These posts have quickly become one of my favorite things to create. I love the accountability it creates for myself, the lessons learned–sinking even deeper when I take the time to articulate them– and the joy of seeing all that was accomplished in the last month. February was the busiest month I’ve had since moving to DC a year ago. It was also the one that was most outside my comfort zone, but felt the most productive and accomplished. I made huge progress on all of my February goals, despite being sick for a week and adopting a kitten. Let’s take a look back at February before we look at March 2020 goals.
February goals Goals – 14 out of 18 completely complete!
Paint our apartment. This took so much more time than I anticipated, but I completed everything but our bathroom and tiny kitchen.
Grout and caulk our shower to prevent mold problems
Follow this cleaning routine every day. (I did about half the days. For a while everything was so torn apart from painting that it was hard to complete and I lost my groove.)
Create a prayer spread in my bullet journal.
Do a study on the book of James using the process in this book.
Play worship music every day
Create a ‘must call’ list.
Pick a time or day to make phone calls
Go on 16 runs this month (I did 12! Being sick for a week threw me off)
Put our next adventure on the calendar
GO on our adventure this time (It ended up being small and solo, but still fun!)
Decide on a time of day that I’ll post on Instagram
Share 20 pictures on Instagram.
Plan time slots to blog every week. (Didn’t do this, which is also why I probably didn’t do the next one!)
Publish 2 new blog posts each week (Did 3)
Attend a book club meeting. (was so proud of myself for this!)
Plan my next book club
Attend the welcome meeting at our church.(We did! I took it one step further and also joined a small group!)
March 2020 Goals
Many of these goals are similar to last month’s, and all stem from my annual 2020 goals.
Grout and caulk our shower to prevent mold problems
Call one person every day on my walk home from the metro
Text/message at least one person every day to check in
Run the St. Patrick’s Day 4 Mile Race
Run 3x a week
Start HIIT workouts 3x a week after the race
Schedule and go on a Spring Break adventure
Post on Instagram 20 times
Schedule writing sessions at the beginning of each week
Publish 9 posts this month
Attend small group weekly
Attend at least one book club
What are your March 2020 goals?
To be honest, mine don’t feel like a lot. I thought about adding some new things in just to keep it exciting and fresh, but that defeats the whole purpose of mapping out what’s important to me at the beginning of the year. I’m also learning that it’s good to have margin. Maybe this month I’ll get more reading in! Not to mention taxes. How about you? What are your March 2020 goals?
An incredibly useful concept that I first heard about from Gretchen Rubin is the distinction between being a maximizer or a satisficer. One type tends to be happier than the other, so figuring out which one you are can lead to some easy happiness boosting in your life. Read on to figure out whether you’re a maximizer or a satisficer.
Maximizers
A maximizer is someone who loves to squeeze all the potential out of something. Why settle for a good enough shirt when you could have the best possible shirt for your budget? Gretchen Rubin defines maximizers as those who want to make the optimal decision.
Satisficers
A satisficer is someone who has a few small criteria and is satisfied once those are met. When they’re shopping for new clothes, they buy a shirt once they find one that they like and that fits well. They don’t have to look through the whole store (plus maybe another two) like a maximizer would.
Why Knowing about Maximizers and Satisficers Matters
In a world that is increasingly full of choices, knowing how you make them can make your life a lot easier. We make about a million little choices every day (that’s a scientific estimate 😉 ), from what to eat for breakfast to which neighborhood to live in, to what size of family you want to have.
It can make you happier
Unfortunately for me, satisficers are usually happier than maximizers. Psychologist Barry Schwarts argues in The Paradox of Choice that an increased range of options doesn’t necessarily lead to higher satisfiaction with the outcome of a decision. It seems backwards, but having more choices often makes you less happy. If maximizers can learn to quickly narrow down their choices like satisficers, they’ll have a much greater chance of being happy with their decision.
In addition to this, maximizers are often more prone to buyer’s remorse. When you’re considering more criteria, inevitably not all criteria are met. This leaves people wondering and worrying whether or not they made the right choice.
It can help you understand those around you
My husband is a satisficer through and through. I’m a maximizer. As you can imagine, there’s sometimes tension when I’m wanting to investigate allll the options. But now that I know that people who are satisficers tend to be happier anyways, it makes me more willing to compromise and call it a day once we find something that meets our criteria. Plus it makes it easier for me to resist the temptation to agonize about the decision we ended up making, both before, during, and after.
On the other hand, if there’s a decision we need to make that I know is more important to me than to my husband, I know that I need to be the one who does the research. That’s because I’m the one who cares more about meeting the most criteria. Chances are, he’ll be happy with whatever I find. But if I ask him to do the research, it’s hard for me not to worry that he’s done enough research to make the best choice. Me doing the research yields the happiest results for both of us 🙂
Tips for Maximizers
Sometimes being a maximizer can be a superpower, but not if you use said superpower for everything. It’s totally unnecessary to find the very best $1 pen in the whole world. The first one you come across will surely do. Instead, try using your maximizing superpower for things that are either really important to you or really expensive. And remember that you’re never going to find something that meets every possible criteria you can think of, so try to focus on the ones that are most important to you.
