2020 Goals Review

 

I am a bit early for this review, but now that I am looking forward to 2021 in earnest, this seems like the best time to reflect on the goals I set in January. 

Personal Goals 

• Exercise twice a week 

I have to say that considering all that has happened this year, I didn’t do too badly with this goal. No, I am not doing aerobics or Pilates, but I am walking every day, which is more than I was doing last year. If I can get the bonus room cleaned up, I can create an exercise room. We are talking about buying an elliptical machine. We have a treadmill and my barre for workouts. The punching bag will need to be replaced, since once of the kids' friends damaged it.

•  Read the Bible daily 

This is a goal that really needed more of my attention. I read a verse almost every day and attend Bible study on Sunday nights, but that’s really not enough. I am thinking the only way to accomplish this goal is to get up early every morning and dive right in. 

• Dedicate one day a week to meal planning 

I started off strong with this goal, but the dedication waned as we all found ourselves at home more. At this point, I don’t have a full meal plan in place, but I do know what protein I’ll be using, so that helps. 

• Make smarter food choices 

This was the largest challenge for me this year. I am such an emotional eater and a junk food junkie, so that doesn’t help. Trapped inside with the family for months probably didn’t make it easier. I’m fairly certain once the girls move out my eating habits will improve—don’t buy it, I can’t eat it—but what do I do in the meantime? 

• Re-assess my commitments 

I did fairly well this year. I resigned from one organization, though I still support them monetarily. The slower pace because of the pandemic and logging into my meetings instead of driving to them certainly helped as well. Since I will be president-elect of the local real estate board next year, assuming the presidency in 2022, I know I will need to stay on top of this goal going forward.

Professional Goals 

• Put together a solid business plan 

This was the first year since 2014 that I didn’t put together a business plan. I had a huge decision to make early in the year. That decision shouldn’t have interfered with creating a business plan, but it did. Well, I allowed it to. 

By the time I knew where my head was at, COVID arrived. Two weeks later, the events that unfolded at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke and would lead to my father-in-law’s death, became my focus. It has literally taken me until this month to fully get invested in real estate again. Though there remains no closure in regards to those tragic events, I can stop my mind from agonizing over them all the time. Now, if the ringing in my ears would stop, I could really focus.

•  Commit to weekly prospecting 

Considering the year this has been, I feel I did really well with this. Though there were a few weeks I didn’t prospect at all, I prospected more this year than usual. I have also been better about staying in touch with former clients and reaching out to new leads. Living in a pandemic world makes you stop and think more about how you can help people. That’s why my volunteering ramped up this year, too. 

• Read two business or leadership books this year 

I met this goal by reading one book on self-publishing and one on creating systems. The latter is where I feel I always fail. Either I don’t create the systems or I create them and abandon them when I get busy. I bought daily planner sheets to help with that in 2021. Those will be easier than the journal I tried to keep. 

• Take my Broker's Test 

This moved to 2021 because the testing centers have been closed. They have reopened, but they have been backed up. 

• Make an important decision by January 10 

I made the decision and am confident I made the right choice.

What were some of your goals this year? What have you been most satisfied with accomplishing? What is one of your 2021 goals?

Task it Tuesday - July 13

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Well, it has been a few weeks since I posted a Task it Tuesday. I don't keep a task list when I'm on vacation. That kind of defeats the purpose of vacation.

Let's face it---2020 has been kind of a bust. I had a stellar year planned in many ways. Then the pandemic hit; we lost my father-in-law; and, as much as we love each other, spending every day at home together isn't all it's cracked up to be. The vacation helped us a great deal. Now, I am ready to get back on track.

Here is this week's list:

• Meal planning - DONE
• Daily Bible reading - Started a new week-long plan
• Update planner  - on track
• Walk three days this week
• Book review due Wednesday
• Empty pantry Tuesday night or Wednesday morning - new doors and frame being installed

That's it for this week. Not sure if I will accomplish everything, but I need to stay focused.

What's on your to-do list this week?

Task it Tuesday - June 16

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Welcome back to Tuesday. This will be my busiest week of the month. In addition to the Realtor Week of Advocacy in Massachusetts, I have numerous other appointments--personal and professional. It always gets hectic this time of year. I am going to do my best to take Saturday off. I haven't even thought about what to get my husband for Father's Day.

