become stagnant, and have had that feeling for a while that every day is ‘Groundhog Day’.  Even doing tasks like this is helping me to grow as I realise more and more where the road blocks are in my life, and the best way that I can work around them, rather than ignore them.

Fun & Recreation 6/10

This is one area of my life that I really need to work on.  On the weekends I usually am trying to catch up on so many things that I can’t do during the week that I don’t always stop to have an hour here or there to relax.  I fall into the trap sometimes of thinking that an hour on the computer is my recreation time, but it’s not really, and I’d be much better putting that hour to use by going to the beach, or going to the park or on a long drive.  There is nothing I enjoy more than a change of scenery and being spontaneous, so I’ll definitely be working on that!

Physical Environment 9/10

It’s no surprise that I am scoring my physical environment so highly.  Being out of My Shoebox from 7am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday certainly makes me appreciate the time that I do get to spend here, and I am truly at my most settled and content when all three of us are home and I am pottering about the place. 

I loved doing this task, as I have no doubt when I look back on it again in a few months that my wheel will be a little less wonky and a much smoother ride!

 This week’s Home Life Simplified task is to Create A Mission Statement.

Whilst I feel the need to apologise for what I’ve put forward, which is essentially a vision board, I am approaching each task in the most open and honest way that I can, with the intention of learning as much as I can for myself as an individual, and my family as a whole.

I have thought long and hard about the mission statement prompts over the last week since the task was posted, and Mr G and I have shared a number of positive and enlightening conversations about this.

Having said that,  there are certain aspects of my life that I am private about when it comes to what I feel comfortable to share on this blog, and the inner workings of my family are one of them.

These 22 words have many statements, thoughts, feelings and emotions attached to them that we  have and will continue to share together as a family.

And for 2012, this visual prompt will help us to learn together, grow together, share together, and love together.

This week’s Home Life Simplified task is to Define Your Personal Values.

You know it’s interesting, even when I typed that I accidentally wrote ‘Goals’ instead of ‘Values’.

One of the things that Deb pointed out with this task was that goals are not values, and instantly it struck a chord with me.  Straight away I realised that I often place so much emphasis on goals that  I don’t actually take stock of my values and how they apply to my life.

I have spent the past couple of days thinking about my values and letting thoughts flow, as of course my initial response when I read this task was to have somewhat of a brain freeze.  I automatically seem to switch off to thoughts that make me question my feelings and emotional responses, and move on to the next definable goal.

What I have realised as I’ve worked my way through this is that I do have personal values, and I do very much live by them.

 They are also very much personal values in so far as they relate specifically to people, not to something that can be defined in an objective or material sense.

1. RESPECT

This is by far the strongest personal value that I have.  I was raised to treat others with respect, to always be mindful and speak and act in an appropriate and courteous manner towards others. 

It is so engrained in me that when I recently met some older relatives of a friend, I automatically addressed them as ‘Mr and Mrs C’.  We all had a good giggle as they said I was a grown woman, and more than welcome to call them by their first names, but it still felt like the right thing to do.

Of course, respecting yourself first and foremost goes without saying, and I believe this underlines every value that you can have.

2. TRUTH

I firmly believe in living a truthful and honest life.  I have seen how destructive it can be when people do not follow this path.  I believe truth and honesty are the keys to building relationships, and this starts by being true to yourself (back to that respect thing again). 

This project in itself is very much about truth.  If you’re living a lie in any shape or form, then you are not only cheating those around you, but most importantly you are cheating yourself.

3. TRUST

I have learnt over the last few years how important it is to trust in yourself and to follow your own instincts. 

I have also learnt that it is often the misplacing of our trust in others that causes such personal heartache, but that pain can be healed when you find people who share these same core values, and trust is built once more.

4. INTEGRITY

I’m sure you can see a theme building here, and explaining these values may start to sound the same.  All of these key words relate specifically to what I believe in, the way that I perceive the world around me, and the relationships that I have within it.

Integrity seems like such a big value to try to define, and yet I think it is quite simple in its foundation.  The values above: respect, trust and truth – they are all central to one’s integrity.

I actually looked for a definition of the word as it came to me so strongly, and this summises it for me quite perfectly.

‘Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes.  In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions.’

5. COMMITMENT

I try to approach all aspects of my life with the highest level of commitment, be it my personal goals and responsibilities, my work ethic and most importantly, my personal relationships.  I always try to give 110 percent to everything that I do, which often means I get told that I am ‘trying too hard’, ‘being too hard on myself’, or ‘expecting too much of others’.

