by Kelsey Smythe | Jan 17, 2020 | Personal Development
There’s something I love about January. It’s not just that I’m a sucker for fresh starts, though I totally am. I love the feeling of drawing a curtain on the hectic holiday season and focusing on sinking deep into normal everyday life and dreaming about what you can make of a fresh year. Okay, so maybe a lot of why I love January IS that it’s a fresh start. This year I did Powersheets and planned out overarching goals for the whole year. I hope this will give me focus and help me build momentum as I set goals each month this year. It may be January 16, already, but better late than never. Here are my January 2020 goals!
Cultivate our Home
It was really difficult for me not to try to do everything at once for this goal.
- Declutter + organize key pain points: bathroom, bookshelves, kitchen
- Set up a paper system for mail, forms, etc
- Buy some bins, clean out, and organize the fridge (I bought ones similar to these and love them so far!)
- Figure out a mindless + easily doable cleaning schedule
Engage my whole heart with God
It was hard to know where to start with this goal, so I followed Emily Freeman’s advice and just wrote down the next right things.
- Create a prayer/gratitude system – Last year I used the Val Marie Paper yearly journal and looooved it! This year I wanted something more portable so I’m working on implementing a system in my bullet journal.
- Read Women of the Word (next month I plan to implement it!)
Connect with Loved Ones
This isn’t a huge focus this month since we just reconnected with many of our loved ones over the holidays. Something I do plan on doing this year is sending out birthday cards for everyone in our family. Last year I purchased enough cards at the beginning of the year so that wouldn’t be a barrier to sending them. (Who actually remembers to buy a birthday card at the grocery store? Not me.)
- Purchase and designate birthday cards for the whole fam
Strengthen my Body
- Go on 16 runs this month
- Set up reminders in my phone to pack exercise clothes the night before
- Sign up for a race
Explore our Neck of the Woods
- Print adventure list and put it somewhere visible
- Put our next adventure on the calendar
Be a Memory Keeper
- Start a note in my phone with pics I want to take when there’s good light (sadly it’s always dark when I leave and dark when I get home at night)
- Think about a good routine for posting. At night? In the morning? Only on weekends?
- Share 20 pictures on Instagram
Deposit my Words Online
- Plan time slots to blog every week – not sure yet if these will be the same every week or if I need to plan time slots each week.
- Start a note on my phone with the next 5 posts I’d like to publish AND the next 3 small tasks I need to work on. I’m hoping this will make it less overwhelming for me to jump right in even if I don’t have a ton of time.
Build a Local Community
- Research meetups and/or book clubs and/or Bible studies in my area
- Contact a handful
- Put one on the calendar!
To be honest…
Since I’m posting this halfway through the month, I already have a number of these tasks completed! The momentum feels amazing and I can’t wait to see what the next couple of weeks (not to mention the rest of the year!) brings. What are your January 2020 goals?
by Kelsey Smythe | Jan 16, 2020 | Lifestyle, Personal Development
Setting goals each month last year was such a wonderful way to keep me motivated and give me things to look forward to. When you’re not in school anymore and there aren’t any obvious “milestones” to work towards, sometimes it helps to create your own just to make sure that you keep growing and changing. This year I decided to buy PowerSheets to help me with my goal-setting and I have been LOVING them so far. The prep work genuinely did help me clarify what mattered to me and what type of goals would make the biggest impact on my life. I am so excited about my 2020 goals and can’t wait to tackle them! In no particular order, here they are!
1. Make our home a safe haven and a launching pad
This is one of the goals I’m most excited about because I love home, and so does my husband. One of my pain points last year was that it felt like I was always cleaning, organizing, cooking, or running errands. My goal for this year is to
- Declutter + organize so that we have a strong base to work with
- Spend a little money on things that will have a big impact on its organization and loveliness
- Streamline our current cooking + cleaning systems
- Enjoy cooking more
- Make it comfortable for ourselves and any guests we might have
- Have home help us feel energized and prepared to go out into the world
2. Wholeheartedly engage with God
Lately, I’ve been convicted that much of my spiritual life is going through the expected motions but that I don’t engage God with my emotions. I may read my Bible every morning, but I rarely feel broken over my sin. I may listen to sermons every weekend, but I rarely meditate or stew on the Word of God. In short, this year I want to make strides in loving God with my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Obviously I will not have fully achieved this by the end of the year, but if at the end of the year I can say that I love + know God a little better than I did the year before, then I’ll count it a win.