Here is my list for the week

1. Bible reading
2. Realtor Week of Advocacy (Mon - Wed)
3. Meal planning (done)
4. Editing more of The Sisterhood 
5. Blogging (scheduled)
6. Doctor appointments (Mon, Fri)
7. Clean bonus room (definitely not this week, but needs to stay on the list)
8. Get books together for vacation (done)
9. Start packing 

What does your list look like this week? 

Task it Tuesday - Jan 28

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

So, here we are at the end of January. How has your month been? Mine has been busy from a writing/editing perspective, but real estate has slowed down a bit. I have, however, been prospecting like crazy, so I have a listing appointment this week and a new listing coming up soon.

I am happy about the progress I made last week. Here is the new list.

• Daily Bible reading
• Log food in Lose it! daily
• Maintain planner daily
• Start real estate bootcamp Tuesday
• Grocery shop Monday and meal plan - DONE
• Finish extra material for A Christmas Kindness (Good thing: talked to publisher and I have a bit more time on this one. Challenging thing: I need more pages than I thought.)
• Edit next two chapters of project - working on 
• Copy edits for Dust of Lies - working on 
• Exercise Wednesday and Saturday (Every day I am striving for 5,000 steps also, but am averaging around 3,000)
• Closing Friday
• Clean the bonus room
• Drink more water - more of a goal than a task, but want to stay focused

What does your to-do list look like this week? What is the most important thing for you to accomplish this week?

Monday Morning Ramblings

I didn't have anything new to share as far as books in my mailbox, so I figured I would ramble a bit this morning.

Here is how my week went as far as meeting my goals from Task it Tuesday:

• Daily Bible reading - Done
• Log food in Lose it! daily - Done
• Maintain planner daily - Done
• Meeting Tuesday - Done
• Start real estate bootcamp Tuesday - Not done
• Meeting Wednesday - Done
• Grocery shop Monday and meal plan - Done
• Finish extra material for A Christmas Kindness - Not done
• Edit next two chapters of project - Working on
• Copy edits for Dust of Lies - Working on
• Exercise Saturday and Sunday - Not done
• Bylaws meeting Friday - Done
• Take health assessment for insurance - Done
• Clean the bonus room - Probably next week
• Organize spice and herb shelf in pantry - Done

I made decent progress this week, but I am bummed at still having a bonus room filled with clutter. My hope is to turn that into the exercise area, but I can't use that as an excuse not to exercise. I'm happy I am keeping up with tracking my calories, reading my Bible, and maintaining my meal plan and mindfulness journal. The real test will be if I can do those things once we hit the spring market.

Working on editing today. Then I need to finalize the extra material for A Christmas Kindness. 

I'm still looking for a new church. Honestly, I haven't gone out of my way to attend services every week. My heart is broken realizing this will no longer be family time. The girls have no interest and the hubby barely any interest. They want the old church back, which doesn't exist anymore. Still, I need to move forward and find what I need.

That's it for today's ramblings. I hope you all have a blessed week.

Task it Tuesday - Jan 21

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

We have come upon Tuesday again. How funny that when we were kids the days seemed to drag on forever. Now, it seems they pass by in the blinking of an eye. Maybe it's because there always seems so much to do.

I've never seen myself as much of a planner person. Each year I try and wind up failing miserably. I bought a Christian planner last year, but I think by February it wound up buried under a pile of bills. This year, The Mindfulness Journal 52-Week Planner is on my desk and I am tracking every day so far. We will see how it goes. At the beginning of each week I go back to my vision board page to realign my focus.

Made great progress on last week's list. Here is the new one. Hopefully, I can check off the hangers on from last week that I didn't finish.

• Daily Bible reading
• Log food in Lose it! daily
• Maintain planner daily
• Meeting Tuesday
• Start real estate bootcamp Tuesday
• Meeting Wednesday
• Grocery shop Monday and meal plan (DONE)
• Finish extra material for A Christmas Kindness
• Edit next two chapters of project
• Copy edits for Dust of Lies
• Exercise Saturday and Sunday (Every day I am striving for 5,000 steps)
• Bylaws meeting Friday
• Take health assessment for insurance
• Clean the bonus room
• Organize spice and herb shelf in pantry

What does your to-do list look like this week? What is the most important thing for you to accomplish this week?

