To Goal or Not to Goal. That is the Question.

I would have to say that 2015 was a great year, and a strange year.  Lots of good things happened, some according to plan and others not so much. 

Here's a reminder of the goals I sent back in January 2015 and how well that worked out.

1. Income - not too bad most months.  Could still use a little improvement.  I started a part-time job last January and am still working there.  It's been awhile since I have worked for someone else.  It's been interesting.

2. Personal VT - I hit my goal a couple of times, sort of.  I really need to do better at this. 

3. Daily Exercise - I did pretty well until we moved in November.  I'm not totally comfortable walking the dogs in the new neighborhood.  Pretty much everybody in this area has a dog, some of which are free roaming.  I need to either conquer this fear, or figure out a way to deal with this.  The dogs and I are getting lazy. 
In 2015 I walked 335 miles, ran 11.97 miles and hiked 9.34 miles. 

4. Daily Scriptures - This is a goal I actually improved at as the year went on.  I read the Book of Mormon 3.5 times, and in November we started reading the New Testament as a family every night.

5. Read 60 Books - Somehow reading 53 books in a year still feels like a win even if I didn't quite make my goal of 60.  If you add in the 3 times through the BOM it comes up to 56.  I'm cool with this one.  I set the goal of 60 again for 2016. 

6. Daily Journaling - Well, this one only lasted through January 2015.  I did journal occasionally throughout the rest of the year, but certainly not daily.  Maybe that was a little too lofty of a goal.

7. Travel - Another success here.  I made it to Carlie's wedding in August, and then to Las Vegas in November.  I was able to see Ryker & Taylor and Mom & Brad on both of those trips.

8. Monthly RS Activity - Success!  Thanks to my good friend Kahala!  Delegation rocks!  :)

9. Cleaner House - Two things really helped towards this goal.  1. House guests for Q & Matt's wedding 2. Moving.  There is nothing like a move to help you clean up your act.  The old house got clean, the new house was a nice clean start and I got rid of a lot of junk in the process.

10. No Yelling - ZERO - Total FAIL!!!  Such a fail that it's laughable.  I think I need to rethink about my yelling issue.  I don't yell at people (usually).  It's the dogs.  I yell at them pretty much every day.  It's embarrassing.  I've been thinking that instead of centering my goal on the behavior, I could try focusing on the emotions that trigger the behavior I want to change.  Basically, if I don't get angry, then I won't yell. Eliminate anger = eliminate yelling.

On to 2016 ....
I am thinking about goals and all that jazz a little differently today.  Historically I have set quantifiable goals.  Things with numbers that can be tracked, and success can be an easy yes or no.  I've worked on things that were important to me and I have felt good about the process for the most part.

I'm not sure exactly why but this year the same old routine feels a little flat.  I'm not sure setting goals with specific numbers and deadlines is going to work for me right now.  I'm not saying never again, or anything like that, just not today.


These are the kinds of goals I have been thinking about:

1. Soften my rough edges.
2. Be more vulnerable.
3. See others (& self) as God does.
4. Be more gentle.
5. Act with more faith.
6. Let go of: struggle, anger, frustration, pride and fear.

Maybe they are more technically aspirations than goals.  Measuring progress is going to be a little tricky.  How will I know if I am making progress?  I can't put numbers to any of this.   I'm also a little unsure if I can do these things with any reasonable amount of success. 

Or maybe this  .....