3. Connect with loved ones
It’s now been a full year since we moved to D.C. and I haven’t been doing as great of a job staying connected to our loved ones out west as I had hoped. Instead of waiting for it to happen organically (spoiler alert, it doesn’t) I’m going to be proactive and set up systems to make it happen.
4. Strengthen my body
2020 is the year that I’m going to become a runner! I’ve always loved the idea of being a runner but have always hated running. No more, my friends! I want to strengthen myself physically and take care of this body that God has given me and running feels like the perfect place to start. I’m not sure what strengthening myself will look like for the whole year, but I know it starts with running.
5. Explore our neck of the woods
We live in one of the coolest places in the world and there is SO. MUCH. to see within just a short distance. Last year we didn’t get out and explore that much because we plan to be here for the long-term. There’s no rush to see it all at once! But this year I would like to do some more exploring so I’m aiming for a happy medium and trying to be more intentional with our calendar.
6. Be a keeper of memories
I’ve always felt that if I posted too much about myself online or had too many pictures of myself that people would think I was vain or full of myself. But that’s crazy because I LOVE seeing other people post about themselves and their families. I also love the idea of being able to look back at photos and notes through the years and being able to more clearly remember the things we cherished, the ways God met us, and the lessons we learned. This year I’m going to take more pictures and share more on social media (which also helps with my ‘Connect with Loved Ones’ goal!).
7. Deposit my words online
I love to write and derive a great amount of pleasure and knowledge from the experience. But for some reason, it can be so hard for me to justify the time it takes, and getting into the writing mindset can be so difficult. This year I hope to build some momentum by blogging regularly because I know it won’t be time I’ll regret spending. Working toward a specific number has always been motivating for me, so this year my goal is to publish 75 new posts. At just 1-2 posts a week, that’s just frequently enough that I’ll have to stay on top of it throughout the year but is still doable.
8. Build a local community
Adult friendships are tough, am I right? I’m the type of person that always waits for an extrovert to adopt me so I can have friends. We’ve been in D.C. a year now and that still hasn’t happened yet, so it looks like I’ll have to put in a little more leg work. I think community is so, so valuable, so this year I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and make some more friends.
What are your 2020 goals?
by Kelsey Smythe | Nov 20, 2019 | Personal Development
A few months ago I had the goal of journaling every day for the entire month. I had many reasons for wanting to journal more. It helps you become a better, more creative writer by helping get the juices flowing, does wonders for your personal growth by giving you an opportunity to reflect and process things going on in your life or in your heart; and acts as a record so that you can look back on your old journal entries through the years and see where you’ve been and how you’ve grown. See? So many reasons to journal.
Despite knowing WHY I wanted to, I struggled with actually doing it. I realized that the main reason it was hard was because I struggled to think of something to write about. What I was missing was a list of journal prompts to give me topics to write about each day. So I scoured the internet and found a ton of great ideas. So many, in fact, that I’ve decided to break this post up into a series. First up, journal prompts for personal growth.
I had some help thinking of these prompts and got ideas from here, here, here, and here. Check out their posts and see if they have other ideas you’d like to try. New to journaling? Read this.
Journal Prompts for Personal Growth
- What are you currently avoiding focusing on? Why are you afraid to explore that area of your life?
- What’s frustrating you right now?
- List some of your weaknesses and ways to deal with those weaknesses
- What thoughts have you been thinking lately that are not true or are even harmful toward you or those around you?
- If anything was possible, what would your long-term goals be?
- What’s a desire you have that you’ve never told anyone else about?
- What do you feel like is missing from your life?
- How do you indulge yourself? Do you need to indulge yourself more often or less often?
- What was the biggest mistake you made this week?
- Is there anything you did this week that you wish you’d done differently?
- What character traits do you need to work on?
- What are the top ten qualities a friend should have ( for example: treats people with respect; listens but doesn’t judge; has a quirky sense of humor; is an artist; lives with passion; doesn’t sweat the small stuff; is loyal and trustworthy)?
- What would make you feel spiritually fulfilled?
- What physical characteristics are you most self-conscious about? How could you make peace with those?
- How have you stretched your comfort zone in the past month (even slightly)? What did you learn from this experience? What’s one new comfort zone challenge you’d like to conquer?
- What might you need to forgive yourself for right now?
- What’s the next step you’ve been thinking about taking for far too long?
- How will you embody “love” today? What specifically will you do?
- What kinds of physical clutter have been complicating your life and diverting you from meaningful life experiences?
