My April 2016 Goals & March 2016 Recap

It’s hard to believe that the first quarter of the year is almost over! You have a few days to finish up your first quarter goals!

How are you doing on your goals for 2016? Do you need to make any adjustments? The beauty of looking at the year broken down into months or quarters is that there is always a “reset”.

March was a hard month for our family.

My food poisoning experience left me feeling really weak and unmotivated. I’ve been so tired that doing the necessities and spending intentional time with my family has made my days full.
To make matters worse, Jason has been sick for the last 6 days. He’s been to the doctor and they’ve done a lot of tests. Finally this morning, the nurse called and they confirmed that he has Listeria. I’m praying that the antibiotics they gave him do the trick to helping him feel better.
To cap off a bad week, Jason’s parents’ dog, Lily, got run over on Friday. Needless to say the kids are devastated.
This really put a damper on celebrating Maddie’s birthday because we weren’t sure what was wrong with Jason and didn’t want to share the germs with the family so her party was postponed.

And then came Easter. How grateful I am for the good news of Jesus rising from the grave, dying for sinners like me, and giving us everlasting life. Easter is the best reset button!

I’m so grateful for resets! The small resets of life, a new week or month can keep us from going crazy when things are hard.

My top 3 posts in March were:

3 Things I Learned In March:

Gratitude can turn a bad day around. The kids and I have worked on our meaningful bedtime mini-challenge and listing 3 good things that happened each day not only ended the day on a positive note but also proved that there is good in every day.
I spend too much time on social media. After learning to track my time, I have seen the benefits of what I can do with my time when I limit my social media (and how my mood is better when it is limited). Have you noticed this for yourself?
I am stronger than I give myself credit for. With Jason being so sick, I had to step it up and do some of the farm tasks that I’ve never done before (like give baby calves shots). Even though I have seen Jason and my dad do these jobs multiple times, I had never done it…until this week. Not only did I save a baby calf who was born with it’s head doubled under right after it was born (making it not able to breathe) I gave shots and tagged some babies. It was very gratifying but I’m glad my husband will be back in charge shortly!

Here were my March 2016 Goals:

~~Complete Create Meaningful Bedtimes March Mini-Challenge~~. By far, the best challenge I’ve ever done. This one is going to remain a permanent habit and it went along beautifully with the book, Hands Free Life.

Make 2 ~~extra payment~~s on my student loan. I made 1 extra payment this month. Progress, not perfection! March is an expensive month with birthdays, Easter, and the kids started soccer, spring volleyball and track so that required some extra money for equipment, uniforms, and fees.
Read 3 books. I ended up changing a few books around on my list! I finished (and loved) Breaking Busy: How to Find Peace and Purpose in a World of Crazy by Alli Worthington. I also finished Hands Free Life. I didn’t get Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up finished before it was due back at the library but will check it out again and finish soon. I did get my list of KonMari categories into my bullet journal.
Get through 3 units in Elite Blog Academy. Nope!
Complete 4 lessons in Bite-Sized Blogging. Nope!
~~Track my time.~~ Last week when I read I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time the author recommended keeping a time journal. I thought the first week I tracked my time, my life was kind of out of whack with sick kids but every week it’s been that way! There is no “normal”!
Clean the office. Nope! I did get 3 boxes done! Progress!
Exercise 4 times a week. Nope!
Our March family experience will be to have a family fun night! We will be making homemade DIY pizzas, watch a new movie (The Peanuts Movie, play board games and drink hot chocolate!
Help 4 new distributors start their It Works! business (and change their lives with extra cash) while the Double Ruby bonus is available. Nope!
~~Help 10 people change their lives by living a healthier lifestyle.~~

How did you do on your goals in March?

Have you ever felt like your load was just too heavy or the burden was too much? April is a busy month and I have some really exciting opportunities so I’ve slashed my goals for the upcoming month. I’m hoping by doing so I can increase my creativity and spend more time enjoying and creating than worrying about to-do’s.

Here are my April 2016 Goals:

Complete April’s Mini Challenge: 30 Days of Inspiration. I’m working hard on letting my perfection go and letting my creativity out! I will be documenting my progress on what I’m exactly working on with the blog and Instagram!
Make 2 extra payments on my student loan. I’m on target to pay off this in 2016 (which would be 21 months early)!
Read 3 books. Hands Free Mama: A Guide to Putting Down the Phone, Burning the To-Do List, and Letting Go of Perfection to Grasp What Really is the first book on my list. For a little extra self-care this month I picked up Little Book of Mindfulness: 10 minutes a day to less stress, more peace. Finally, I’ve had The Fire Starter Sessions: A Soulful + Practical Guide to Creating Success on Your Own Terms on my list for awhile and I’m excited to read it.
Get through 2 units in Elite Blog Academy.
Complete 4 lessons in Bite-Sized Blogging.
Track my time. I got this concept from I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time by Laura Vanderkam and it’s really helping reclaim my “free” time!
Exercise 3 times a week. Now that the weather is getting nice I can’t wait to go for walks and to get outside! Yay for Spring!
Our April family experience will be to start several of our plants from seed.
Spend at least 15 minutes working on my new website each day.

What are your goals for April? Does perfectionism get in the way of your own creativity?

Have you enjoyed what you read here today? Do you have friends or other women you know that could benefit from this resource? If so, please do me a favor! I have included the links below to share with other intentional women! They’ll be glad you did!