As I've explained before, when I do my monthly balanced life goals, I picture a wheel with several spokes, each spoke representing an aspect of my life that is important to me. Taken together, I like to think that they make a well-balanced life. Ideally, each spoke is of equal length and the arcs drawn between the spokes are equally rounded to make a perfectly circular rim around the wheel, without any bump-outs or indents. A well-balanced wheel results in a smoother ride; a wonky wheel results in a bumpy ride. Currently, as shown in my month-end reviews, I am mostly wobbling along!
These, then, are my goals for May:
Spiritual: The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life.
- Continue with daily prayers and gratitude; focus on being positive
- Take time for meditation - my friend and I have decided that we will attend the Friday night meditation sessions at the temple!
- Cultivate non-attachment - continue with the attempt to declutter; the goal is 100 items in May; also, schedule a pick up for the items decluttered and set aside for donations, so far
- Attend ceremony at the temple to celebrate Vesak; send a donation to the other temple
- Attend the monthly rosary prayer gathering
Environment: The goal is a clean, tidy, uncluttered house and a well-maintained garden.
House:
- Focus on decluttering and maintaining cleaned areas
- Deep clean the family room, my bedroom, and the spare room (yes, this is a lofty goal, but I am hoping that writing it down will help me to at least get started)
Garden:
- Deep clean the family room, my bedroom, and the spare room (yes, this is a lofty goal, but I am hoping that writing it down will help me to at least get started)
Garden:
- Maintain (water 2x per week; weed)
- Plant some flowers and vegetables
Daughter: The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her (without being over-protective!)
- Daily texts, phone calls, emails, and video chatting
- Look forward to her visit at the end of the month (Memorial Day weekend)
Family & Friends: The goal is to keep in touch with various family members and friends.
- Call, email, wish people on their birthdays, etc.
- Will be seeing several members of the family and friends at the monthly prayer gathering (hopefully)
- Weekly calls with neighbor T/have coffee with her one day
- Get together with friend R for lunch
- Maybe visit with cousin who is visiting from Australia (if our schedules allow it)
- Maybe visit with niece who is visiting from New York (again, if our schedules allow it)
Community: The goal is to become more involved in my community.
- Continue to participate in the blogging community
Career: The goal is to continue to work while planning for retirement.
- Continue to do my assignments in a timely manner
- Meet with supervisor to go over assignments and establish priorities
- Attend the retirement seminar (scheduled for 5/3)
Finances: The goal is financial security.
- Continue budgeting and spending mindfully, with purpose
Health & Well Being: The goal is good health.
- Attend the appointments with my various medical doctors - 1 scheduled for May (with oncologist for a routine check up)
- Do the required blood tests prior to the appointment
- Continue to monitor blood pressure, sugar levels, and weight
- Continue to focus on a healthier diet, drinking enough water (8x 8oz), exercising regularly (walk for 30 minutes during the work week), and getting sufficient sleep
- Focus on accomplishments and staying positive
Time Management: The goal is having enough time to do all what I want to do!
- Procrastinate less
- Implement routines and schedules
Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time: The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.
- Set aside 30 minutes a day to do something relaxing, such as reading books, or doing a craft
- Plant some flowers and vegetables
Daughter: The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her (without being over-protective!)
- Daily texts, phone calls, emails, and video chatting
- Look forward to her visit at the end of the month (Memorial Day weekend)
Family & Friends: The goal is to keep in touch with various family members and friends.
- Call, email, wish people on their birthdays, etc.
- Will be seeing several members of the family and friends at the monthly prayer gathering (hopefully)
- Weekly calls with neighbor T/have coffee with her one day
- Get together with friend R for lunch
- Maybe visit with cousin who is visiting from Australia (if our schedules allow it)
- Maybe visit with niece who is visiting from New York (again, if our schedules allow it)
Community: The goal is to become more involved in my community.
- Continue to participate in the blogging community
Career: The goal is to continue to work while planning for retirement.
- Continue to do my assignments in a timely manner
- Meet with supervisor to go over assignments and establish priorities
- Attend the retirement seminar (scheduled for 5/3)
Finances: The goal is financial security.
- Continue budgeting and spending mindfully, with purpose
Health & Well Being: The goal is good health.
- Attend the appointments with my various medical doctors - 1 scheduled for May (with oncologist for a routine check up)
- Do the required blood tests prior to the appointment
- Continue to monitor blood pressure, sugar levels, and weight
- Continue to focus on a healthier diet, drinking enough water (8x 8oz), exercising regularly (walk for 30 minutes during the work week), and getting sufficient sleep
- Focus on accomplishments and staying positive
Time Management: The goal is having enough time to do all what I want to do!
- Procrastinate less
- Implement routines and schedules
Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time: The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.
- Set aside 30 minutes a day to do something relaxing, such as reading books, or doing a craft
So, those are my goals for May. A lot are the same as my goals in April, but there are some small changes and adjustments, as well. Is anyone else making monthly goals?
I record my monthly goals in my diary. I break these down, where possible, to weekly goals of what I need to achieve in a week to have a chance of completing the month's target. I find that this approach helps me to move forward and that the times I have't done it, I've just wasted my time and nothing has been started let alone finished.Where possible I try to have lists and tick boxes as this method works best for me.
ReplyDeleteEileen, it sounds like you are very organized with your goals! I do make lists, but I don't always accomplish them!
DeleteYour goals will keep you always mentally alert! Your flower pics prior, are beautiful! Your cat, Dancer, knows how to relax! Andrea
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrea. I find that, if I don't write down the goals, I feel that I neglected certain parts of my life!
DeleteI like the imagine of the balanced wheel rolling along. I'm going to think about that when I feel too busy. I'm going to see if my wheel is bumping along or rolling smoothly.
ReplyDeleteLive and Learn, draw a wheel with the different spokes of your life and see which spokes are nicely plumped (because you were able to pay some attention to that spoke, that week or month) and which spokes are deflated. Then, see why they are deflated and consider what you can do to plump them up. It is an interesting exercise, I think.
DeleteI love how you have monthly goals in many categories. Very balanced indeed. Good luck Bless, I hope you will achieve all of them.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Nil. Some months, I tend to focus on one or two aspects, out of necessity (when I was undergoing cancer treatments, for example, my health spoke took prominence over everything else). But, ideally, I am able to do a little bit in each area so that I feel my life is well-rounded and balanced. :)
DeleteThese are great goals! I need to adapt the wheel approach for my monthly goals.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. I hope you give it a try and see if you like it. :)
DeleteYour goals are very well balanced and cover a lot of areas Bless. As you say they might be very similar from one month to the next but at least you are re-affirming what you want to achieve. I especially like the meditation session at temple, that's a very proactive approach to something you feel you've been struggling with.
ReplyDeleteYour DD coming home soon is something to really look forward to. xx
Thank you, Suzanne. I am hoping that attending the meditation sessions at the temple will be helpful. I tried meditating, last night, before I went to sleep. I thought I'll try for 10 minutes. 2 minutes into it, Dancer came to say hi and headbutted me to get me to pay attention to him! He was purring loudly and making small chirruping sort of noises. So, then, I had to stroke him while I tried to focus on deep breathing. After 5 mins., I sort of gave up and tried to fall asleep! LOL!
DeleteYes, the last weekend in May is a long weekend, so she'll be home for 3 days. Looking forward to that. :)
What an excellent post! Sometimes I get too focused on one area, and the other parts of my life slip. I like how you articulated everything so clearly.
ReplyDeleteThank you. The goal is to touch upon all aspects of my life; sometimes I succeed, sometimes not, but, I try. :)
Delete