December 2014 Smart Goals

I know I said it last month, but it really feels like the months fly by! I can’t believe it is time for ANOTHER goals post! If you’re wondering what a smart goal is, it is a little different than a regular goal. I’ll talk more about what exactly smart goals are in a few minutes.

Each month, I take a few minutes to reflect on the prior month and publicly come forward with my goals. I do this to keep myself accountable. If you want to read other posts about goals, you can hit the goals tab up above!

What I learned in November

Blog: I learned that once I get something in my head, there are just some times when everything else has to stop until that one thing can be accomplished. I gave myself a redesign (a complete DIY, thank you very much) and it consumed my thoughts for weeks. Originally, the plan was to take the blog down for a few days after Christmas (when no one is reading anyway) and redesign then. What I found is that the redesign became a complete road block, so moved up my original plans. I’m so happy with how it came out! I want to tweak the logo a bit more, but you’re looking at the new face of A Cookie Before Dinner for 2015!

November blog smart goals hit:

Order Lara Casey’s Powersheets.
Develop a better system of managing my time spent online (includes social media). I’m using Toggl to keep a running time log of the things I’m doing online and Coschedule (<— affiliate link) to help with scheduling social media.

November blog smart goals missed:

Revamp three old posts.

Life: My friend Christie wrote a post called It’s Thursday, What Are You Going To Quit Today? that really spoke to my heart. While I haven’t quit anything yet, I’ve said no to a few things that are things I’d love to do if I was in a different season of life. My kids are only going to be 5 and 1 for this one year and my focus needs to be on my family this year. My family gets the best of me, not another company or organization.

While we didn’t get out on a date outside of the house this month, Michael and I are still really enjoying our Monday night couch dates. I typically am working on blog and virtual assistant things in the evening, so it is nice to have one night set aside for couch time.

November life smart goals hit:

Buy a new planner for 2015
Organize a girl’s night out with the women from my church

November life smart goals missed:

Go on a date with my husband (out of the house).

Motherhood: November was a good month for our family. One of the things that continues to surprise me about motherhood is just how much I adore watching Malone and Lola play with each other. Lola is finally big enough to really engage with Malone in a few different activities. Every time I hear them making each other laugh or playing together, my heart just melts. I didn’t hit many of my motherhood goals this month. I need to work harder in this area (which I totally knew coming into writing this post). Most of my motherhood goals are administrative motherhood tasks, which always come in second to playing and loving on my kids.

November motherhood smart goals hit:

Take Malone on a date.

November motherhood smart goals missed:

Return Malone’s back to school paperwork. (OMG this is never going happen)
Go through Lola’s outgrown clothing. Pack away, donate, hand down, or sell them.
Find a weekly story time to take Lola to.