Are you a maximizer or a satisficer? Leave a comment and give me your best advice!
Here are some of my other personality posts you may like:
Hi, friends! Are we ready for February 2020 goals already? January was a month to remember. It certainly felt like the first month of a new year and a new decade. Charles and I started off the month with a bang, jumping right into new routines and tackling our goals. The last half of the month? It was a little rough.
We adopted a kitten, which was definitely a highlight! But then she developed a rash a couple of days after we brought her home, which resulted in her being coned so she couldn’t scratch her ears bloody. The cone made her miserable, depressed, and skittish, and then she developed a fear of our litter boxes! After 3 vet visits, countless phone calls to the vet’s office, and even more loads of laundry, we ended up taking her back to the place we adopted her from. The rescue was amazing through it all and so helpful. We’re incredibly grateful they took her back, even though we’re sad to have had to say goodbye to such a sweet kitten. It sounds like she’s steadily improving back at their house, so we’re thankful for that!
Having a sick kitten in one’s house is crazy time-consuming! The first half of our month started off SO strong, but the last half was derailed by our poor kitten. We’re kind of grateful to leave a hard, exhausting January behind us and say hello to February. Here’s a recap of my January goals and my February 2020 goals!
January Goals – 13 out of 18 completely complete!
Many of my January goals involved setting up systems and foundations for the rest of the year. I can already tell such a difference and am so glad I took the time to set us up for success.
Declutter + organize key pain points
Set up a paper system for mail, forms, etc.
Clean out and organize the fridge. It’s crazy how much these bins help!
Figure out a mindless + easy cleaning schedule.I saw a lot of suggestions for this website in a Facebook groups I’m in. Without overthinking it (if busy moms can do it, I can too!), I downloaded + printed her freebies and jumped right in. You guys. This is life changing! Our apartment has been so much more effortlessly clean this month.
Purchase and designate birthday cards for the whole fam. I have a couple more to purchase, but nearly done.
Go on 16 runs this month. I went on 14 runs this month, so I’m counting this a win! It was a great running month for me.
Set up reminders in my phone to pack exercise clothes the night before. Did this and it’s annoying but helpful.
Sign up for a race. Done. We’re doing a 4-miler in January. I’m simultaneously excited and terrified. It sure is keeping me motivated though.
Print adventure list and put it somewhere visible.
Put our next adventure on the calendar. We planned one out for January but then had to cancel to better take care of the kitten and basically just survive.
Start a note in my phone with pics to take. Did this but I always forget to reference it! I might need another phone reminder.
Think about a good routine for posting on Instagram. Didn’t do this… which is probably why I didn’t complete the next goal either!
Share 20 pictures on Instagram. I posted 13 times, which is more than usual!
Plan time slots to blog every week. I kind of winged it and it worked out, but I need to do a better job planning.
Start a note on my phone with the next 5 posts. This helped me jump right in a lot!
Research meetups and/or book clubs and/or Bible studies in my area. First book club next week!
February 2020 Goals
The first month of new goals is always the most exciting for me. The second month is much more difficult when it becomes more ‘maintenance’ and less ‘exciting change.’ But since I was so thorough in preparing my goals with Power Sheets, I know that these goals actually matter to me. Knowing this gives me the extra motivation to keep at it!
Cultivate our Home
Paint our apartment, and feeling super excited about this one!
Grout and caulk our shower to prevent mold problems
Create a prayer spread in my bullet journal again and use it daily.
Do a study on the book of James using the process in this book.
Play worship music every day
Connect with Loved Ones
Create a ‘must call’ list. It sounds so ridiculous to write this out as a goal. I feel like I should just be able to do this instinctively? But last year proved that I can’t, so I’m getting more organized this year.
Pick a time or day to make phone calls / Facetime / Marco Polo
Strengthen my Body
Go on 16 runs this month
Explore our Neck of the Woods
Put our next adventure on the calendar
GO on our adventure this time!
Be a Memory Keeper
Decide on a time of day that I’ll post. I know that if it’s too random I’ll let it slide.
Share 20 pictures on Instagram.
Deposit my Words Online
Plan time slots to blog every week. I’m still not sure yet if these will be the same every week or if I need to plan time slots each week.
Publish 2 new blog posts each week – 8 in total!
Build a Local Community
Attend a book club meeting
Plan my next book club – whether it’s the same group or a different one
Attend the welcome meeting at our church – this is about a year overdue and I’m excited to finally go!
There’s something I love about January. It’s not just that I’m a sucker for fresh starts, though I totally am. I love the feeling of drawing a curtain on the hectic holiday season and focusing on sinking deep into normal everyday life and dreaming about what you can make of a fresh year. Okay, so maybe a lot of why I love January IS that it’s a fresh start. This year I did Powersheets and planned out overarching goals for the whole year. I hope this will give me focus and help me build momentum as I set goals each month this year. It may be January 16, already, but better late than never. Here are my January 2020 goals!
Cultivate our Home
It was really difficult for me not to try to do everything at once for this goal.
Declutter + organize key pain points: bathroom, bookshelves, kitchen
Set up a paper system for mail, forms, etc
Buy some bins, clean out, and organize the fridge (I bought ones similar to these and love them so far!)
