Goals from 2011: An Update

I like to look back and examine my progress on the goals I set at the beginning of the previous year before making any resolutions for the following year.  If you remember last year when I did this, I was able to say that for the most part, I accomplished what I set out to accomplish.  I felt so good......and then there was 2011.

2011 was not my best year for achieving my goals!  This is not to say that I didn't do anything memorable or worthwhile in 2011, I just didn't do the things I originally set out to do. 

Here were my goals for 2011.

1.  Eat less and exercise more.  Well....I could make plenty of excuses, but the truth of the matter is, I got pregnant and abandoned any sort of eating or exercising plan I had in mind.  Luckily, I was pretty much back at my pre-baby weight before I got preggers again, so I will just find myself in the position of making this a goal for 2012.

2.  Tell more people about Jesus and commit to daily quiet time.  This goal also did not turn out exactly the way I had planned.  Besides talking to my children about Jesus (which I don't discount in the least), I don't know that I talked to anyone about their relationship with Jesus Christ.  I hope that my life and how I conduct myself on a daily basis is an example to other people, but I don't know.  Obviously this is something for me to work on.  I also was unable to manage to get in quiet time everyday.  I do feel that I spent more time reading my Bible and listening to teaching messages than ever before, but still not where I need to be.  Also a goal for 2012.

3.  Learn to sew.  Nope, didn't even touch a sewing machine.  I am in the process of learning to crochet....does that count?

4.  Double my Mary Kay sales.  This one is hard to swallow.  I so thought I would be able to make it happen.  Frankly, I needed it to happen from an income standpoint.  In my defense, I was horribly sick for about four months and once you lose momentum, it is hard to get going again...HOWEVER, lots of MK ladies have made it work in much tougher circumstances.  The fact of the matter is I had other priorities above MK.  I made choices to not put my business first and not work as much as I needed to and it was reflected in my sales.  Not sure what 2012 holds for me and Mary Kay.

5.  Be a better family member.  Let me start by saying that I am not sure how I ever expected to measure this goal.  I wanted to be a better wife, mom, daughter, etc.  Only the people in my family can tell you whether or not that happened.  Either way, I have a long way to go.  I am constantly working on gaining control of my mouth and once that happens I think this goal may be a little easier to accomplish. 

6.  Increase my blog traffic.  Nope.  And I am okay with that.  Kinda like my MK, if you don't work at it, you won't see results.  Well, my blog took last place this year.  During the time where I was not feeling like crap, I was attempting to be more present with my girls.  Blogging just didn't rank high on my list.

7.  Save more money.  2011 brought us some major challenges to the budget.  We made some changes to our deductions in order to have more money coming in on the paycheck and were able to use that extra money where it was needed.  Plus Jason was blessed with a raise...so we are seeing more money coming in than we did in 2010, but as you know, the cost of living has been increasing.   Also added to our budget was a car payment.  After realizing we were preggers with #3, it became apparent that we needed a bigger vehicle!  So any savings we might have been able to do has been replaced with a car note and bigger insurance payments.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining.  We are so blessed.  We have times where money is tight and we have times where we are not sure exactly where we will get the money for something we need, but God always comes through.  And we are learning more and more and more everyday that when the source we think is going to provide the extra income fails, God is not surprised and is still able to make a way where we see no way at all.

So there you have it.  A year full of un-accomplished goals.  Like I mentioned at the beginning, I am not too terribly disappointed.  I did get a lot done this past year...just wasn't on my list to start with.  This year I am being slightly more purposeful in setting goals for the new year in hopes to actually get some of them crossed off! 

Look for my Goals for 2012 post this week!