Mailbox Monday - Jan 20

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

We are back to Monday again. My week has flown by. My to-do list from last week is in decent shape.

• Daily Bible reading. DONE
• Log food in Lose it! daily. DONE
• Maintain planner daily. DONE
• Board meeting Tuesday. DONE
• Start real estate bootcamp Tuesday. Not quite
• Branding workshop Wednesday. DONE
• Board meeting Wednesday. DONE
• Grocery shop Monday and meal plan. DONE
• Finish extra material for A Christmas Kindness. Struggling
• Edit next two chapters of project. Work got in the way
• Exercise Thursday and Saturday. Every day I am striving for 5,000 steps. House work gave me some exercise, but no specific workouts
• Bylaws meeting Friday. DONE
• Take health assessment for insurance. I have some time, but want to get it done.
• Clean the bonus room. Grumpy that I didn't get to this.

One thing that is going well is meal planning. Starting last week, I put together a menu and made sure I had all my ingredients on hand by grocery shopping first. Suppertime was a breeze and no worrying about what to make. 

As for my mailbox, I had a nice little surprise.

I will be reviewing this book in March. They sure got it to me quickly.

That's it for me. I hope you have a blessed week.

Task it Tuesday - Jan 14

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

As you saw from yesterday's post, last week ended up as a productive one. Part of that is because the home buying/selling season isn't in full swing yet, but also because I'm focused on being intentional and mindful in what I do this year. I made two important decisions over the last couple of weeks that have helped relieve some of my uncertainty. Now, I need to move forward with purpose.

Here is what is on my list this week:

• Daily Bible reading. 
• Log food in Lose it! daily.
• Maintain planner daily.
• Board meeting Tuesday.
• Start real estate bootcamp Tuesday.
• Branding workshop Wednesday.
• Board meeting Wednesday.
• Grocery shop Monday and meal plan. (DONE)
• Finish extra material for A Christmas Kindness.
• Edit next two chapters of project. 
• Exercise Thursday and Saturday. Every day I am striving for 5,000 steps.
• Bylaws meeting Friday.
• Take health assessment for insurance.
• Clean the bonus room.

What does your week look like? Do you create to-do lists? How do you reward yourself when you cross a line item off your to-do list?

Task It Tuesday - Jan 6

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Welcome to the first Task it Tuesday of 2020. It feels good to start a new year. I've set all my goals and I'm working on being more intentional with how I approach things. The first two days of this week are hectic, as is Thursday. Wednesday, I have my first closing of the year. Woo-hoo!!!

Here is what is on my list this week:

• Daily Bible reading. Monday I read Ephesians 5.
• Log food in Lose it! daily.
• Maintain planner daily.
• Writing group Monday.
• Coaching call Monday.
• Visit upcoming listing Tuesday.
• Geofarming webinar Wednesday.
• Write business plan Wednesday.
• Grocery shop Thursday and meal plan. 
• Finish extra material for A Christmas Kindness.
• Exercise Friday and Saturday. (Every day I am striving for 5,000 steps.
• Take health assessment for insurance.

Next week I plan to focus more on at home things. Let's see if I can keep a better balance this year.

Task it Tuesday - May 7

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Hard to believe Tuesday is here so soon. My to-list is growing instead of shrinking, but that's because I have a new listing coming up, several meetings, and have been volunteering. I've been approached by the BOD of a local organization to join their board. Not sure if I can do it, but I'll see what time commitment there is before I decide.

This week's to-do list is similar to last week's.

• Daily Bible reading - On schedule
• 5-5-5-5 plan for reaching out to people: 5 calls, 5 texts, 5 emails and 5 handwritten notes every day
• Set up photographer and staging for new listing - DONE
• Polish query letter for Clever Tom
• Barre workout Monday and Friday - Monday done
• Start finding a way to plan meals
• Review The Brave Art of Motherhood
• Bake a cake--today is hubby's birthday

What's on your list this week?