Figure out a mindless + easily doable cleaning schedule
Engage my whole heart with God
It was hard to know where to start with this goal, so I followed Emily Freeman’s advice and just wrote down the next right things.
Create a prayer/gratitude system – Last year I used the Val Marie Paper yearly journal and looooved it! This year I wanted something more portable so I’m working on implementing a system in my bullet journal.
Read Women of the Word (next month I plan to implement it!)
Connect with Loved Ones
This isn’t a huge focus this month since we just reconnected with many of our loved ones over the holidays. Something I do plan on doing this year is sending out birthday cards for everyone in our family. Last year I purchased enough cards at the beginning of the year so that wouldn’t be a barrier to sending them. (Who actually remembers to buy a birthday card at the grocery store? Not me.)
Purchase and designate birthday cards for the whole fam
Strengthen my Body
Go on 16 runs this month
Set up reminders in my phone to pack exercise clothes the night before
Sign up for a race
Explore our Neck of the Woods
Print adventure list and put it somewhere visible
Put our next adventure on the calendar
Be a Memory Keeper
Start a note in my phone with pics I want to take when there’s good light (sadly it’s always dark when I leave and dark when I get home at night)
Think about a good routine for posting. At night? In the morning? Only on weekends?
Share 20 pictures on Instagram
Deposit my Words Online
Plan time slots to blog every week – not sure yet if these will be the same every week or if I need to plan time slots each week.
Start a note on my phone with the next 5 posts I’d like to publish AND the next 3 small tasks I need to work on. I’m hoping this will make it less overwhelming for me to jump right in even if I don’t have a ton of time.
Build a Local Community
Research meetups and/or book clubs and/or Bible studies in my area
Contact a handful
Put one on the calendar!
To be honest…
Since I’m posting this halfway through the month, I already have a number of these tasks completed! The momentum feels amazing and I can’t wait to see what the next couple of weeks (not to mention the rest of the year!) brings. What are your January 2020 goals?
Happy November, friends! October was f u l l, but in a really good kind of way. Our foster cat was adopted. We brought home a new 5-month-old foster kitten that we just might keep forever. And we had the pleasure of having friends over for Halloween. So much to be grateful for! Now onto all things November and November goals.
Fun Things Happening in November
A quiet Thanksgiving at home
A hike in Shenandoah National Park
Christmas shopping!
November Theme: give t h a n k s
Thinking about gratitude in November can feel like such a cliche, but I decided to use the cultural momentum of this month to really dig in to thanking God for all He is and gives. I wrote about how unexpectedly life-changing gratitude is earlier this year and every month that lesson seems to sink in a little deeper.
Write for my blog every day. I only wrote like three days total, so this if a definite fail!
Run 15x. I ran 12x, which is huge for me! I took it slow and enjoyed it so much more than I thought. So glad I set this goal, so I’m probably going to repeat it!
Read my daily Bible reading plan without my phone. Doing this helped me focus so much more. When I read on my phone, it’s that much easier to pull up a distracting app.
Buy and install new window screens. Getting screens in windows is harder than I anticipated. We have several windows with broken screens and several windows with no screens. To make it easier on myself, I ordered the material I need to repair the broken screens and I’ll call it a day! The material arrived last night and now all I need to do is install it.
Make Friendsgiving plans. We have a plan for Thanksgiving Day!
Get new passport pictures. Nope.
Open a new Roth IRA. I did some research but haven’t taken the plunge yet.
*We use very official numerical terminology around here.
November Goals
I use eight life categories to give me focus and help me realize if I’m neglecting a particular area of my life. The eight life categories are my environment, career, health, relationships, money, personal/spiritual development, fun, and service. Some of my goals hit more than one category, so I won’t always come up with eight different goals for each category. The great thing about using the categories as a guideline is that it gives me some structure to work with and helps me see if I have any blind spots.
My 7 November Goals
Write 7 blog posts. I haven’t been putting as much energy into this little blog as I’d like so I’m going to prioritize that this month!
Weekly meal prep. Finding something to take to work for breakfast and lunch has been feeling like such a burden. I want to start taking a couple hours on Sundays to prep all those meals ahead of time so we can stay healthy and save money.
Run 15x. This ended up being a great goal that kept me motivated all month long so I’m doing it again.
Finish all my Christmas shopping. Sounds ambitions, but I think I can make it happen. I already have half my gifts picked out and am just waiting for Black Friday sales to purchase them.
Cull 2016-2017 iPhone photos. I want my photos to be happy memory aids and not an overwhelming backlog of duplicates and memes. On the bright side, going through old photos has been really fun!
Pick and order an Advent devotional. I’m thinking about this one but let me know if you have suggestions!
Paint our nightstands. I add this as last because it’s not really the end of the world if I don’t get to it, but I DO already have all the supplies, so I think I’ll be able to knock it out in a weekend.
What are your November goals? Any fun things happening this month?
Hi, I’m Kelsey! I live in the DC area with my husband and two cats. I currently spend my days working from home, reading all the books, and enjoying home life in our new-to-us 1940s condo. Read more about me here.
