Have you ever heard of the vision board trend? If you are a visual person like me, this might be for. Putting your goals on paper in a visual format can help you achieve them. It is also a fun arts and crafts project you can do with your kids. Typically you would make a list of goals, possibly for the New Year or maybe goals for parenting, marriage, your career. You then cut out pictures in a variety of magazines. For example, if you have a goal this year to lose weight, you could cut out a picture of a scale and then glue it to a tri-fold project board. You can find so many great ideas on Pinterest. It’s a fun project that allows you to see what your goals would look like once you achieve them.
I thought about making a paper vision board, but I want to minimize my home, and I didn’t know where I would put it. Instead, I decided to make a digital vision board; that way, I could save it as a screen saver on my phone and computer. It seemed more realistic that I would look at it when it’s my screen saver (dah). I found a website https://www.canva.com/ where you can make free digital vision boards, posters, and logos. You can design your vision board however you’d like. I thought this heart template was cute.
I came up with four main groups of goals this year: 1. Miracle Morning 2. Health 3. Create 4. Parenting/Family
1. Miracle Morning
Last year I read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. It’s a great book that I definitely recommend. Hal’s main inspiration for the book is the concept of getting up early and spending 1-hour preparing physically, mentally, and spiritually for the day. Some believe it can be life-saving. Waking up early is challenging, so Hal recommends keeping your alarm clock across the room, drinking a large glass of cold water, and showering in the morning. During your first hour of the day, your practice the LIFE SAVERS: Silence Affirmation Visualization Exercise Reading Scribing. Since reading the book, I now wake up at least an hour before the girls and do my Miracle Morning. But I tweaked the LIFE SAVERS to fit better with my personality and Christian values.
Here is my morning schedule:
1. Pray- 5 minutes
2. Stretch- 15 minutes (I stretch instead of doing cardio or weight lifting because I do other exercises at the gym, but you can do what works best for your situation)
3. Read Bible- 15 minutes
4. Write in a thankful journal or journal of choosing- 10 minutes
5. Look at daily planner and go over plans- 5 minutes
6. Read from a book of my choosing with the remaining time- 10 minutes
2. Health
I had a baby five months ago and still have 10 lbs to lose to get back to pre-baby size. This is my third baby; for whatever reason, I’m not losing weight as quickly. I blame the pandemic. I also got into a bad habit of eating mainly carbs, sugar, and dairy. It started with morning sickness during the first trimester, and the habit formed from there. I have a degree in nutrition; you would think this wouldn’t be an issue for me. But that’s not how it works, lol. Nutrition is mostly psychological and habit forming. The majority of people I talk to know what to eat and what to avoid but they still struggle with their diet. Anyway, I need to eat more fruits and veggies, and I will be doing a 40-day sugar fast. I talked about Wendy Speak’s book in my last blog post, My 2021 Book Challenge, And Why You Need One Too!
If you haven’t heard of Trim Healthy Mama, check it out https://trimhealthymama.com/podcast-transcripts/. It’s another resource for living a healthy lifestyle. Sisters Serene and Pearl are two Chrisitan moms. They have written several books and have a great podcast called The Poddy. I’m also working on building muscle and strength training. My whole life, I have been a cardio junkie. When I realized some people only workout 20-30 minutes a day and still build muscle, I was amazed and wanted to learn what I was doing wrong. My friend recommended Mission Rise https://www.stephaniestoecklein.com/mission-rise. The owner Stephanie does 20-minute workouts for busy moms. She has a background in bodybuilding. I also joined Lifetime Fitness to take advantage of the childcare and get some needed self-care in.
My last goal in the health department is meal planning. My husband loves hot meals, and if they are missing her notices quickly. One day I sat down, grabbed a blank notebook, and wrote out 3 months’ worth of meals. It will save me so much time a headache. I recommend doing them based on the season. So, four times a year, Summer, Spring, Fall, and Winter.
3. Create
Create is my word of the year for 2021. Jamie Balmet from The Homemaking Foundation came up with this concept. Find her here https://youngwifesguide.com/ The concept is a great idea. You come up with a new word each year and center your goals around it. One year Jamie chose Joy as her words; another year, she picked refresh. Since 2021 is the launch of my blog, I thought, create seemed like my word. It makes sense since I have always been a creative person, and this year I need to focus on that gift more than ever. My blogging goal for 2021 is to get 50 blog posts up by the end of the year. Eventually, I want to do 2-3 a week, but I need to build up to that.
I have a few other creative endeavors this year. My husband and I want to finish our baby girl’s room. We have to remove carpet, popcorn ceilings, and the dreaded wallpaper. The fun part of me is decorating and designing. I’m the Joanna, and Ian is the Chip. I also get the luxury of painting all the trim and doors in the house.
I also have some other creative small goals, like gardening more, crafting with the kids, and completing a few of my own personal projects.
4. Parenting and Family
I want to make a daily/weekly schedule and add homeschooling to it. Teaching Talitha has been getting pushed to the side because she is still young. I haven’t been concerned, but I want to get into the habit of it now. I plan to make a schedule of our day and print out pictures so that Talitha understands what comes next in the routine. Recently I did a community education class on toddler behavior. They recommended visual daily charts because toddlers can struggle with transitions. I bought a Costco workbook for preschool education. I love Costco!!
Elijah, my 11-year old is doing distance learning this year. We figured it would be easier than hybrid learning. It doesn’t seem like he is being challenged with distance learning, so I started doing extra work with him. My husband likes to give him Brain Quest workbooks. I also have him Usborne Career workbooks. This way, he can learn about different careers that he might want to do someday.
Ian and I want to make it a priority to go on more dates in 2021. Every year we say we will do one date a week. But then we never do, so this time we are sticking with just once a month. It seems reasonable enough, and we already have some on the calendar. Here is a link if you and your spouse want to try some questionnaires to get to know each other more. https://www.marriagebuilders.com/questionnaires.htm They are fun, and there is even one for date ideas.
Lastly, we want to pay off some debts and stick to our Dave Ramsey Plan. Dave Ramsey has an app that we both love. https://www.daveramsey.com/everydollar It permits you to spend money that you preplanned ahead with your spouse. Less money fighting and more money-saving, hahaha.