- What’s something you often take too personally even though, logically, you know better? How has this habit affected your life?
- How can you provide healthy challenges for both your mind and body on a daily basis? What will you do today to walk the talk?
- What’s something true about you that you need to embrace more openly and lovingly?
- How have your recent expectations of others gotten the best of you? What happened, and what have you learned?
- What’s something from your past that you are thankful you gave up on? Why?
- What distractions have been getting the best of you lately? How often? Why?
- How did you procrastinate on important tasks this week?
- What’s one old pattern of behavior that sometimes still sneaks up on you? What’s a better alternative, and why?
- What do you love about yourself?
- Does this have an alternative meaning?
- What feelings are in the backburner?
- What do you feel guilty about right now? Should you?
- Write a list of 100 dreams.
- What did you do this week that moved you closer to reaching your goals?
- Over the past month, what have your actions been silently saying about your priorities? Are there any changes you want to make?
- What is one privilege you have that you often take for granted?
- What is your greatest weakness? Describe a time this weakness held you back.
- How far have you come? How much have you grown? Think about the specifics of your recent and long-term growth. What have you not given yourself enough credit for?
- What’s the hardest thing you’re trying to accomplish or cope with right now? What is something small and necessary about this struggle?
- What are my personal values?
- How am I fulfilling my purpose in life?
Want to Print these Journal Prompts for Personal Growth?
If you’d like to print these prompts out, I created a printable PDF you can snag here. I printed them and slipped in my journal so that I didn’t have to go looking for them in my early morning journal sessions.
Let Me Know How it Goes
I’d love to hear if and how the journaling prompts helped you in your personal growth. Leave me a comment or shoot me an email.
Have anything you’d add to the list? I would love to hear those too!
by Kelsey Smythe | Nov 18, 2019 | Personal Development
Do you keep a journal? I’ve known for a while how good journaling is for my mental and emotional health, but I often lack the discipline and motivation to do it. I’m a classic questioner, so I decided that compiling a list of reasons WHY I should keep a journal will help me out a lot. And if I maybe convince you to pick up this good practice as well, I’ll consider my life work complete. Okay, almost complete 😉
20 Reasons You Should Start Journaling
- Journaling helps you process tricky emotional situations
- Keeping a journal creates a time capsule so you can see how you’ve grown throughout the years
- A journal helps you to become more honest with yourself
- Journaling can help you achieve your goals
- It relieves stress
- Keeping a journal helps you understand yourself better
- Journaling helps you solve problems
- Writing regularly in a journal helps you become a better writer
- Journaling captures memories
- Keeping a journal practice eases anxiety
- Journaling helps you remember your ideas, dreams, or other important things
- A journal fosters creativity (or gives you new ideas)
- Journaling can boost your self-esteem
- Writing in a journal clears your mind
- Journaling improves your memory
- Keeping a journal helps you heal
- Journaling increases self-awareness
- A journal increases gratitude
- Journaling regularly can improve your handwriting
- Journaling makes you happier
How to Get Started Journaling
Buy the supplies that work for you
You may not know what supplies you would even prefer, so feel free to experiment at first. The right journal and pen can make all the difference. I discovered I prefer spiral bound journals and felt tip pens. Also think about whether you prefer lined or unlined. Lots of colorful pens or just your trusty favorite black pen?
The pens I always keep coming back to are these trusty ones. Lately, the pen that I actually make sure I don’t lose and even go out to the car in the cold to retrieve is this one. BUT I’ve heard good things about these pens and am thinking about buying them next.
Keep your journaling entries short
I used to make myself write out allll the thoughts and it took so long that I started to dread doing it. Give yourself permission to keep really short entries, even if it’s only a line or two.
Have a specific time you do it every day
If your goal is to journal every day but you haven’t planned out WHEN you’ll do it, chances are you won’t get around to it. Pick a specific time, like before bed or right after you wake up, and do your best to stick to it. If you miss a day, no pressure. Just get back to it the next day.
Skip the first page
Sometimes a brand new, completely blank journal can be really intimidating. I don’t know what it is about that first page, but for some reason it can be really tough to fill in. Give yourself the gift of skipping the first page. You can always add a poem or sticker or drawing later on if the blankness is driving you crazy. The key is to just do whatever you need to to get started.
Keep it simple
This goes hand in hand with keeping your entries short. If you promise yourself you’re going to write about your whole day every day, list out every single emotion you’re feeling each morning, etc., it’s going to be really hard to stay motivated.