Task it Tuesday - April 30

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Why do Tuesdays come so quickly? Sigh! I always wish I had accomplished more. Some weeks I kick butt. Other weeks--like the last one--kick my butt. Here is what was on my list:

• Daily Bible reading - DONE
• 5-5-5-5 plan for reaching out to people: 5 calls, 5 texts, 5 emails and 5 handwritten notes every day - Talked to a lot of people, just no notes
• Write a chapter of Amelia's Mission - NO
• Polish query letter for Clever Tom - NO
• Create list of agents to submit Clever Tom to - Started
• Barre workout Wednesday and Saturday - Not even close
• Start finding a way to plan meals - This makes me laugh

Challenges last week: Nutty schedule, sick, and Orthodox Easter 

Challenges this week: Even crazier schedule than last week and in a bad mood. The mood is probably a temporary thing...at least I hope so. Here is my list:

• Daily Bible reading - Ahead of schedule
• 5-5-5-5 plan for reaching out to people: 5 calls, 5 texts, 5 emails and 5 handwritten notes every day
• Set up photographer and staging for new listing 
• Polish query letter for Clever Tom
• RENE Class Wednesday and Thursday
• Read Does Your Vision Need an Engineer?
• Barre workout Friday and Saturday
• Start finding a way to plan meals

What is on your task list? Is there anything we can do to cheer you on?

Task it Tuesday - Apr 23

Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task It Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. It was a nice holiday here. For the first time in 20 years, I didn't cook. We took the three kids, our daughter-in-law, and my father-in-law out to lunch. Then, with very full bellies, we spent time at home. This coming Sunday is Orthodox Easter, so we will be driving out to see the rest of the family.

It's been two weeks since I posted my to-do list. Here is the list I posted last time.

• Daily Bible reading (DONE)
• Stick to my 5-5-5-5 plan for reaching out to more people: 5 calls, 5 texts, 5 emails and 5 handwritten notes every day (NOT REALLY)
• Time block my calendar (NO)
• Send out Spring Maintenance letter (DONE)
• Find two agents for Clever Tom (SEARCHING)
• Write query letter for Clever Tom (DONE)
• Set up ballet barre in bonus room (SET UP IN FAMILY ROOM)
• Set out bag of donations for Wednesday (DONE)
• Schedule appointments (DONE)

After four months of trying to make time blocking work for me, I am calling it a failed experiment. Some people love it. I hate it. Time for a new plan. Met with a real estate coach in person last week and he convinced me that unless I was going to stick to it, the time blocking was useless. I totally agree. 

He did, however, show me a plan that could work to help me accomplish the 5-5-5-5 plan that is crucial to an agent's success. In addition, because I was so motivated, I was able to focus myself and get that Spring Maintenance letter out the door to my clients. That means every month so far this year, I've sent something to my clients--which has been my goal for two years. Feeling awesome!!!!

Though it has been tough to fit it in, I've worked out on the barre three times in the last week and a half. I missed yesterday because my meeting ran over, and today I am going from one thing to the next. Wednesday morning will be my plan since I have to be up and out the door by 6:40 anyway.

Clever Tom needs a home, so I wrote my query letter. Need feedback on that--I suck at query letters. I'm also looking for an agent for this story. Once the query letter is polished, I want to have a list of two to four agents to submit it to. Wish me luck.

On Sunday, I finished my Lenten devotional. This is a great book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to reduce anxiety and worry in their lives. I'm up to work my way through another devotional in 2020 for Lent. Not sure of the topic yet.  

With our daily Bible reading, we are going through 2 Samuel and some of the Psalms. 

This week, I would like to accomplish the following:

• Daily Bible reading
• 5-5-5-5 plan for reaching out to people: 5 calls, 5 texts, 5 emails and 5 handwritten notes every day 
• Write a chapter of Amelia's Mission
• Polish query letter for Clever Tom
• Create list of agents to submit Clever Tom to
• Barre workout Wednesday and Saturday
• Start finding a way to plan meals (my diet stinks right now)

I think that's it for me. What's on your to-do list? Is there a certain task or tasks you want to accomplish this week? Is there any way for me to help you reach your goals?