A Time For Everything

As promised--here are my goals for 2021. Finally. I know you've just been on tenterhooks waiting, haven't you, lol...

Last year, I had eight, and in previous years, I've had ten. This year...down to seven! But I've got a separate list of behaviors that need to become daily habits, if they aren't already. I won't bore you with the details, although I've instituted a reward system for completing them that doesn't involve food. Right now, I have 6 items on that weekly chart.

If I complete all 6 tasks for four out of six days, I get a puzzle from the Dollar Tree. They cost $1 and come in 350 or 500 piece sizes. They good for my brain and they're fun. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed doing puzzles.

If I complete all 6 tasks seven out of seven days, I've earned myself a trip to Buc-cee's which is a local-to-Texas travel store/gas station chain. They have all kinds of cool things and a wall of beef jerky, trail mix, and a "food court" of sorts with all kinds of deliciousness. Not that I'm after the food. I just love to look around.

In reality, the habits are referred to as Cowtown Commitments because my group of girlfriends (originally Cowtown Critiquers) and I meet via Zoom each week, and we all usually commit to a handful of things to accomplish for the week. Mine are usually the same things every week because one of my personality strengths and comforts is consistency. :0)

I also get stickers, so I have a fun visual reminder of my progress and my goal.

And now drum roll please...

My goals for the year, in no particular order, are:
 
1) Brainstorm characters and plot arcs for bar & grill series. ~ I've penciled in filling out one character worksheet per week. I'll answer what I can answer during the first pass (it's a really long questionnaire) and revisit each one at a later date. I have eighteen characters to flesh out and eight romance plot arcs to come up with. I have fifty-two weeks to fill, and I'm not starting this series in 2021, so it looks like I can revisit everything at least once. Woot.

2) Publish three books ~ Along with needing to write hockey book #5, I have two historicals to work on. One is complete and needs some strategics revisions; the other is almost done, and will need finishing as well as editing and polishing. The plan for these is to show up at my computer every morning. I’ll have to come up with some sort of schedule, but I won’t bore you with that.

3) Harness the power of my top ten personality strengths to do things better and faster. Specifically, to write better faster, but I imagine all aspects of my life will be improved. More on personality strengths on Friday.
 
4) Last year I wanted to complete a household project, namely the home gym in the garage. That didn't happen, but it's happening this year. I only need a few things to complete the project at its most basic level. Of course, two of those things (TV & rowing machine) aren't cheap, but I'll get it sorted out with DH.

5) Lose the weight I gained since Halloween. ~ That's three pounds. As long as I stick with eating low carb/low sugar consistently, it shouldn't take long. I'm not setting my sights on being 100% Keto for a few months though.

6) Get back to the family meal schedule & plan. ~ This equates to three prepared meals a week. Each meal will include a protein and a vegetable or two. Some of these will be on the easy side, like pre-made frozen meatloaf and microwave veggies, but I also want to make the effort to cook something scratch as well. I'm staring with one meal per week and working my way up. This week--beef stew. Yum! 

7) Get a handle on the housekeeping. ~ I keep the basics done, specifically bathroom and kitchen. It includes sweeping, but not mopping. So mopping is going to be the first thing I somehow implement. Dusting comes after that. I’ll decide what’s next once those become routine.

I keep thinking I need to start walking the dog. You may remember this goal from several years ago. She's a chubster and could definitely use at least 3 or 4 outings a week, but I have no idea where in my schedule to carve out the 20-30 minutes needed. I'm not adding it to the official goal list, but I'm keeping it on the radar because it really needs to happen. So the goal is to figure out how to make it happen.

And there you finally have them!!

Hope you're having a great week. Catch you Friday.