Use prompts
This one has been huge for me. I journal first thing in the morning and oftentimes my brain doesn’t feel awake enough for me to feel like I have anything to say. The other benefit of using prompts is that it helps you write about or work through things you would never have thought of on your own. Wins all around.
Remember that it gets easier the more you do it
Whenever I’ve gotten out of the habit of journaling regularly, starting back up again feels like torrtuuuuure. I’m not sure why that is. It almost feels like there’s some kind of blockage in my brain preventing me from writing out my thoughts anymore. BUT I’ve learned that if I just power through it, eventually it’ll stop feeling like self-torture (think of better description) and start feeling like therapy. But sometimes I have to start by writing out stupid stuff like, “I’m really tired today.”
Open your expectations for what journaling could look like
This is another huge thing that makes journaling both more enjoyable and easier to stick to. It doesn’t have to be the same thing every day. Maybe one day you use a prompt and the next day you just write out a list of things you’ve been thankful for lately and the day after that you write out a prayer. Heck, journaling can even involve writing out your grocery list. Sounds boring, I know, but how fun would it be to read through a grocery list you created ten years ago? It would totally help you remember what your favorite foods were and what your life looked like. So yeah, open your expectations of what journaling could look like and you’ll have a lot more fun with it.
Experiment with different forms
The internet is full of different journaling ideas, whether it’s the bullet journal, drawing, writing, or some kind of mix of all above. Try out different forms and see what you like best.
Promise yourself you’ll never let anyone else read it
One of the scariest thoughts about journaling is after having a good emotional vent session and then picturing someone else picking it up and reading it? No? Just me? Or sometimes I want to clean myself up a little bit so that if I die before I can burn all my journals, whichever relative of mine that has the joy of going through my stuff won’t think I’m a terrible person. The likelihood of someone actually reading your journals is slim, but if you subconsciously write as if someone might read it in the future, you’re going to heavily edit yourself and that just defeats the point. So for your mental and emotional well-being, promise yourself you’ll never let anyone else read your journals and maybe ask your BFF to burn them in case you go rather suddenly.
Have I convinced you yet?
Journaling definitely takes time and effort, but the benefits more than pay for the cost. I’ll be sharing different journaling prompts this week, so stay tuned for those!
by Kelsey Smythe | Nov 6, 2019 | Lifestyle, Personal Development
Happy November, friends! October was f u l l, but in a really good kind of way. Our foster cat was adopted. We brought home a new 5-month-old foster kitten that we just might keep forever. And we had the pleasure of having friends over for Halloween. So much to be grateful for! Now onto all things November and November goals.
Fun Things Happening in November
- A quiet Thanksgiving at home
- A hike in Shenandoah National Park
- Christmas shopping!
November Theme: give t h a n k s
Thinking about gratitude in November can feel like such a cliche, but I decided to use the cultural momentum of this month to really dig in to thanking God for all He is and gives. I wrote about how unexpectedly life-changing gratitude is earlier this year and every month that lesson seems to sink in a little deeper.
October Goals Recap – 3.5ish* out of 7 completed
- Write for my blog every day. I only wrote like three days total, so this if a definite fail!
Run 15x. I ran 12x, which is huge for me! I took it slow and enjoyed it so much more than I thought. So glad I set this goal, so I’m probably going to repeat it!Read my daily Bible reading plan without my phone. Doing this helped me focus so much more. When I read on my phone, it’s that much easier to pull up a distracting app.Buy and install new window screens. Getting screens in windows is harder than I anticipated. We have several windows with broken screens and several windows with no screens. To make it easier on myself, I ordered the material I need to repair the broken screens and I’ll call it a day! The material arrived last night and now all I need to do is install it.Make Friendsgiving plans. We have a plan for Thanksgiving Day!- Get new passport pictures. Nope.
- Open a new Roth IRA. I did some research but haven’t taken the plunge yet.
*We use very official numerical terminology around here.
November Goals
I use eight life categories to give me focus and help me realize if I’m neglecting a particular area of my life. The eight life categories are my environment, career, health, relationships, money, personal/spiritual development, fun, and service. Some of my goals hit more than one category, so I won’t always come up with eight different goals for each category. The great thing about using the categories as a guideline is that it gives me some structure to work with and helps me see if I have any blind spots.
My 7 November Goals
- Write 7 blog posts. I haven’t been putting as much energy into this little blog as I’d like so I’m going to prioritize that this month!
