October is when my retirement goes into effect, as of the 15th. I anticipate there will be some changes in how I think about what a balanced life means to me (I've already eliminated the "Career" category), but, for now, I am going to keep the rest of the categories the same.
My October goals are:
Spiritual (9): The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life.
- Continue with daily prayers and gratitude; focus on being positive
- Take time for meditation - Resume going to Friday night meditation sessions at the temple, at least twice, preferably, three times.
- Cultivate non-attachment - focus on letting go of attachment to material possessions - declutter at least one item per day, this month.
- Host the monthly rosary prayer gathering (scheduled for 10/21)
- Call and remind everyone, a bit closer to the date
- Finalize menu/grocery shop/cook
House (9): The goal is a clean, tidy, uncluttered house:
- Focus on decluttering, deep cleaning, and maintaining cleaned areas to get the house company ready in time for the prayer gathering
- Declutter 1 item a day for a total of 31 items.
- Dig out the 3rd bedroom, a.k.a. The Dump!
Garden (8):
- Declutter 1 item a day for a total of 31 items.
- Dig out the 3rd bedroom, a.k.a. The Dump!
Garden (8):
- Maintain (water 2x per week; weed; prune pine tree)
- Flea spray at least one more time - buy flea spray
- Plant some fall flowering plants by the front entrance - buy plants
- Paint the front security door - buy paint
Daughter (10): The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her
- Daily texts, phone calls, emails, and video chatting
No visits planned for this month.
Family & Friends (10): The goal is to keep in touch with various family members and friends.
- Visit my mother's grave on the anniversary of her birth (10/18)
- Visit aunt T
- Call sister
- Send birthday card to brother
- Call friend A's daughter on her birthday
- Regular phone calls and emails
- Will be seeing several members of the family and friends at this month's prayer gathering (10/21)
- Weekly calls with neighbor T.
- Visit neighbor S/wish her daughter on her birthday
Community (9): The goal is to become more involved in my community.
- Continue to participate in the blogging community
- Participate in the temple community/attend weekly meditation sessions at least twice, preferably trice
- Participate in the library weekly knitting group - attend at least once more
Finances (9): The goal is financial security.
- Continue budgeting and spending mindfully, with purpose
Health & Well Being (8): The goal is good health.
- Attend the appointments with my various medical doctors
- 10/2 optometrist
- 10/4 dentist
- 10/15 radiation oncologist
- 10/17 primary care physician assistant
- Call re. peripheral field vision test if don't hear from the doctor's office by the end of the month
- *Work harder at those life style changes:
- better diet - eat more vegetables, less carbs, to maintain blood sugar levels
- better hydration - drink 8 x 8oz glasses of water
- better sleep habits - get at least 7 hours of sleep/try to go to sleep before 4:00 a.m.!
- more exercise - walk 30 minutes 5 days/week.
Time Management (7): The goal is having enough time to do all what I want to do!
- Retirement Planning
- call to check on status of paperwork -DONE!
- go in to the office one last time, before Oct. 13 to fill out last time sheet, hand in ID and parking permit, etc.
- 10/25 Driver's License renewal appointment
- Implement routines and schedules
Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time (10): The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.
- Make the transition to being retired!
- Continue to work on Works-in-Progress:
- the Mountain Quilt
- the Mile-a-Minute Quilt
- T-shirts for niece's sons
- red hats for heart association
- Fall Joy List
Those are my goals for a more balanced life in October. It's going to be another busy month, I think, with several appointments and other engagements, plus planned deep cleaning. Good time management will be a key factor, this month, I think.
Are you making any monthly goals in October? If so, how do you plan to find balance between what you have to do and want to do? Between being there for others and taking time for yourself? Between activities and leisure?
*edited to add specifics to life style changes
- Flea spray at least one more time - buy flea spray
- Plant some fall flowering plants by the front entrance - buy plants
- Paint the front security door - buy paint
Daughter (10): The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her
- Daily texts, phone calls, emails, and video chatting
No visits planned for this month.
Family & Friends (10): The goal is to keep in touch with various family members and friends.
- Visit my mother's grave on the anniversary of her birth (10/18)
- Visit aunt T
- Call sister
- Send birthday card to brother
- Call friend A's daughter on her birthday
- Regular phone calls and emails
- Will be seeing several members of the family and friends at this month's prayer gathering (10/21)
- Weekly calls with neighbor T.
- Visit neighbor S/wish her daughter on her birthday
Community (9): The goal is to become more involved in my community.
- Continue to participate in the blogging community
- Participate in the temple community/attend weekly meditation sessions at least twice, preferably trice
- Participate in the library weekly knitting group - attend at least once more
Finances (9): The goal is financial security.
