12 New Year Goals & Reading List

I have decided on 12 (big) New Year Goals for 2018 and I thought I’d share them with you for accountability. Let’s help each other become healthier in every way this year!

Some of these goals require just a few minutes of my time every day. Others are habits that I will be working on mastering throughout the year.

These are applicable to my life, right now, so please don’t use them as a measuring stick for your life. Come up with goals that are doable for you!

12 New Year Goals For A Busy Mom

1. Read Through The Bible – I am in a small Facebook group where we are doing it all together. I have never read the entire Bible straight through, so I am excited! Following a Bible-In-A-Year plan is definitely helpful and makes it easier to stay on track. The plan we are using has us read chapters in both the Old & New Testaments for each day. I am reading out loud to my kids every morning.
2. Read (non-fiction) Books For Myself – I read quite a bit to my children, especially for history, but I rarely read for my own enjoyment. I honestly only read 1 book completely through last year and like half of two other books. I don’t have much free time and I gave up reading fiction years ago, but I have several non-fiction books on my reading list this year. I hope to read 8 new nonfiction books + up to 4 other nonfiction books I have had on my nightstand for a long time and only partially read. Check out my reading list below. My plan is to read for several minutes in bed each evening (instead of checking my phone and staring at a screen!).
   

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   This Year’s Reading List

   Keep a Quiet HeartDiscipline: The Glad SurrenderLet Me Be a WomanThe Path of Loneliness: Finding Your Way Through the Wilderness to GodEvidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War IIBruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age TribeHearts of Fire: Eight Women in the Underground Church and Their Stories of Costly FaithNo Longer a Slumdog: Bringing Hope to Children in CrisisRevolution in World Missions: One Man’s Journey to Change a Generation

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3. Exercise Daily x15 Minutes – Other than the act of caring for my children, I am not very active. I want to do 15 minutes of exercise every day. I plan to do 3 sessions of 5 minutes each. It works well for me to tag my exercise routine onto my meal times, so I will do a quick session before breakfast, lunch, and supper every day. We borrowed an elliptical machine from my in-laws, so that’s what I have been using. To be honest, right now I can barely make it through a 2-minute session. My lungs & legs ache so badly. My sarcoidosis (in my lungs) wiped me out in 2012 and it’s been hard to rebuild my capacity to exert myself. I hope this year will bring big results!
4. Stay On Trim Healthy Mama – I have been doing THM off & on since 2013 when I lost down to my lowest weight post-children! I then gained up to my highest weight (not pregnant) that I have ever been. I feel so much better when I stay 100% on plan. My husband & I are both motivating each other to be healthy and that really helps! As of August of last year, we replaced fast food date nights at-home with cooking a healthy dinner together on Friday evenings. We replaced evening runs to pick up milkshakes with snacking on fruit … or for a little less healthy option, we’ll have tortilla chips with salsa and cheese slices. I have lost 8 pounds so far! Between needing to manage my autoimmune disease, have more energy, deal with skin issues, and needing to lose around 10-pounds more, I know I will get the best results from the THM lifestyle – if I stick with it.
5. Go To Bed By 9 pm Sun-Thu – I don’t get great sleep because of waking with multiple kids at all hours of the night, but I could improve my sleep if I just went to bed earlier. This is another goal that my husband & I have together. We want to get back to our bedtime routine that got totally messed up with the last time change. We plan to put our kids to bed by 8 pm (they are allowed to read quietly in bed for another hour or so), spend some time working online together or just relaxing, then go to bed at 9 and read for several minutes before lights out. We will give ourselves Friday & Saturday nights to stay up a little later with or without the kids. Get your own Homemaker’s Friend Daily Planner and stay on track this year!
6. Get Up For The Day By 6 am Mon-Fri – This will be hard for me since my sleep is interrupted several times in the night by various kids. I rarely get out of bed for the day before 8 lately, but I really want to get up earlier and be ready for the day. I want to start our homeschool day at 9 am. Between caring for my two kids’ medical/special needs, getting myself breakfast, and all that comes with having 7 children I need to give myself more time. Hopefully, if I get to bed by 9 I will be able to get myself out of bed by 6.
7. Get Outside More – We live in the city on a small lot, but I am hoping to get outside for some fresh air and to play with my kids.
8. Purge, Declutter, & Organize Routinely – I hope to do this weekly on Friday afternoons and also more deeply during the last week of each month. Whether it is just one drawer, a closet, or an entire room — I just want to purge, declutter, and organize something often!
9. Stay Off The Internet – I am going to stay off my phone and computer during our school and family time.
10. Set Online Work Hours – This goes hand-in-hand with the one above… I am setting computer work hours for each weekday afternoon.
11. Create Products To Sell – This will most likely be in the form of e-books. (Eek!)
12. Grow My Business – Referring to this website, Lilla Rose, Norwex, & Usborne, etc.

So, those are my main new year goals. Of course, many of them will be broken down into smaller steps to accomplish them easier. I’d love to hear about your goals for the new year!