Let's Be Honest - True Life Confessions... July / August Goals and Life of Intention Link-UP

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Oh friends.  You know that moment when you just have to shake your head and wonder... "what was I thinking?"  I feel that way about my July goals right now!  

I wrote a post full of awesome advice on how to set attainable goals, goals that you can actually achieve without getting discouraged (and it WAS awesome advice, if I do say so myself), and then I DIDN'T FOLLOW IT.

I made my goals completely UNACHIEVABLE, by setting too-specific goals to accomplish on a DAILY basis.  

Sorry for all the caps, but I'm so mad at myself!

Here were my unachievable goals for the month of July:  



  • Finish drafting / editing my fantasy novel, working on it for at least 60 minutes EVERY. DAY.
  • Unpack for at least 30 minutes EVERY. DAY.  I'm hoping this will mean it's finished long before July is over.
  • Look for a day-job.  Explore employment opportunities for at least 45 minutes EVERY. DAY.
  • Do some crafty stuff.  Have one project completely done by the end of the month.  (decoupage?  painting canvases?)
  • "Surf" facebook for only 45 minutes a week. Open my kindle app instead of the facebook app all the rest of the time, and READ!
Stuff I did accomplish because of these goals -- 

1.  Read more vs surf Facebook -- I read a good bit this month and was on Facebook much less.  I don't think I was even using up my "allotted" hour and a half a week there at the beginning of the month... this last week or so I've been getting a little more careless about my Facebook time, so this is a good chance to re-prioritize that.   

2.  Day job -- A week ago (ha!) I did start to look for a day job.  I even redid my resume and applied to a handful of positions... resulting in an interview already!  Unfortunately it turns out I'm not interested in pursuing that particular job further, but feeling "wanted" so early in the game was very encouraging.

3.  Unpacking -- as of this morning (so not quite finished in July, haha!) I'm done unpacking!  And the completion of that goal was ENTIRELY due to the fact that husband did a lot of unpacking while I was traveling early in July (yes, he is awesome!) and I finished the rest up over the last few days because I wanted to have something positive to report in this post, haha.  Accountability is so motivating, yo!  

So all in all, when I type it out, it wasn't a terrible month of accomplishments, right?  (RIGHT???  :P)  I still felt like I was failing to meet my goals though, because of the dumb way I formatted them with the "do this every day" proviso.  

So let me just be the first to say... be really careful about resolving to do something daily!  Because some days you'll be celebrating holidays with friends.. and some days your car might get broken into... (hopefully not though!)  and some days you might go visit your Grandmother who lives two hours away, or be otherwise unavailable for truly excellent reasons.  There's no reason to set yourself up to feel bad about yourself just because crap happens, or because you're a good Granddaughter!  Don't let "perfect" be the enemy of the "good" here.

If you do resolve to do something every day, it should be truly something executable in five minutes or less.  Sure, resolve to brush your teeth every day. (PLEASE brush your teeth at least every day, lol)  Sure, resolve to pray every day, or write FIVE MINUTES a day... as long as that writing can be writing an email to a friend, jotting a few thoughts in a journal, etc, 'cuz that means you can do it lying in bed at the end of the day or anywhere on the planet as long as you've got a pencil.  

However, take it from me that you will just end up frustrated if your goal is to work 45 minutes a day on something that is technology- or location-dependent.  I mean, I couldn't possibly unpack boxes or search for jobs when I was waiting around with no cell service in the mountains for the Park Service Ranger to come write a case report for our break-in!  And I felt as though I were failing to live up to my own expectations because of that, which is just silly.  

