Saturday, October 1, 2016

October Balanced Life Goals

Spiritual:
- Continue with daily prayers and gratitude; host the October monthly prayer gathering; focus on joy. 

Environment:
- Clean and tidy the house in preparation for the prayer gathering.  Focus on the family room and 3d bedroom.  Clean and put away things afterwards!
- Continue to work on establishing the cleaning routine! 

- Decorate for Fall

- Get donations ready for pick up in mid-October

Daughter: 
- She will be coming down to help me with the prayer gathering.  Looking forward to having her home again.  In the meantime, we'll keep in touch by phone and computer.   

Family:
- I'll see some of the family members at the prayer gathering (one cousin has already informed me she won't be able to attend).  Another cousin has offered to accompany me to my medical appointment this month.
- Visit my mother's grave (her birthday, this month; reason why I host the prayer gathering in October).
- Maybe go out to lunch with my half-sister.
- Maybe go out to dinner with one aunt and cousin.
- Invite another aunt and cousin to dinner another night.        

Friends:
- I'll be seeing some of my friends at the prayer gathering.  One friend offered to come and help me with the preparations.  Will also try to out out to dinner with her.
 
Career:
- Continue to work from home for the first half of the month; make plans to go back to the office later in the month.  I might need to ease back into going to the office for the first week or two.

Finances:
- Continue doing what I have been doing - budgeting and spending mindfully. 

Health:
- Continue to focus on health:  I need to go for a blood test, next week, on Thursday.  I've an appointment with the oncologist on Friday, October 7.  I need to call and schedule an appointment with my primary care doctor, as well.  I need to continue to focus on a healthier diet, exercising regularly, and getting sufficient sleep.   

Time Management:
- Focus on establishing a work schedule and routines, especially as I return to the office.  I have a fairly long work day when I go to the office, leaving at 7:00 a.m. and not returning until 6:30 p.m., sometimes later, depending on traffic.  I generally don't feel like doing much once I come home.  Housework, grocery shopping, etc., all tend to get pushed aside until the weekend.  I really need to get myself organized and back on a schedule before I go back to the office.

 Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time: 
- Read at least one fiction and one non-fiction book; resume sewing the two quilts I have in progress; resume crocheting the rag rug; listen to music; play the piano.

Those are my goals for a more balanced life in October.   How about you?  Do you have monthly goals?  What do you do to make sure that life feels more balanced and you don't ignore one aspect of it while you focus on another?

10 comments:

  1. That sounds like a lovely Oct. life goal. I need one of those. :)

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    1. I hope you give it a try. Picture your life as a circle (or pie); divide it into 8-12 segments with each segment representing an area of your life that is important to you (you can have fewer than 8 segments, but I wouldn't recommend more than 12; I have 10). Then, decide on your goals for each segment and take it from there. Remember to keep your goals achievable, otherwise it becomes an exercise in frustration.

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  2. Looks like the prayer meeting is giving you some focus this month. Good luck with you doctor's appointments. My husband had blood work last week for his cancer and we expect more good results. I pray for the same for you.

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    1. Oh, I didn't realize that your husband is a cancer patient, too. Thank you for your prayers and I will definitely keep you both in my prayers.

      Yes, the prayer meeting will be a major focus, this month. :)

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  3. Having monthly goals seem to work nicely for you! I'm good at setting goals but then I rarely keep them in mind or remember to check on them throughout the period so I don't really bother anymore. I want to avoid buying meat in October if I can (!), bake a lot more, take more walks now that it's not in the triple digits outside anymore. That's about it for my actual goals. The rest is on my daily To Do list.

    Good luck in making progress on your goal this month, Bless.

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    1. Thank you, Nathalie. I think your To Do list is a very good tool in attaining your goals, especially since you have organized it by category, such as Health, Crafts, Cleaning, etc. I hope you will be able to succeed in this month's goals of avoiding buying more meat, baking more, and taking more walks. I'll join you in taking more walks. :)

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  4. Bless, I know I replied to this post back on the day it was posted because I was specifically looking for it. You were the one who inspired me to get back on the horse and write them down to keep me focused. I don't know if I missed hitting the send button, or I was distracted half-way through the writing of it, or it got lost somewhere out in the Ethernet, but I did write a response.

    Anyways, I commented that your goals are definitely "balanced" as you focus several areas of your life. And that I need to be more balanced, as I generally only think of goals as "work-related". And I tend to over reach. Yesterday I prepared my goals for October and I think I have fallen into the same trap, so maybe I should revise my list to include more work on the other areas of my life.

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    1. Susan, I think you posted your comment on the Sept. Goals Review post. I recall you saying you need to pay some attention to the social aspects of your life.

      As I mentioned in my reply to Jake's a Girl, above, picture your life as a circle (or pie); divide it into 8-12 segments with each segment representing an area of your life that is important to you: house/environment; garden; crafts; spouse; children/family; friends/social life; health; etc.

      Then, decide on your goals for each segment and take it from there. Remember to keep your goals achievable, otherwise it becomes an exercise in frustration. It's OK to revise goals as necessary, too. I sometimes do a mid-month review to see if I am making progress or need to revise, etc.

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  5. Boy, is my face red. You're absolutely right. I was looking at the wrong day. You may be right about revising the list. Maybe I could break down the major goals into smaller weekly goals. Sometimes I feel that I don't have to schedule social outings because I have too much fun already. *laugh* I am kind of spontaneous and spur of the moment.

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    Replies
    1. Not to worry, Susan, it's quite alright; an easy mistake to make. :) Maybe if you simply put "get together with/visit a friend", that gives you room to be spontaneous any time during the month.

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