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I turned 26 this year. I’m not officially closer to 30 than I am from 20. With this brought a ton of ideas for personal and professional goals to nail.
The reality of that hit me like a ton of bricks. Welcome to the other side 25. Sometimes I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished anything in my life. I’m super lucky to have a wonderful husband who reminds me that I have.
But I had so many plans of all the things that I wanted to do. But life happened. Things changed. & I’ve realized that is ok.
Hear me as I say that girl. That. Is. Ok.
After that day came and went, and every day since I’ve taken a long look at my life. We went on a week’s vacation and I unplugged. Sometimes you just need to realign yourself and figure out what it is that you really want.
So I made a list of things I want to do before I hit the big 3-0. And I’m sharing it with you today because I want you to be inspired.
#1 Chase those dreams
For a long time now I’ve been chasing that dream that some people in my generation are calling the New American Dream. I want to work for myself full time and this is one of my favorite goals. Be a freelancer/small business owner. A hard-working woman who doesn’t have to choose between career and family. I want all of the things. To work from home. Have a doctor’s appointment on Monday? No problem because my job is flexible. Want to go to see Bali or Australia on a whim? That’s doable too.
Find your dream and chase it fiercely.
#2 Get into the best shape of your life
I have terrible eating habits. I’m munching on a bowl of kettle chips as I write this blog post. I’ve always been on the heavier side of the scale. But now that I’m getting older I know that it’s more about my health then my jeans size. I’m going to get to that place where I eat healthy on the regular.
Getting into a regular exercise routine is a big thing for me as well. I work behind a desk so I’m really just sitting around while my hands fly across the keyboard all day.
#3 Make time for family (without tech)
Make plans to do things with your family. And leave your phones turned off. Leave the computers and iPads at home. Just be together. Take a walk. Spend the weekend away from home. Or it can be something as simple as going out to dinner and leaving your phones in the car.
#4 Start & stick to a budget
Spending money is one thing I’m good at that I wish I wasn’t. I just to have an iron grip on my cash but that was before I had credit cards. Even now I tend to take longer to spend money if I have it physically in my hand. Start a budget now so that you can start saving. Work toward living a debt free life. Ideally, I would like to be debt free by the time I’m 30. We have a mortgage so I’m working on a plan for that now.
#5 Travel somewhere by yourself
Solo travel is not something I have done yet. Not even for business. My husband has been on several and I’m kind of jealous. He obviously has to work but he’s done some fun stuff along the way. I think I would learn a lot about myself if I ventured somewhere new by myself.
#6 Learn a new language
In high school, I took French as my foreign language. I didn’t learn it very well even though I took two years of it. The speaking tests that were given where rough and I struggled through them. I really wish I would have applied myself and learned it better.
#7 Plan a Friends-giving
We did this last year with a couple of our friends. It was awesome. My friend’s husband had to work on the Holiday unfortunately so we did a friends-giving the Saturday after when he got home. I was so much fun to see all of our friends and spend time with them over the holiday.
My goal for this is to actually plan and host it at my own home one year.
#8 Establish a yoga routine (once weekly, twice weekly etc)
Yoga is a great way to ground yourself. I want to get into more so I am looking into taking a class once a week. Eventually, I would like to get to where I can do it twice a week. Once at the class and once at home.
#9 Write at least 500 words per day
As a blogger, I love to write. But somedays I feel like I’m terrible at it. In order to get better, you have to write. Then I get stuck on the what the heck do I write about?! For a really, really long time I got caught up by that.
If you’re worried about your writing or your blog the best advice I can give is to seriously just jump in. Do it. To jump-start my writing, I had to join a blogging accountability group. I’m two weeks in and it’s worked wonders for getting my butt in gear. (review coming after the month is done)
#10 Establish a monthly date night with your best friend
My best friend and I have been friends since we were 14 years old. Now between our careers and lives, we don’t get as much time together as we used too.
I hope to get to a point where we can have dinner one night per month. Stay out late. Enjoy good food and even better drinks.
#11 Read 2 books per month
I’m always trying to learn more. Podcasts, blog posts, audiobooks and good old fashion regular books.
I love a good book. But when it comes to fully reading them though, I normally check out several from the library then forget to pick them up. Or sometimes I’ll read the first couple chapters then put it down and blink, then it’s time to return them. It’s not that I’m not interested in them, it’s just that life is super busy for me right.
So for this goal, I want to make the time to read two books per month.
#12 Do something that scares you
Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is hard. But that is how we evolve. My goal is to aim to do 1 thing every day that scares me. I even put a little post-it note up in my home office to remind me.
Blogging is one of those things for me. Putting my words out there in the world for all to see is scary.
#13 Learn to say no
I’m a natural people pleaser. Sometimes that hurts me. Like a lot. I take on too much then before I know I’ve got several things that need to be done yesterday.
My plan now really look at what is being asked of me. Then make sure I can fully complete what’s being asked. I am giving myself permission to say no to things. People will understand. They’re lives and businesses are just as busy. They get it too.
#14 Build a life you don’t need a vacation from
Sometimes I admit, I want to run away. My life is sometimes mundane. Wake up, work, come home and cook dinner, bed then rinse and repeat. I want to build a life where I don’t feel like this.
I want to build a life where if we want to go away for the weekend on a whim, we can. Need to make doctor’s appointment in the middle of the week? No problem. I have a flexible schedule.
#15 Set more goals
I’m not good at setting goals. Beginning with this blog, that’s all going to change. I’m going to start with setting annual goals, then break them down so small that I have weekly tasks that move me forward to those goals.
What is your next big milestone? Are there any goals you’re trying to reach before then? I’d love to hear all about them, so leave me a comment below.
