My 2015 Specific, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound Life and Blog Goals

Wow!  First post for the year, and I'm pressured to make this a good one!  Hahaha!  Well hello loves!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  This has been th...

Wow!  First post for the year, and I'm pressured to make this a good one!  Hahaha!  Well hello loves!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  This has been the longest vacation I think I've ever had for the last couple of years as a working mom!  I am happy that I was able to spend it with my family and was also able to do long overdue home errands.

How about you?  How's the holiday going on for you?  I hope you too are having a blast!

Anyway, while most of my blogger friends had started blogging since January 1, I on the other hand, was asleep almost the whole day.  Wow!  What a way to spend the first day of 2015 right?  The only thing we did as a family was to go out for dinner at Ma Mon Luk in Quezon Ave. to get some warm Chicken Mami on a cold night.  Hence, our first dinner for 2015 was spent outside our home! :)

Every new year, I usually write down my goals, and not resolutions.  I do so because I feel like goals are more targeted to what you want to achieve which should couple with a working plan and actions.  For me, it's more realistic and time-bound.  As I recall last year, my goals were generic and just talked about how to become a better person and start fresh: Forgive, Let Go. Learn. Be Better. Start.  I even wanted a weight-loss journey, which of course didn't happen successfully.  What happened was I lost someone significant but I gained a lot of realizations and life lessons which totally changed the way I look at things today.  This life-changing moment influences my goal-setting for the year.  Here they are:

FAMILY.
I cannot say that I am not a hands-on mom when I am home with my kids.  I am.  But I feel like I have to do more for them, be more involved, be more present, listen more, hug and kiss more, be a better mother than how I am with them presently.  I want to read them more books, keep the school boy more focused on his studies, teach more house chores, and teach more about Jesus.  It's hard to be a working mother because I am away 2,640 hours from them in a year (lunch break and travel time going to and from office included.)  Which means, on days I am with them, I have to compensate for the times I don't see them, that's when I become a hands-on parent.  But when some days turn bad or when I am totally tired, I depend on the helper to do things I am expected to do.  Sometimes I feel guilty about it, but what can I do?  So my goal this year is to be more present for them to meet their needs, wants and expectations from me.  In order for me to achieve that, I have to be more efficient in other areas of my life outside home and to also be healthier so I'll have more energy even when I'm tired from the office.



Mac and I are okay.  Actually, we're more than just okay.  We're not average.  We're head over heels in love with each other, but we're just not digitally showy, if you get what I mean.  But we are not perfect at all.  We have arguments and we get on each other's nerves, but we patch up things easily and quickly.  We make effort in making everything work: the relationship, the kids, our busy careers, the household duties, budgeting, and our communication with each other.  We make sure we are in sync with everything and that we talk about everything.  And when we listen to each other's stories, we definitely take interest in what the other shares.  What I want to achieve this year, is simply to continue the loving relationship we have.  I want us to improve our relationship with the Lord and find time to serve in our church again.  May we continually find time to do things together we both love, like music, movies and hopefully exercise and being fit.

WORK.
As mentioned earlier, to be able to achieve my goals of being a more present mom and wife, I have to be efficient in other areas of my life.  Work is what I was referring to.  I plan to better my best all the time.  To be more organized than how I already am.  To continue the good rapport I have with my team leads and the rest of the team.  To always come and go home on time.  To always love what I am doing, so I wouldn't feel like it's work at all.  To make a conscious effort to eliminate stress or when it happens, take a break and blog or find my day's bliss to be relieved of it! ;)  Work-Life Balance may be unrealistic for some, but it's achievable to me. :)

HEALTH and FITNESS.
In 2014, especially after mom has left us due to cancer, I chose healthier substitutes and lessen the use of oil, sugar and salt in our daily meals.  I cooked more often for the family.  I also brought my lunch to work because I am surer of the ingredients and how it was prepared.  I plan to continue what we started this year.  Substitution and not totally elimination, worked for us.  From white rice to brown or red rice and bread (for myself, my dad and Macky,) from refined sugar to washed or Muscovado sugar.  We changed our pans to minimize or totally not use oil when cooking meals.  Though, I personally lost up to 10 lbs gradually, this health journey is still incomplete without exercise.  I really hope I (together with Macky) could finally use the gym membership we enrolled in last year or the Kinect at home or maybe run at least twice a week to complete the road to fitness.  This goal includes loving and caring more for myself as well, from as simple as monthly manicure/pedicures to massages at the spa.