In other news, sometimes goals don't get accomplished because something else legitimately becomes more of a priority... in this case, I couldn't focus on finishing drafting my fantasy novel because I had my side-project hanging over my head, poking me in the ribs every few minutes reminding me it still wasn't done... so I finished it!  My Secrets of the Capsule Wardrobe:  How to Find Your Personal Style & Create a Happy, Confident Closet! ebook is now available for pre-order on Kindle!  (go check it out!!)  I'm also in the process of making it available in a hardcopy "real" book format as well.  Eeeeeek!!  I'll be back to tell y'all more about all that in a post or two, but I just wanted to mention it to make this point:

Sometimes accomplishments aren't on our list of goals, but we still get them done.  That might mean we don't finish that Official List of goals, but that's okay.  The point of goals isn't the act of mechanically crossing something off (though that certainly can be fun!) -- the point is to keep our lives moving towards where we want to be.  Goals are a helpful tool when you need motivation because you feel stagnate or are struggling with procrastination, but they are JUST a tool.  Focus on the positive progress!  If, at the end of the month, we're closer to our destination then we were at the beginning, that is awesome.  :)

My goals for August:

  • Be consistent in looking and applying for jobs.  Try to apply to at least 4 a week.
  • Draft 20,000 new words for my fantasy novel.
  • Find a doctor, eye doctor, and vet.  Make appropriate appointments.
  • Create and begin to practice a more deliberate posting routine for this blog.  
  • Make plans to visit family. 
  • In addition to walking my dogs, do 30 minutes of additional physical activity (yoga, strength training, etc) 5 days a week 

 Note that I'm not resolving to do anything daily, ha!  The 5 days a week physical activity might seem like a lot, but since I'm counting yoga (and up until recently I was doing yoga almost every day) I think I should be able to get back into that routine pretty easily.  We'll see though, right?  ;P



Alright, now it's your turn!!  

Join the Life of Intention linky party below and I'll hop on by -- and share your post via social media too!  In addition, one lucky party participant will randomly win a feature next month! Sweeeeet!

If you don't blog, tell me about your goals in the comments.  Either way, I can't wait to read your goals for August, and/or ooh-and-ahh over your progress last month.  :)  

Our lovely feature for this month is Debbie from Dare 2 Hear, with "Climb Every Mountain."  Debbie shares reflections from the movie Everest, and ponders how God has created us to be mountain climbers in our own lives.











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9 comments

  1. I never worry about these kinds of things anymore. If they get done great and if they don't oh well. I'm at that age where worrying about such things are in the past. I'm happy about that. I do remember working and trying to fit everything into each day though. Tough at times.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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  2. Thank you so much for choosing my post to be the feature of the month! I am so excited and honored! Have a fabulous month and I look forward to what August has in store for us all.

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  3. Well, at least you've got things accomplished still! I'll congratulate you on that and continue to cheer you on with your yet to be accomplished goals. :)

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  4. YAY for having written a book!! Congrats on that!!
    And getting an interview is another biggie!
    AND all the unpacking is done! that's what counts!!
    Go, Sarah Eliza, you can do it!!

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  5. OhMyGoodness, your goals sound EXACTLY like mine - we are such twinsies, aren't we? I have tried something new myself this week - I've listed things I want to do everyday on my to-do list with MTWRF after them and then I get to mark them off if I've fulfilled them IN ANY WAY. So that means that for "exercise," I've marked it off for actual exercise, but also for playing in the cousin's pool yesterday (lots of treading water in the deep end while holding Gv up) as well as Monday's continued camping clean up, because shaking out approximately 576 pounds of tarps totally qualifies, in my mind! :D

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  6. Came back here to possibly list goals, but quickly realized that I have ALL OUR CAMPING STUFF STILL OUT ON THE PORCH to put away, so needless to say, my brain must go take care of that before any thought of goals takes place...and since there is SO MUCH, I probably need to just write myself a note to join in on this goal thing NEXT month...so remind me when it gets closer, okay? ;)

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  7. I quit making lists a while ago I found they were stressing me out to much and if I didn't do everything I would feel disappointed. The only lists I make now are the grocery lists. Don't be so hard on yourself and set up some more reasonable goals. After all we are only human, not robots and life does get in the way sometimes.

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  8. First you get a round of applause for the honesty, because you could pretend to be perfect blog lady and we'd never know. ;) That every.single.day stuff is so tricky, it sounds like you have planned a better balance for August! It must be nice to have the unpacking checked off and behind you. :)

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  9. Goal setting is definitely a process that takes tweaking over time! I think you're doing great. I've been away from blogging and goals for a while, but I'm excited to see you're doing wonderful things with this link up and the new look of your site. Wishing you tons and tons of success and good goal-reaching vibes :) :)

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