Setting Personal Goals – My 2010 Goals
I like to think of myself as a transparent person. In real life (not that blogging isn’t real life, but well you know) if you were to ask me how much money I made, what I pay for my mortgage or what my goals for the future are, I would gladly tell you.
I think as a human being, we need support to reach our goals. The only way I know to gain true support is to be open, honest and tell people what our goals are. But many people don’t want to?be open about their goals because they don’t want everyone to know when they fail.
The most important thing you can do to reach your goals is to tell everyone. It’s even better if the other person thinks you’re crazy. It’s always more fun when you can prove them wrong.
So here are my 2010 goals as written in my little paperblanks journal.
1. I meditate five times per week, and let go of situations I have no control over.
I’m not a very religious person, but meditation has helped clear my over active mind many times, and when I do it I am a calmer person. I’m also a perfectionist so letting go of situations I have no control over is a great thing for me to improve on.
2. I earn $2,000 per month passively.
I’m really intrigued with passive income, something I want to explore more in this blog. I am working on a few projects right now that are really fun and hopefully will bring in passive income soon.
3. I maintain 140-145 pounds and no longer eat any sugar or fake sugar products.
Wow, I’m telling the world how much I weigh! How’s that for transparency? I am the type that will overeat sweets so I have completely cut sugar out of my diet as of January 1st. Even though I occasionally LONG for chocolate, I really do feel amazing without it.
4. I have a clean and organized home with an office that is a sanctuary.
With small children, cleaning is hard to keep up with, but it’s extremely important to me. We are finishing our attic to be a much larger office for my husband and I, and it will be quieter too when the little ones are home.
5. We took two family trips that were amazing and fun.
Planning these currently!
6. We contributed $1,000 to great causes.
We don’t give as much as I want to. I would love to give more than this too, but I’ve made it a goal this year.
7. Matt and I go on a date night once per week.
Time away from the kids is usually few and far between, and putting this into a goal will help make it a reality! But we’re still working on this goal right now, it’s amazing how hard it is.
8. We maxed out our Roth IRAs.
Last year was a hard year for us income wise. We had my daughter, my high deductible insurance didn’t cover the pregnancy, I took over 3 months leave, and my husband took over a month off during his busy season.
My brother in law’s family also had a baby during the busy season, and since they perform a show together that meant almost 2 months of no income during the busiest time of the year.
While it was great to have my husband home, we stopped contributing to our retirement. It’s time to make that a priority again.
LONG Term Goals:
- We own our home outright.
- I make six figures again doing what I love.
- We take month long vacations with the children.
- We own an investment property outright.
- I’m an author of a published book.
- I am a pilot. (my husband doesn’t like this goal!)
- I’ve been on Virgin Galatic on a trip to space
- My net worth is over $1,000,000
What are some of your goals for 2010? How are they coming since we are a third of the way through?
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Tags: 2010 goals, Goal Setting, Goals, personal goals
Categories: All, Business, Debt Freedom, Goal Setting, Goals
Hi I’m Jaime. Each and every week I bring you the top business advice from the people who know best.
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10 responses
I love your take on transparency. I’m exactly the same in “real” life as I am in my blog. I wish more people would be open since it’s easier to support or help when you know what they are trying to accomplish.
My 2010 Goals
1. Eat out no more than 3 times a week.
In 2009, I was eating off of value menus every day for lunch and my husband and I ate fast food or at restaurants 3-5 evenings of the week. Since January 1, 2010, I have successfully started bringing my own lunch (have only eaten out 3 lunches all year) and we eat out 2 times or less every week. It’s shaved our food budget from $600 a month to less than $400 a month.
2. Visit my remaining high school friends as I promised.
My two remaining friends from high school live 3 hours and 4 hours away from my home and I had been procrastinating on actually visiting. My husband and I took off on Easter weekend Friday and visited one of my friends until Saturday and the other all day Sunday. It was great!
3. Lose 20 pounds by our annual vacation.
I totally am failing at this. Our vacation is at the end of June. I’m 180 pounds and should be 140-150 pounds. I know that I’ve lost a little weight since my pants fit better, but our scale broke, I’ve never replaced it, and I completely blew off any regular exercise routine. I lost interest in that goal and started a blog instead (which I wasn’t even thinking about in January).
4. Learn a song well enough for karaoke.
I was going to make sure to get one song down well enough that I’d be good at it if I grew a pair and got up to sing on the cruise. I haven’t, although I’m getting to know some Pink songs pretty well. I have another month and a half, so I’ll look into this again tonight…I should be able to learn one great song in a month and half…
5. Max-out two Roth IRA’s instead of just one.
That may not happen since we replaced that goal with “pay off car by the end of the year”. If we really avoid splurging and no big emergencies pop up, we may still be able to fund a 2nd Roth IRA for 2010, but it will probably be between January-April of 2011…
Long-Term Goals
1. Start taking two vacations a year or more to make some extra fun memories as soon as you get 15 days of vacation (2011).
2. Make long-lasting close friends (other than hubby). That sounds silly, but close friends are hard to come by…finding a great friend fit seems way harder than meeting and marrying my husband!
3. Retire by age 52. So far, so good.
I now will add:
4. Set at least $200,000 aside by the time hubby hits 60 (hopefully even sooner) to surprise him with a trip to space. That’s his biggest dream ever and I didn’t even know that $200,000 trips were available! I really rather not go (the idea of being blasted into space doesn’t appeal to me), but I think he’ll really want me to, so it will probably need to be $400,000…sheesh…
Awesome goals! Could be a post for your own blog 🙂
It’s amazing how easy the financial stuff can be compared to weight loss! I gained 47 pounds with my daughter last year, and just recently hit 145! I know how hard it is.
I LOVE the karaoke too! You’ll have to put a youtube video up so we can all see it. 🙂
And good friends are hard to find. I find my closest friends are still the ones from high school. It’s so hard to meet and form close relationships now that I am older. I have a lot of great friends, but close friends are hard to find.
We can all book our trip to space together. The video from Virgin Galatic is just so amazing. It’s funny how it’ll feel like your just in an airplane, but the view will be different! (oh and the weightlessness!)
I’ll have to check back in with you at the end of the year, we’ll compare accomplishments!
$2000 a month passively? Nice… at that amount you’re already more or less independent. Here’s hoping to your success…!
.-= [email protected]´s last blog ..A Wise Challenge =-.
Thanks Kevin! Well with two kids $2k doesn’t go as far as it used to 😉
Jaime, I think I will make this a blog post in the next couple of weeks (of course linking back here).
Excellent! You made my day with that comment, so I’m glad you can have others read it too. 🙂
I would love $2K in passive, but that’s gonna take a lot of work to make it passive. Good goal. I would like the same. Our weight is the same, too. *sigh* I dislike it and really need to kickstart it back into shape. Its just that this OT is killing the way I eat. *sigh* Excuses.
Great goals. Oh ya, especially date night. I try to do the same with my husband. But it doesn’t always happen as intended. But I keep trying. 🙂
.-= Christine | Money Funk´s last blog ..Blendtec Total Blender obliterates an iPad =-.
I find it funny we are at the same weight and you aren’t happy with it. I am very happy! 😉 Probably because I just lost 47 pounds of baby weight since my daughter was born.
I am picking up the book ‘Clean‘ tomorrow which I’ve heard a ton of good things about. If I don’t plan I just let things go. (that’s when the excuses come in and my weight creeps up, so I am trying to always have a plan!)
And as far as the date night goes, ditto! We keep trying. We saw IronMan last week, and we have a few hours together tomorrow. That’s the best we’ve done all year! 🙂 Good luck!