FINANCES.
In 2012, as I've also shared on the blog, I started taking charge of our finances.  I started with my Variable Life Insurance (which has an investment property and critical illness benefit.)  In 2014, Macky and I got a memorial lot for investment purposes which eventually was sold (and we already got our returns) so we put back the capital to get another lot.  I pulled out money from the bank to invest in a cooperative savings account which has bigger percentage earnings compared to banks.  I also got a memorial plan under my name which is assignable and transferable.  This year, we plan to be more prudent in our finances, to save more, to find more means to have extra income, to monetize our skills and passion, and to spend wisely.  I also plan to grow our emergency funds, because believe me, we'll really never know when we'll be needing it.

BLOG.
I have quite a few things I want for the blog to achieve.  Briefly, here they are:
  • To write better and learn more about the craft I love doing.
  • To be more intentional, purposeful, meaningful, inspiring and authentic in my writings.
  • To be more consistent.
  • To have a design make-over sometime mid-year.
  • To be more focused on what the blog is about, why it exists and to whom I'm speaking with.
  • To hopefully transition from online to offline! :)
SERVICE.
One of my life realizations last year is that life is too short to be busy with unimportant things and complain or rant about life.  I realized that there are other people far more problematic than we are, and yet we stress too much that we couldn't find anything to wear to work (after going through the 100 pcs of clothes) or that our food tastes so much different what we had last week from the expensive restaurant.  I realized the importance of freeing oneself from selfishness and how being selfless makes one healthier and more beautiful.  I started being of service to others, inspired by my mom, last December through a community outreach program to the Senior Citizens Organization in our Barangay.  After that long and tiring day, I felt very fulfilled, joyful and so much alive inside.  The feeling was indescribable to me, it was overwhelming.  With this, we plan to do this annually and hopefully, we'd be blessed with more projects this year, so we'll have funds to do it again this 2015.  The key is, to just give back for what we've been blessed with, small or big, as long as it comes from the heart.  No need to be rich to be able to serve others, your desire to serve and help is all you need.

Speaking of service, having Mommy Practicality alive and kicking since 2012, has been a form of my service online to parents who need information or some form of inspiration.  I have been more at peace and in tune to myself ever since I started blogging.  I plan to continue this service and branch out as well.  This branching out is in the form of the online community I established late last year, called the Manila Working Women.  It is an online community with objectives to help, inspire and empower the working women of Manila through series of link sharing and workshops throughout the year.  With this, I will be collaborating with Manila Workshops and I am super excited for what's to come.  I pray that we will be able to materialize everything that we're planning to achieve for this wonderful community.

So there they are, my S. A. R. T. Life and Blog Goals.  If you'd notice, M is missing.  M stands for Measurable.  I don't want to exactly measure the achievement of these goals because personally, I think the fulfillment and joy I could feel for making my goals come true is immeasurable and relative.  It's something very personal and internal to me.  I just hope and pray that I'll be able to realize all these goals I have for 2015.

~How about you?  Have you started listing down your goals?  What is that one main or major goal you wish to achieve this year? ~

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6 comments

  1. This post is simply inspiring. You are really inspiring. :) I'll start writing my goals too.

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  2. Hello Mitch! Happy New Year! Many thanks for your kind words! I'm thankful for readers like you, who in return bless and inspire me as well! Write your goals down now and make it happen! :) Have a great 2015!

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  3. Wow, congratulations on the collab with Manila Workshops, Louise! I'm sure this is gonna be an awesome yer for you! :D

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  4. Thanks @MrsPCuyugan! I do hope so too! Good luck to you as well! Have a great year ahead! :)

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  5. Martine Cosio De LunaJanuary 11, 2015 at 12:54 PM

    Love, love, LOVE your 2015 forecast, L!! You know I'm here to support you, in all you do. Mwah! Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks so much @Martine! :) Huuuuugs! :) Love you!

    ReplyDelete

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Mommy Practicality is a home and lifestyle blog that's about positive, informative, 
inspirational and helpful sharing of life experiences of a working mom 
with topics on motherhood, relationships, events, food, travel, shopping, and finances. 
It hopes to influence moms and women to realize 
that it's possible to live a quality life while choosing a practical lifestyle.



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