I think the most challenging thing I have found over the years with my personal values is that I feel at times that others deliberately and knowingly take advantage of me.  I simply don’t realise sometimes that another person may simply be looking at something for their own personal interest or gain, and I struggle to grasp this notion from time to time.

I am learning to lower my expectations  of others, and I’m by no means standing on a pedestal when I make that statement, but simply acknowledging that for various reasons, my personal values will not always be as important or necessary to another in the way they wish to live their life.

Whilst I thought this task would have me questioning myself a lot more, and wondering how others would perceive me as a result, it has actually left me feeling quite free.

It has confirmed to me why I feel the way I do towards so many things, and that I am continually striving to live my best life with these values firmly in my mind, heart and actions.

There are many things I plan to give my all to in 2012, and Deb from Home Life Simplified  has a project that definitely has me off to a cracking start!

When Deb blogged of her plans for this fabulous project – 52 Weeks To Simplify Your Life  – I couldn’t wait to jump on board, and I am so thrilled to see the wonderful response, support and encouragement she has had today.

And so we begin! 

Week 1 poses the question. 

What Went Right In 2011?

A simple question really, giving us time to pause, reflect and acknowledge, giving ourselves a little pat on the back in the process.

Nonetheless, answering this has still presented me with a challenge, as I am one who likes to look forward, rather than back.  I was more than happy to say goodbye to 2011, and have been solely focused over the last few weeks on what I have planned for the year ahead.

I also have a habit of skimming over my feelings, so a question like this is a big thing for me to answer!  I realize with all that I want to achieve this year, starting with the 12WBT program, I have to address my emotions on every level. 

Deb prompted us with questions that I planned to answer one by one, but then I just decided to write what came to mind simply by pondering the question itself.

Whilst I don’t think it is anywhere near as detailed as it should be to cover an entire year, it is still a step forward for me in terms of focusing on not only my feelings, but the all important positive side to them.

Of course, it starts from the point of blogging…

2011 was my first full year of blogging.  In Mid 2010, I started blogging, stopped after a few months, made the rash decision to delete all 80 posts except my Couch to 5k Journey, and then promptly started over again.

When I decided that 2012 would be My Year of Consistency, this stemmed partly from the knowledge that even though I’d struggled at times to blog my way through 2011, I maintained my commitment, and consistently posted week in, week out.  Like the marriage vows that Mr G and I took in October, I have blogged through good times and bad, in sickness and in health!

2011 was a year of finding balance, as my roles and responsibilities changed, working full time, planning a wedding (but trying not to be consumed by it), finding quality time for us as a family, time for myself, and family and friends.

In all aspects of my life, I tried to invest as much of myself as I could, whilst staying mindful that I always needed to leave a little in reserve.

As much as I’d like to say that the wedding didn’t consume me, of course it did to a point, and as much as I anticipated and looked forward to it, there was definitely a sense of relief once it was over.  Having said that, everything about the day was exactly as I wanted it to be, so that definitely gets a big tick in my book!

Another big thing that went right for me in 2011 was the support and love I felt from my growing circle of friends.

I have been so lucky since having Miss A to realise who my real friends are, letting go of the not so real, and embracing and opening up to new friendships along the way.  Whether it be my oldest or newest friends, they all have a way of supporting me without question, as I do them, and I enjoy every single moment that I am able to share with them, be it those I see weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Then there are blogging friendships, which also form, evolve and grow in their own natural way.  Of all the gratefuls that I posted in 2011, it is the blogging community itself that I am the most grateful for.

On a more personal note (the area which I least like to look at – my real feelings!), Mr G and I had a challenging year where we faced various issues, both created within, and outside of our relationship. 

There is no doubt that the wedding preparation was stressful on us both for different reasons, and coming on the back of our first year of parenthood, it has certainly made us look at our strengths and weaknesses, both as a couple and as individuals.

We also learnt that quality time spent together as a family, be it doing the supermarket shopping, going to the park, eating out, or playing in Miss A’s cubby house, these are the moments that really bond us.  There are many times where Mr G and I will have a heart to heart in Miss A’s room, while she happily plays in and around us. 

In terms of my health and fitness, I moved forward from completing the Couch To 5km program to joining the gym, and pushing myself outside my comfort zone.  Again, it is this grounding that has given me the confidence to take on such a big challenge as the 12WBT program next month, and to not only admit my emotional eating habits and address them, but stop the pattern once and for all.

2011 was the year where I not only asked the questions, but began to look for answers.

And armed with this knowledge, I plan on taking every opportunity, challenge, and experience that comes my way in 2012 and embracing it to the full.

Thank you Deb, for giving me this opportunity to look back and acknowledge 2011 in such a positive way.  I look forward to sharing the next 51 weeks with you.