I'm sure you're all dying to hear about my 2026 quarterly goals update. Here it is. I've always tried to be like Stephany and be scrupulously honest in these updates, but I have to admit that it always feels vulnerable. I said I was going to do these things and it feels terrible to admit that sometimes they can't get done. Oh, well. Here's my honest report.
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At least one trip with Dr. BB and Hannah x
No progress.
No progress.
At least two trips with friends x
No progress, but I have one coming up next week.
At least two trips to Michigan to visit my high school friends ✅
YES!!! I went on a weekend for a birthday party in February.
Go to a fitness class I've never gone to before ✅
Yes. I went to a trampoline class in February. Woot! I'd like to go again, but it's sort of far away, so I have to really figure it out in my schedule.
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Make homemade ice cream x
No progress. I haven't even thought about it. Once the weather warms up, this will be more on my radar.
Do one creative thing a week 〰️
January: No progress
February: I went to an art gallery on campus, did some art at the museum when I went with my SIL, made a Valentine's Day card for my husband, and filled out a fun gratitude page for my journal. Let's call this a win.
March: I went to the same art gallery on campus when they had a new exhibit, colored a page (a cat wearing a hat that I sent to Jenny for her birthday), and went to a very stressful art class at the community center. Is this a win?
Become a regular reader of at least five new blogs in 2026 x
January: I added one new blog to my feed reader.
February: I deleted a blog from my feed reader.
March: I barely have time to read the blogs I'm currently following.
Leave an average of five blog comments on other blogs every day 〰️
January: 26/31 days
February: 18/28 days - egads, I'm a bad blog friend
March: 20/31 - I am not great at this.
Send at least five postcards every month 〰️
January: I didn't send five postcards, dang it. I did send five cards to graduating seniors on my caseload, so that seems in the same spirit to me. I also sent two items of business, and seven birthday cards for a total of fourteen pieces of snail mail.
February: I sent a lot of Valentine's Day cards (fourteen), so I feel like that's in the spirit of the thing. I also sent six birthday cards, a condolence card, one postcard, and a congratulations card to a graduating senior.
March: I sent three birthday cards and nineteen St. Patrick's Day cards, but no postcards. I didn't think this goal would be so hard.
Present at a conference for work ✅
Done. I did this in February.
Track how many people come to yoga this semester ✅
January: I only met twice in January, but three people came on the Monday and five people came on the Thursday.
February: We met eight times in February. Two people came three times, three people came once, five people came three times, and six people came once.
March: We met seven times in March. Three times it was just me, twice it was two people, once it was three people, and once it was five.
Update my resume ✅
Done. We'll see if I need it.
Have an ePortfolio example ✅
January: Done. If I have linked it correctly, here it is!
Use a new journal to track goals, plan out the year, and take time to notice things I'm grateful for ✅
January: So far, so good. I used a blank page at the end of the month to track things I'm grateful for and used the weekly page layout for larger goals. I also used the monthly calendar view as a blog editorial calendar.
February: I really do like my journal. So far, so good.
March: This is a good system for me. I wish I used it more at the beginning of the month to plan more, but it's a new habit, so maybe that will come.
Take a good photo every week and print them out once a quarter ✅
Yes! It's fun to choose them to put them in my journal every month. I can fit two to four photos in there every month and it is a bit of a surprise to me which ones I include. I'm realizing right now that my husband holding a giant carrot didn't make the cut. What was I thinking?
Take photo of five places at least once a month ✅
I've done this, but I have to admit that it's only been one quarter and I'm already sick of this goal.
Pay myself and charity first x
January: Mostly. I'm giving myself 75% on this. Not as much in savings as I would have liked, but still something!
February: I did not do well with charity this month. *sigh*
March: Sigh. I am a terrible human being.
Reread x
January: I listened to the first Nancy Drew book (The Secret of the Old Clock) and reread In Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris.
February: No reread this month! Oh, no!
March: Another month without a reread!!
Do a buddy read x
Not in the first quarter, but Sarah and I are already working on this for Q2. No spoilers, but we both really liked the first half of the book.
Gratitude practice ✅
January: I did it! Every day I wrote down something in my journal. AND, whenever I was in the car with Dr. BB, I'd make him list things he was grateful for.
February: This was easy with Elisabeth's FIG Collective.
March: I am doing it every night in my journal. It does make me stop to think a lot.
Be consistent in working out (at least 80% of days of 30 minutes of intentional movement) ✅
January: 28/31 (90.3%) days
February: 24/28 (85.7%) days
March: 22/31 (71%) days
Overall this is 82.2%, so even though I got off the track a bit in March, I'm still doing okay.
Spend 750 hours outside .〰️
January: 32 hours, 42 minutes - There was a period of very cold weather when I was only getting 20-25 minutes a day.
