Failing to Meet Goals: February Update & March Goals

This is a moment of true humility for me.

When I publicly committed to my February goals, I was hoping that I would be able to report back at the end of the month and proudly announce I had met all of my goals.

Alas, I am a mere human and life unfortunately got in the way a bit. February was a rough month and as a result, I only met one of my goals. Little Miss and I were both sick on and off the entire month of February, and I’m not talking a little sniffle type of sick. It was full-blown could barely get off the couch to get a glass of water, everyone on antibiotics type of sick. On top of that, Hubby traveled most of the month for work so I was flying solo for a lot of the “fun”.

It felt like a struggle to just get through each day by doing the bare minimum, much less spend energy on working toward my goals. I’ll save you from my sob story, but just know that it makes for a pretty disappointing update for my February goals.

I’ll go ahead and review February and then explain below how I plan on approaching my March goals based on what I learned this past month!

February Goals Update

Feel free to read my full post explaining my February goals in detail before diving into this.

Personal Goals:

• Spend more quality time with my Hubby – FAIL.

  This wasn’t for lack of trying though, as he was gone for work most of the weeknights and then we had really busy weekends all month, so it was tough fitting in quality time together. This failed goal is the one that makes me the most sad 🙁 .
  

• Meal plan and prep for 2 dinners each week – FAIL.

  I don’t want to make excuses, but when my Husband isn’t home, I’m not about to cook an entire meal for myself. I usually go the sandwich route when he’s gone, or a lot of the time the Little Miss and I will usually go to my parents’ house for dinner (they live less than 10 minutes away). We didn’t eat out much, so it wasn’t a total fail, but definitely not a pass either.
  

• Finish the two books I’m currently reading – PASS.

  The good thing about not feeling so great was that I wasn’t up for much other than sitting on the couch and reading, so at least this goal was met! Book reviews to come- stay tuned.

Work Goals:

• Apply for 1-2 writing jobs a week – FAIL.

  I applied for one freelance writing job early in the month, and then honestly didn’t even think about it again because it was all I could do to just keep afloat between feeling like crud, the baby, the house, and the work already on my plate. Probably for the best!
  

• Submit guest posts to 5 other blogs – FAIL.

  I just didn’t have time to write quality posts to submit for guest posting opportunities in addition to what I already posted on my own blog this month. I’m not too upset about this one though, because if I don’t have the time or mental capacity to write something of quality, then I prefer to not write it at all.

Goals for March

After getting sick a whopping total of three separate times over the past month and a half, I realized that something needs to give. It’s clear to me now that I haven’t been taking care of myself at all and keep burning the candle at both ends. I’ve been staying up late and also waking up early to get work done, and Little Miss still doesn’t sleep through the night at 8-months-old so I’ve been getting probably 4-5 hours of combined sleep each night. My health status lately is evidence that my current schedule clearly isn’t working.

As a result, I’m making my health and home more of a priority for my March goals instead of focusing mostly on my business. Being extremely passionate about my work can have its faults at times. I’ve been so caught up in my work and getting excited about the different opportunities I can create from it that I’ve been really running myself ragged trying to make it all happen.

I’ve decided to take a step back to refocus on what is most important and decide what actions I would like to take in the coming months to make sure I’m not biting off more than I can chew at any given time.

Personal Goals:

• Workout for 20-30 minutes 3x/week

  I haven’t been working out at all lately and feel like my energy level is really suffering as a result. I don’t have (or want) a gym membership, so I’m planning on doing quick workout videos or other easy exercises at home to make this goal doable. We also have an indoor mall nearby that I think I might try to take Little Miss to so that we can do some stroller power walking. Perhaps we’ll even rock out some neon sweat bands while we’re at it, since mall walking is only for the losers like me coolest people.

• Be in bed by 10:00p on weeknights

  Unless there’s some extenuating circumstance like a rare girls’ night out with friends or we have a guest over, I’m going to attempt to be in bed at a reasonable time every night. I’m convinced that the only reason I keep getting sick is because of lack of sleep. Apparently one cannot run on coffee alone for long periods at a time….who knew!

• Limited TV

  I watched a ridiculous amount of TV in February. I’m cutting myself a bit of slack since I was sick and all, but I really need to nip this habit in the bud. I’m limiting myself to only watching 3 shows (or hours) per week with my Hubby. I was thinking about saying no to TV all together this month, but we both really look forward to watching our favorite shows together at night when he isn’t traveling, so I’m not ready to completely cut it out yet. I think this goal will create more time in my schedule to help me achieve my other goals this month.

• Declutter and organize my office

My office has become the catchall room for any junk in our house and it’s driving me nuts! I may talk about the importance of simplifying and downsizing, but it doesn’t mean that my house is always perfectly clean and free of clutter. I find downsizing and simplifying to be something that I need to be constantly working toward, especially with a baby and all of her stuff added into the mix. I’m still in the beginning of my journey to embracing a simpler way of life, and I know I’ll get there slowly but surely!

Work Goals:

• Do research for my potential microbusiness

  I’ve been toying around with the idea of starting a microbusiness that is completely separate from my freelance work. I’m not quite ready to share all of the details yet (I honestly might never be if I decide not to do it), but it’s a little hobby that I really enjoy doing and am considering making a small business or opening an Etsy shop out of it.

  I just need to do more research to see if putting money and time into turning this into an actual business would be worth it. My time is so limited these days that I want to do my homework to see if it makes sense to pursue this.

Have you ever dealt with failing to meet goals? What did you learn from it?