- Weekly meal prep. Finding something to take to work for breakfast and lunch has been feeling like such a burden. I want to start taking a couple hours on Sundays to prep all those meals ahead of time so we can stay healthy and save money.
- Run 15x. This ended up being a great goal that kept me motivated all month long so I’m doing it again.
- Finish all my Christmas shopping. Sounds ambitions, but I think I can make it happen. I already have half my gifts picked out and am just waiting for Black Friday sales to purchase them.
- Cull 2016-2017 iPhone photos. I want my photos to be happy memory aids and not an overwhelming backlog of duplicates and memes. On the bright side, going through old photos has been really fun!
- Pick and order an Advent devotional. I’m thinking about this one but let me know if you have suggestions!
- Paint our nightstands. I add this as last because it’s not really the end of the world if I don’t get to it, but I DO already have all the supplies, so I think I’ll be able to knock it out in a weekend.
What are your November goals? Any fun things happening this month?
by Kelsey Smythe | Oct 3, 2019 | Personal Development
Happy October, friends! September was a FULL month, but so so good. We celebrated our birthdays, took a day trip to the Shenandoah National Park, had a few visitors in town, and I went to Oklahoma for another work trip. I don’t think we could have packed much more into September. I’m definitely looking forward to slowing down a little with the shorter days and cooler weather this month. Now let’s chat about October goals and happenings.
Fun Things Happening in October
- Meet with friends who will be in town
- A visit to a local winery with friends
- Lots of quiet evenings at home while Charles studies and writes papers 🙂
October Theme: Just do it
There are some things that I’ve been either dreading or putting off that I would love to tackle this month. One of the things that learning about my enneagram type has helped me with the most is that I’ve realized just how much I overthink things instead of taking action on things. There’s no point in planning out the best way to do something if you’re never going to do it. So I’m borrowing from Nike for my motto for this month (and this year really) to ‘just do it.’
Finishing two-thirds of my September goals felt great, especially since I prioritized my top 3!
Write a list of 100 Dreams in anticipation of my 30th birthday. This is a much harder exercise than I anticipated but so revealing! I would definitely recommend!Plan reentry into social media. I’m trying out media-free mornings. My goal is to wait until after lunch to check social media or email.Paint our dresser. This was a lot work but SO satisfying when complete!- Cull 2016 – 2017 iPhone photos – Didn’t get to this at all.
Create my Fall reading list. In progress but mostly done- Brainstorm meaningful birthday traditions Charles and I can implement – *womp womp* I didn’t do this one at all
A before and after of the dresser I painted. I *just* noticed that I put the middle drawers in on the wrong side! Overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out. I opted out of waxing but I may decide to do another coat of chalk paint and wax in the future.
October Goals
I use eight life categories to give me focus and help me realize if I’m neglecting a particular area of my life. The eight life categories are my environment, career, health, relationships, money, personal/spiritual development, fun, and service. Some of my goals hit more than one category, so I won’t always come up with eight different goals for each category. The great thing about using the categories as a guideline is that it gives me some structure to work with and helps me see if I have any blind spots.
My 7 October Goals
- Write for my blog every day. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount, but I would love to get in the habit of writing a little bit every day.
- Run 15x. It was hard for me to decide how to set a running goal, but I realized that the hardest part for me is just getting out there and doing it. Once I’m out there, I usually do a good job pushing myself to keep working.
- Read my daily Bible reading plan without my phone. I find having my phone within arm’s reach in the morning is just way too big of a temptation/distraction. I’ll have to write down the next day’s reading the night before so I don’t have to check the app!
- Buy and install new window screens. The ones we currently have our super old, screwed into the actual window sill, and have tons of holes in them. Now that the weather’s starting to cool down, I’d love to actually open our windows without worrying about cats getting out and bugs coming in. Not to mention the giant collection of spider webs outside our windows that I can’t get to thanks to non-removable screens.
- Make Friendsgiving plans. Since all our family is a (very expensive) plane ride away, Charles and I are staying in DC for Thanksgiving this year. Any fun non-Turkey-dinner suggestions?
- Get new passport pictures. While Charles and I don’t have any big international trips planned in the near future, it would be nice for us both to get our passports renewed just in case.
- Open a new Roth IRA. After reading this book (affiliate link), I’ve looked into our current various investing accounts and have realized that there are some easy changes we can make to lower fees and save a whole lot more money in the long run. I’ll write a post on this soon!
What are your October goals? Any fun things happening in October?