February: 37 hours, 42 minutes
March: 48 hours, 58 minutes
119 hours, 22 minutes total. If every quarter I spent the same amount of time outside, this should be 187.5 hours. This does include February (a short month) and pretty cold months, so I guess I should have guessed I'd come under. Egads.
Get on the same page as my husband about home repairs, investments, and a will 〰️
Dr. BB is going to chat with some folks in his book club about investments.
Do two more iterations of CBBC on my blog ✅
The Age of Innocence is in the books.
Date night with Dr. BB every month 〰️
January: It wasn't at night, but we went to Winterfest in a local town.
February: We did a hike at a nearby park.
March: We went to visit a friend together? Does that count? Probably not.
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Just January goals:
No baked goods or candy - 31/31 days - Whew! That was hard. ✅
Do this video to improve posture at least twelve times this month - Twelve times on the nose. The exercises are still hard/impossible. I'll have to keep working on it. ✅
Train Hannah at least twelve times this month - ELEVEN! That's not too shabby.✅
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Just February goals:
FIG Collective - Post something I'm grateful for every day this month. - Yes! ✅
Track where Hannah is when I'm eating at the table - This was basically to settle a bet with Dr. BB and the data doesn't lie. Hannah is attached to me. ✅
Do that posture video again at least twelve times this month - Nope. I forgot about it, to be honest. x
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Just March goals:
Work on my journal project for the rest of 2024 - I did complete 2024. This project will be something I use in NaBloPoMo this year if I can finish it by then. ✅
Message my accountability buddy every day. 24/31 days. Better than I had been doing before, to be honest! 〰️
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How are your quarterly goals going? When's the last time you colored?
First of all, the picture of the cat wearing a hat was a birthday highlight. Second, I think you're doing great (I'm especially impressed with the 100% compliance with no candy or baked goods in January- that is hard!!!) Third, even if you completed 0 of your goals, we would still love you. I mean we might be a little concerned, but we would not judge you harshly!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the cat wearing the hat. It made me giggle as I was coloring it.
DeleteI know people won't judge me harshly, but it seems like these are modest goals and I can't even do them! It just makes me wonder about how well I'm adulting.
A stressful art class? What's the story? I never thought that I would say this, but recently I've taken up coloring. We did a paint by numbers event at work last summer, and that's how I caught the bug. I'm most comfortable in the color by numbers world, but recently I got a "color by whatever you want" book.
ReplyDeleteThe point of a goals list is not to beat yourself up over the marks that are not checked. It's to have a roadmap of where you want to go. I also think that for some things, like blog comments, it's best to use a "comment if I feel like it" policy. Otherwise it becomes too much of a chore.
Booyah for getting the resume updated!
YES!! The art class. She gave us three rules of art (?) and showed us one example of each and then we had to create our things based on the rules and I needed/wanted more guidance and examples. I was there by myself (attempting to do something for this dumb goal), so I couldn't even joke with other people about what was going on. I was literally stress sweating. NEVER AGAIN. I have learned my lesson.
DeleteEngie, you're being so hard on yourself! Maybe you could think of your goals as aspirational, rather than required, would that help? I mean, having goals is great, but don't kick yourself that hard. Reality gets in the way sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI too want to know more about the "very stressful art class"! What the what?
Ha! I just wrote about the art class. I was not expecting to take my lack of creativity/lack of understanding basic art premises so personally.
DeleteI get it! I have now done a painting class twice; I didn't love it the first time, but thought the second time would be better? It was not, so I will never do that again. I was with others both times, but seemed to be the one stressing the most, not sure why.
DeleteI see a LOT of green checkmarks there, Engie! Well done you! I know it's vulnerable saying that you didn't do a thing you intended, but life happens and here we are. I think you have a lot of big wins on here and that is admirable!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I smiled about the blog thing - I just deleted a few blogs from my reader too, mostly because they seemed inactive. It's hard to find a new blog friend!
Finding new blog friends is hard! I guess it's not a thing most people do anymore and I guess I'm picky about which ones I read? Huh. Well, I'll keep trying. I don't want to miss out on blogs of super cool people just because I didn't try hard enough to find them.
DeleteI think if we completed all of our goals, perhaps we have not set our goals high enough. Aspirational, as ccr said.
ReplyDeleteExcellent job though, you accomplished so much!
Intellectually I KNOW that if I met all my goals, that would mean that I'm not stretching myself enough. Emotionally, though, the perfectionist in me hates to see any red x at all!