- Continue budgeting and spending mindfully, with purpose
Health & Well Being (8): The goal is good health.
- Attend the appointments with my various medical doctors
- 10/2 optometrist
- 10/4 dentist
- 10/15 radiation oncologist
- 10/17 primary care physician assistant
- Call re. peripheral field vision test if don't hear from the doctor's office by the end of the month
- *Work harder at those life style changes:
- better diet - eat more vegetables, less carbs, to maintain blood sugar levels
- better hydration - drink 8 x 8oz glasses of water
- better sleep habits - get at least 7 hours of sleep/try to go to sleep before 4:00 a.m.!
- more exercise - walk 30 minutes 5 days/week.
Time Management (7): The goal is having enough time to do all what I want to do!
- Retirement Planning
- call to check on status of paperwork -DONE!
- go in to the office one last time, before Oct. 13 to fill out last time sheet, hand in ID and parking permit, etc.
- 10/25 Driver's License renewal appointment
- Implement routines and schedules
Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time (10): The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.
- Make the transition to being retired!
- Continue to work on Works-in-Progress:
- the Mountain Quilt
- the Mile-a-Minute Quilt
- T-shirts for niece's sons
- red hats for heart association
- Fall Joy List
Those are my goals for a more balanced life in October. It's going to be another busy month, I think, with several appointments and other engagements, plus planned deep cleaning. Good time management will be a key factor, this month, I think.
Are you making any monthly goals in October? If so, how do you plan to find balance between what you have to do and want to do? Between being there for others and taking time for yourself? Between activities and leisure?
*edited to add specifics to life style changes
Sounds like a great list! I am going to think about goals for the month. As you probably know, I struggle with staying organised and making lists. One of my goals would be to write a plan in my planner for each week ahead and TRY TO STICK TO IT! Thanks for sharing yours. Congrats on your retirement!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sharon. You have a good goal there - being more organized - and a way to achieve that goal - by writing down a plan for each week. That is sort of where I am trying to go with my time management goal. It's definitely a work in progress!
DeleteI think, no, I know I need to be more organised. I have become much busier all of a sudden and I need to start planning my week a bit better, in order to try and make time for myself.
ReplyDeleteYou are managing your transition to retirement really well. These lists must be a huge help. X
Being organized is such a challenge, isn't it? It's still a bit of an elusive goal for me! I hope things slow down a little for you, Jules, and you are able to find that time for yourself. It is important.
DeleteI think you do a good job with you goal list because you write down specifics to go with your generalities. I noticed that there is one big category that does not have specifics--health lifestyle changes. Do you find that one harder to do without specifics? That's is an area that is very difficult for me and even when I have specifics, like walk 7000 steps/day, I still struggle. Without a specific goal, I pretty much don't do anything. But it may be easier for you because, by necessity, you've had to focus on your health more than some.
ReplyDeleteHealth - life style changes is a challenge for me, too. I do have the specifics, but I didn't write them out, because, in the past, when I've written them out, I haven't been able to meet them! The specifics are:
Delete- better diet - eat more vegetables, less carbs, to maintain blood sugar levels
- better hydration - drink 8 x 8oz glasses of water
- better sleep habits - get at least 7 hours of sleep (it used to be go to bed by 11:30 p.m., but that never worked for me!)
- more exercise - walk 30 minutes 5 days/week (ideally, daily, but I want to be realistic).
I will edit the post to include the specifics. :)
You have very specific goals.
ReplyDeleteHere's to a well balanced October!
Thanks, Nil. My goals have evolved over the years, as they should, I believe. But, being specific is helpful in achieving them, I think.
ReplyDeleteYou did so well with last months goals...you really rocked them. I hope the same for you this month. I started a master list of goals but haven't published it yet. I keep adding to the list. Haha. My calendar is also filling up quickly at this time of year. I will be leaving my brother's house on Thanksgiving Day for Elliot Lake for a week. I need to be back for the middle of October, so this is the only week left available to me. So I have been busy getting some Christmas stocking stuffers bought and wrapped for the people in Elliot Lake I gift at Christmas. We have had lots of rainy days this week so I have been getting those things accomplished. I would be upset if I were stuck shopping and staying indoors if the weather was nice enough to work outside. I have also been inside to collect the Amazon purchases as they arrive at the door. By bringing the gifts with me, I will save a lot on shipping charges later on.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Susan. I was rather pleased with my progress on my goals, last month. Good luck with your master list. Yes, you'll find yourself constantly updating it - often adding things faster than you accomplish things! That's OK.
DeleteSounds like you are going to be very busy the rest of this month! Glad you are accomplishing things, even in the rain. Over here, we tend to change our plans to accommodate the rain! LOL.
Glad you'll be able to save on those shipping charges by taking the gifts with you. Good planning on your part. :)