One of my goals for this coming year (like every year) is to write more here. I tend to write a bunch of drafts and never feel like they are good enough to actually publish. But, I’m going to try to start writing anything, even if it’s a post saying that I don’t want to write anything, once a week.

So, here is a list of my 2017 goals. They’re all things I’ve been contemplating/working on already, and are pretty attainable.

• Be more organized…desk and office
• Language learning…Duolingo daily, starting with German. Goals of either every day for 6 months or finish the German tree.
• Morning pages daily
• Use time better…schedule each day out more…spend less time on social media/Reddit
• Be more active during the day
• Blood work…have it done every 6 or 12 months
• Meditate more regularly
• January goal of writing down daily gratitude

Well, we’re 6 days into the new year and my list is going okay. Unfortunately, Tuesday I came down with the worst cold and didn’t want to get out of bed. Thursday, my throat felt like sandpaper, so the whole “being more active” thing hasn’t been going so well. Same with being more organized. I just put all the extra papers and crap on the floor next to my desk. The office is still a mess from Christmas crafts, but I want to get it all cleaned up as soon as I don’t feel like I’m dying.

I’m going to give myself credit for using time effectively. Yes, that meant doing the bare minimum of work and then napping, but it’s what I need to do right now. I bought a Happy Planner and like it so far. (I will never ever ‘scrapbook’ my planner…no cute emoji stickers here.) I originally bought a Bloom Daily planner since it has goal setting pages, but I couldn’t get over the square-ish size, so I put it up on eBay.

I also started the year off strong meditating for the first 3 days (plus days before the new year), and then fell asleep at 7 for the next two days so I didn’t end up doing it.

I’v been using Duolingo for the past month to work on German, so that is going well. I haven’t missed a day yet. I was hoping to have German done in 6 months, but from what I read, that seems too fast. Danish is next on the list unless they have Greek done for the app by then. I started just doing it on my phone, but then I went back and wrote down notes of everything and it’s really helping to retain it.

I ordered two blood tests through WellnessFX to have done now and again in 6-12 months. I wanted to do it earlier in the week, but didn’t want to fast and then drive the 30 mins to Quest Diagnostics. I have plans to go today though.

Morning pages and gratitude have also been going relativity well. I printed out a “Today, I am thankful for…” sheet with 30 lines to fill in and I’ve stuck with it. I started doing morning pages (writing 3-ish pages of anything when you first get up) after reading The Artist’s Way, but it’s really hard for my to stick with. I joke that I’m allergic to morning pages. So far, I’ve written every day though.

A tool that has helped me stay on track and visualize what I need/want to get done has been Habitica. It’s an app/website that helps you create better habits or break bad habits by making in into a game. You create your character and list your habits, daily goals, and one time to-dos, and you get points when you check them off. You can level up your character, battle bosses, and a bunch of other fun things. The game aspect is pretty cool, I like the rewards of finding items, but it also just helps a lot to have a checklist that I can see (I have it on my phone, but also always leave it open in a browser tab) and that resets every day.

Do you have any new years goals or resolutions? Do you usually stick to them?