DeleteThat's a lot of green check marks and many categories require you to do something consistently or multiple times. So you should give yourself more credit! I posted about my 25 in '26 list today and only discussed the items I have completed or made progress towards. I've finished 6 items and made progress toward 7. 13/25 is pretty good for Q1 so I am giving myself a pat on the back - you should do the same!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll try to remind myself of all the progress I've made and not beat myself up too much over the things I haven't done.
DeleteOk, I think you’ve actually done really well at your goals so far! I’m impressed and see a lot more checkmarks than red X’s.
ReplyDeletePersonally I haven’t really made any goals for 2026 yet and it’s April soooo….
I’m super curious about the stressful art class and what made it stressful?
I always think people who don't set goals must be super self-motivated. If I didn't set goals, I wouldn't get anything done! Good on you.
DeleteI usually do set goals. I was feeling very unmotivated in January and just never got around to it. So thanks for the compliment but it’s basically the opposite of true LOL.
DeletePerhaps I’ll embrace the idea of spring goal setting as I do enjoy the process and find it helpful to have goals.
We actually had a rare date night last night. Have you been to Bingg's? We've gone a few times, and would probably visit more often, but geez louise it's $$$. Great food though, and I love the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't been to Bingg's. Because of my husband's dietary restrictions, I rarely go to restaurants. I also get sticker shock because I think about how I could cook the items for a quarter of the price!
DeleteArt Should Not Be Stressful! I, however, would find a way to make it so (it's a specialty of mine).
ReplyDeleteI like what ccr and J said about your goals. Maybe thinking of them as Things I'd Like To Do rather than such hardline items would help you feel better about your (obvious to all of us) progress.
It was obviously a me problem with the art class. Everyone else seemed quite happy to be doing their thing. I have a tendency towards perfectionism and that class hit my every stress point. Oh, well. I don't have to go back!
DeleteEngie, I love your artwork jar of gratitude! It's beautiful! I'm sorry that your art class was stressful. I think they can be stressful too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, friend! I find doing art to be more stressful than maybe the average person does? I don't know. It certainly isn't fun most of the time.
DeleteFrom someone who sets no goals (but keeps a do list), I think you’re doing great. I feel like writing positive thoughts in a journal daily is such a good move.
ReplyDeleteIt has been really nice to sit down at night and really think about how great I have it.
DeleteI do not set goals. I wasn't aware that I should....maybe that will be my goal?
ReplyDeleteI laughed at you saying you're a terrible human being for not giving to charity. Not true!
Love the artwork you completed!
Some days, there isn't enough time to tend to ourselves, much less read and comment on blogs. I want you to be kinder to yourself, ok? Oh, and just give all your love and attention to Zelda and Hannah....and some to Dr. BB too. 🤪
I swear I'm pretty nice to myself most of the time! It just feels like I am doing the bare minimum to being an adult and other people really have it together. These goal posts make it seem like I'm NOT adulting. But I am! I think.
DeleteI have a very low-key way of looking at my goals, so not getting something completed or falling behind on a goal doesn't really stress me out. It just gives me a barometer for how to improve. Like, my water percentage was PITIFUL and it should be the EASIEST THING EVER. But it is what it is and now I have the next quarter to try to improve that percentage! I beat myself up about enough other things that I don't want to do the same for goals, which is something I set FOR FUN.
ReplyDeleteYou're doing great - even putting these goals out there and reporting on them is amazing!
You're right, of course. I think of goals more as an idea of what is a priority in my life. I thought I wanted to focus on being creative, but I think maybe that's not really something I'm interested in? I don't know. Or maybe I do want to be creative, but haven't figured out how to do it? Or maybe my blog is all I need?
DeleteI appreciate the compliment, though. It has been fun to collate the data and report back.
Rationally I know you will not stop being so hard on yourself, but I do wish you'd stop being so hard on yourself. Would it help at all to know that you are a much better human being than ME at least? Do I need to publish my list of goals that I've been shit at achieving all winter? I'll do it for you, I will.
ReplyDeleteYes the friend visit counts as a date.
I swear I'm not hard on myself. I generally go about my day happy as a clam that I have walked the dog and worked out. But then I listed all these other things...lol. That's the problem. I need to stop being ambitious in my personal life!! You achieve plenty - maybe you should stop being so hard on yourself!
Delete*GASP* You BITCH! Lol, should we just stand here berating each other for being too hard on our respective selves?
DeleteHi this is Daria from NJ.
ReplyDeleteI love reading updates from people’s goals.
Mine are more vague and a few have been deleted completely: “Russia trip” and “get social”
Russia trip is such a mindfuck, in so many ways. Get social was a goal that I honestly created to appease other people but not myself. I get plenty of social time at work and I see my friends on the regular, at least every mother, so I’m good…
I find art classes stressful… in January I went to one where we had to paint a tote bag, and I finished mine in about 3 minutes while other people were creating a starry night on theirs…