My Monthly Goals – {Update on September & Goals for October}

Setting monthly goals is a great way to focus on what you want to get done. Choose a goal to finish or break a large goal down into smaller chunks each month to accomplish something over a larger time span.

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What the heck happened to September? I know for certain I packed too much on my plate because my own goals got pushed to the side since they weren’t urgent. Not a good plan! While I enjoyed everything I did and the book launches I was a part of and the places I got to go… I’m bummed I didn’t get my goals checked off. But thankfully I’ve learned that my worth is not based on a finished to do list and I can give myself grace to see all the good that did get done. 

I’ve significantly lessened my obligations for October but we also have three kid birthdays plus a mini vacation so I need to choose goals that reflect our real life. Being gone for five days plus other activities means I need to be realistic about what I can actually accomplish this month. 

Goals for September

1. Family Goal – Fall Activities

Oh man, this one was a bummer. We tried to go apple picking… but when we got to the orchard it was PICKED CLEAN! Not a single decent apple on the trees. Lots of sad faces for everyone that morning. But we couldn’t completely skip our fall fun so we ran to Walmart and picked up a couple bags of locally grown apples. We made apple crisp that night then a week or so later I made a batch of crock pot apple cider. Delicious! So, not the full fall fun plan we had in mind but the kids didn’t seem to mind. 

2. Home Goal – Update Photos

I transferred the photos to my computer and pulled them up in my editing software and started playing… but it’s been so long since I edited that I couldn’t get them to look how I wanted. I need to spend some more time playing with them because I don’t want to get them printed until I know I love them. I mean, I’m happy I got anything even remotely decent considering it was the very end of the day, probably after 830pm, and I was dealing with five kids, but, c’mon. I can’t have green or orange faced kids! 

3. Self Goal – Book Progress

Nope. Didn’t happen. I don’t think I sat down once at the desktop to work on the book. I was getting down on myself for not putting more work into it when I talked to a few other bloggers. They said that it could be divine intervention as to why I’m having trouble sitting down and getting it done. That perhaps my goal of releasing the ebook this year was not His plan, but my plan. I can’t let that be a reason to keep procrastinating but since my main reasons for not finding time this month were reading and promoting other incredible books that were released plus going on a retreat and a birthday trip it’s probably okay that I didn’t find the time. God knows when this devotional will come out and the audience has already been hand picked, I simply need to follow Him. 

Goals for October

I spent some time thinking and praying about how to approach my goals and decided focusing on one area was helpful initially but now I need to spread my focus a little more. Now I’ll have a single goal for different areas: family, home, and self. As I continue to see how this works I may expand the number of areas to make sure I’m growing as I need to be. 

1. Family Goal – Birthdays!

We have three birthdays this month (Parker, Anders, and Cade) and they have been busy making plans. Parker requested a teddy bear cake to match his favorite teddy plus pizza from Papa John’s for dinner. His birthday falls on a Friday so this works perfectly with our Friday Night Tradition. 

Anders wants a pumpkin patch cake so I’ll be making dirt cake and peanut butter truffles that I’ll shape like pumpkins. I’m really excited about that one. He’s yet to come up with a dinner idea. 

Cade wants a Batman cake. No requests for flavors – just Batman. Cool beans, dude.

2. Home Goal – Start Holiday Plans

I know, it seems crazy early to think about menus and presents but if there is anything I’ve learned over the years it’s I need to plan ahead to make sure we have our bases covered. That means coming up with menus to start stocking up on dry and freezer goods. It means starting gift checklists so we buy for those we need to and don’t forget about the gifts we’ve already bought. It means helping the kids write their wish lists so we can send them to the grandparents and other family members. Thankfully I’ve got this handy dandy printable to help me 😉 You can grab one as well if you join the mailing list! 

3. Self Goal – Instagram Stories

Are you following me on Instagram? Each weekday morning I’m attempting to do a short video to let you know my goals for the day based on our schedule. For instance, today is Wednesday, my office day, so my goals are to catch up on my MOPS bookkeeping, write two blog drafts, and write the email that will go out to subscribers tomorrow. Throughout the day I post more pictures to my Insta-story to show my progress. Some days I get my whole list done and others I barely finish anything. But I want to be honest and show what really happens around here and I figured this is the best way to do it. I do much better with accountability when I know I’ve got an audience watching my to-do list 😉

Did you accomplish your goals in September? What were they? What goals are you setting for October?