Of Weekly Goals
What I’m using to propel me back to fearless.
Last week, I mentioned my weekly goals. One of my friends wanted to know why I picked what I did. So while I report my successes and failures, I’ll go into a bit of detail on why they’re important to my life.
Go to the Gym Twice
Of all the goals I set, this is the one I haven’t let fall to the wayside. I’m not going to lie, I’m not a fan of the gym, but I love how it makes me feel afterward. The biggest reason I have been going religiously and not sliding back into bad habits is because I signed up to do a 5K Tough Mudder and I don’t want to not complete it.
A year ago, I topped the scale at 224 pounds (and can’t believe I admitted it). I felt like crap and I hated having my picture taken. My job became more physically active and I started seeing some weight shift off. I got a bit stronger from moving pallets full of books around the warehouse and started to feel better about myself.
One night, I was looking at pictures from before I moved to Missouri and found the person I wanted to feel like again. And I decided I wanted more muscle tone than I used to have (I was only thin back then because I walked everywhere so I still thought I was overweight because I had no definition).
I made it my goal to be under 200 pounds before my Tough Mudder. Once my race is over, I’ll have to find a new thing to train for. Any suggestions are appreciated.
April 28- May 4: Success! Not only did I complete my goal, but I’m 194.2 pounds as of this morning.
Got to Martial Arts Class
I’ve been taking Bujinkan classes for a decade now. I started because I’ve always wanted to do a sport, either dance or martial arts. I’m not the sporty sister in my family and my little hometown didn’t offer anything I wanted to do (other than poms squad and I was too shy to get in front of the school and dance).
When one of my friends offered to bring me along to class, I jumped at the chance. It hurt. And I was hooked.
Up until this last year, I dabbled. I was never super serious. I bounced from teacher to teacher as they stopped teaching due to injury or time constraints. I joked that I was ronin. And then one day, I woke up to the realization that my current rank was given to me so I would work up to that level.
That means getting serious about not skipping class because I don’t feel like going. I never regret going, no matter how hectic my schedule, but I do regret skipping. The ultimate goal this year is consistent back rolls so I can become a better uke.
April 28- May 4: Failure on the technicality that my teacher is out of the country training and I didn’t ask permission to train elsewhere.
Read a Book
I’ve always been a voracious reader. Most of my school days were spent with my nose in a book. The older I get, the more my reading time shrinks.
As a writer, one of the best things I can do to hone my craft is read (other than write of course). I don’t guard my reading time as much as I should. I’m not finishing a book a day anymore. My to-be-read pile has grown to ridiculous proportions.
I get restless if I’m not consuming stories. I’ve started reading a chapter of a non-fiction book every morning, but I’m still working on finding more time to slide in pleasure reading instead of collapsing in bed after wasting time watching YouTube videos.
April 28– May 4: Success! I finished Make Me Forget by Amanda Adams.
Sew 10 Dice Bags
I have a side hustle of a craft business (in addition to my freelance writing side hustle). I started it back when I worked at the game store and was sick of the same four bag designs. I’ve been doing it for over ten years.
As side hustles go, it’s pretty low-key most of the time. About twice a year, I get a big order from my old job and I spend two weeks sewing like a mad woman. At the end of that time, I’m exhausted. I always promise myself that I’ll start prepping bags after I recover so I don’t have to rush. This lie has been repeated for ten years.
One of my ultimate goals is to get rid of the need to have a day job. Part of my plan is to ramp up my dice bag production and find new venues to sell them at. I can’t do that if I’m in feast or famine mode. While ten bags isn’t much, it adds up to over 500 in a year, about what I currently make without adding new venues.
April 28- May 4: Success!
Write Seven Thousand Words
This is the biggie and pretty self-explanatory as to why I have it as a goal. As a writer, I need to constantly be working on my craft. I needed to have a goal that pushed me, but wasn’t all consuming. Every November, I participate in NaNoWriMo. Putting down an average of 1,667 words a day is exhausting. At one thousand a day, it’s tough, but still allows me time to do other things.
Seven thousand words a week also nets me 365,000 words in a year. That’s about 2 or 3 books in a year, minus edits. With no hard deadlines to push me, it could take me years to finish a novel. This focuses me to produce words. While I may scatter some of my words into other novels, I am trucking along on one main story. I love the feeling of typing “The End.”
April 28- May 4: Success! I barely squeezed in my words under the deadline, but I got it done.
Obviously, I have other habits and goals that I want to meet on a daily or monthly basis, but these five cover a grand majority of my life and changes I want to make. What goals are you aspiring to?
