It’s been too long since I both posted and updated my progress on my 18 in 2018 list. Now that we’re officially halfway through the year, I thought an update was due.
For those of you unfamiliar, I first heard the idea to make a list of 18 things I want to do in 2018 on the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin (and I’m actually listening to the latest podcast as I type this!), and I immediately loved the idea. I have always liked new year’s resolutions, but found it hard to keep a lot of resolutions that were focused on habit change. The 18 in 2018 list has been so fun and rewarding for me because it enabled me to put more “resolution”-esque goals on my list with very concrete, one-time experiences or to-dos that were easier to achieve. Speaking of which, on to my 18 in 2018 updates sketch.
Desert 2 District Design II 18 in 2018 updates
Putting this together, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve done in half a year. Most of what’s left on my list is planning travel, which I love to do so I think I should be able to get that done without too much difficulty. I’ve fallen the furthest behind on my spin goal, so I’ll need to make that happen soon. In terms of my habit goals, I am definitely making progress, but need to keep the momentum going the rest of the year.
If you’d like to use my template, you can download the image here (visit the link and right click on the image to download). Just print it and you can create your own progress report!
Desert 2 District Design II Progress over Perfection
Happy Thursday! I am trying to keep myself on track with my 18 in 2018 list by doing these periodic check-ins. I am a forever perfectionist so it's hard for me to be OK with incremental progress that isn't 100% perfect 100% of the time. This mantra helps me.
It looks like I haven't added much, but the one I checked off last was a HUGE one for me--launching my online shop!
I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I've been intimidated by the technical aspects/little tasks that are all part of launching the shop--setting up Paypal, getting a postage meter, taking and editing photos of my artwork. But I chipped away at my mountain of tasks and gave myself a deadline by announcing my shop launch. And somehow... it came together!
So even though I don't have much else to update, checking that one off the list was a huge accomplishment for me. I've just got to keep repeating my mantra above--progress over perfection.
If you found this blog through my instagram, then you probably know about my fondness for list-making and goal-setting. It's probably not a surprise that I'm a Virgo. Although I've always loved goal-setting, I haven't always been the best at tracking my goals, especially long term goals. I often set grand goals, make progress, and then decide that I did enough or I'll lose interest and move on to the next project.
This year, I am trying to see my 18 in 2018 (AND my new 30 before 30) lists through. So, to give myself a little accountability, I'm going to do periodic updates on my progress on both lists. Tackling my 18 in 2018 list first...
Desert 2 District Design II 18 in 2018 progress
I actually surprised myself a little with the amount of progress I made so far this year! I've made the most progress on my art and home-related projects, with a huge amount of help from my sweet and handy husband. I have my new art space all set up (which I LOVE and use daily), we made new side tables, and after a ton of deliberation and months of searching, we also finally ordered a new couch to replace our $50 IKEA couch that we've had for 3 years.
I'm making progress on my monthly and weekly goals as well, although I'm doing better at some vs. others. Date nights have been a wonderful new tradition. I don't know if any of you are as obsessed with Google calendar as I am, but they have a new "GOALS" feature where you can tell it you want to set aside an hour (or any amount of time) for a goal once a week (or whatever frequency you want) and it'll find time on your schedule for you and create recurring appointments. It really made finding time for date nights easy for me, as an overly scheduled person, and we haven't missed one yet.
I've also been doing my at least monthly spin classes thanks to Classpass, but injured my shoulder fairly seriously in the last month and am finding it hard to get back into my routine now that it's finally starting to heal. I am also really struggling with the bedtime routine. I'm great about it for a couple nights and then I'm back to somehow staying up until one in the morning and slogging through the next day.
Do you have any ideas for how to get back into a workout routine after injury or how to make a bedtime routine stick? If you have a list, I'd love to hear about your progress too!
