Earlier I wrote about my word of the year, and how I haven’t set annual goals in a long time. This year, I decided to try it out again and see how I liked it. I tried to focus on goals that related to habits or things I was already doing that I wanted to maintain or deepen this year. Other goals are more focused on things I want to try or experiment with. A lot of them tie back in with my word of the year, place: connecting to the place I am in (home, neighborhood, and environment), putting everything in its place, and having my important relationships in a good place.
Personal:
*100 strength training workouts. I’ve been averaging 3 strength workouts a week in the last few months of 2025, and I want to continue this habit. 100 seems like a manageable goal that accounts for weeks traveling, sick, etc. but still demands a regular routine.
*Experiment with the Read Harder Challenge. I used to love doing Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge. It has many different prompts for the year, and I enjoy seeing everyone’s recommendations for books that fit the prompts. I loved how I found new favorites I wouldn’t have encountered or selected myself, but I haven’t done the challenge in ages. I don’t know if I want to read 24 books from the challenge, since that would be almost a quarter of my yearly reading, but I think trying out 10 prompts from the challenge feels fun! This will also prevent me from feeling like I have to stick with the challenge books if I’m not enjoying them--the goal is simply to experiment with the prompts to see if I find any new authors or books of my usual path.
*Post 52 times or more on my blog. I’d like to continue writing a minimum of 1x weekly. I’m currently averaging about twice, but my main goal is just consistency, writing more, and a creative and reflective outlet.
*Make a playlist of favorite new songs released this year.
*Complete monthly planning and reflection pages in my planner. My favorite thing about my planner is the monthly reflection and planning pages. Last year, I completed about half of them, but I think this really helps me to be intentional about the month ahead and realistic about focusing on what matters most.
Marriage:
*Find a babysitter.
*Go on 12 dates this year. I think we managed about half of this last year, but I think once a month would be a nice cadence for this.
*Do a short trip to celebrate our 10 year anniversary this year.
*Read War and Peace together. I took my freshman seminar on War and Peace in college but don’t remember it well. After hearing about it on the Happier podcast, I realized that I was curious to reread it from a different vantage point. I mentioned wanting to reread the book, and Joel said he’s always been curious about it. So we’re reading it together, and it’s fun to take turns reading it aloud to each other. .
Family & Home
*Do 12 hikes with the 4 of us. These hikes can be to repeat destinations and can also include other friends, but going out in nature together is one of my favorite things to do as a family and I want this to be a regular part of our life.
*Experiment with the 1 Second a Day App. This is an app where your upload a photo from every day, and it will turn it into a video as the year progresses. So far, I really like it and it's encouraging me to take more photos.
*Create and order 2024 & 2025 photobooks.
*Go on one family camping trip (or more). We did this once in 2025, and had 2 other trips scheduled but kids got sick. We did enjoy it, and I’m hoping to try again in 2026.
*Make a list of spaces in the house to declutter and work my way through them this year.
*Do a 1-on-1 outing with my six-year-old once a quarter. We get a lot of time together, but a lot of it is with her younger sister. I’ve noticed that she really likes the time alone with a parent, so I think I’d like to try to inentionally plan an outing with her once a quarter.
Community & Friends:
*Host a neighbor gathering.
*Attend a Shabbat family service at our new synagogue & sign kids up for religious education. My husband is Jewish, and we want our kids to have a strong foundation in Judaism and feel connected to this part of their identities.
*Take a weekend trip with a good friend!
*Visit other friends in LA and meet my friend’s new baby!
Do you set goals for a year, or prefer smaller to-dos or timelines? Do we have any similar intentions this year?
Sam, great goals!
ReplyDeleteI don’t have goals, just a wish list and sort of “intentions” list.
We have some similarities, for sure.
Date nights - also monthly. The ymca has a parents night out service, the kids have pizza, watch a movie and go for a swim.
Health. At the above mentioned ymca there is a gym and a pool and group classes. Yesterday I stopped by after work and did weights, today I went lap swimming, and tomorrow is my first ever cycling class - nervous about that one lol
Camping- it fell through for us last year! So I wanna do it again this year.
I forget, did you do the word of the year?…
Good luck with all your goals! I post 5x a month or so, and that works really well for me. Once a week, and then a Favourite Things. The thought of posting more often is just too much for me, although I did earlier on in my blogging life!
ReplyDeleteGreat goals! How fun to read War and Peace with your husband! I would love to do something like that, but am not sure I could get Phil onboard w/ that book. I'll have to think about it.
ReplyDeleteI used to do the Read Harder Challenge years ago. I stopped because it seemed to not positively impact my reading - but I think choosing 10 prompts to work through is great as that's a pretty low # for a big reader like you. I always loved researching books for each of the prompts! That might have been my favorite part actually!
Good luck with the babysitter and increased number of dates. I hope that happens, as I recall when having young kids how great it is to connect. That one second photo upload thing sounds so so cool. I don't set goals for myself. I work off of a to do list. I'm pulled in a lot of different directions and sticking to what I need to get done is about all I can manage. I also workout every day and need to have a really crazy good excuse to skip a workout - so I don't really need to set a goal for that. I would like to find more time to write, socialize as a couple, and go on a girls' weekend. (Or 5! Ha, dare to dream).
ReplyDeleteThese are great! I have never tried the One Second a Day app but that sounds super fun... maybe I'll have to check that out. I definitely don't really struggle to take photos (lol..) BUT I think it could be a fun a reminder to take a few more regular life photos! The big video compilation sounds neat.
ReplyDeleteI love the term "experiment" because it allows you to stop doing something if you find out it's not serving you, and you still can mark the goal as complete!
ReplyDeleteI did the Read Harder challenge many years ago, and it never even crossed my mind to only choose a few prompts rather than doing every single one, ha. I love that idea! So smart.
A few years ago, I did a whole year of One Second Every Day and it was a lot of fun! I keep thinking of doing it again, and then I don't.
Ooh, I love it! I love the reading challenges here. I'll be interested to hear how the War and Peace project goes. I read it a LONG time ago! I think you have a nice mix of fun and personal growth goals here.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great list of goals, Sam. I love how you phrased that you want to continue and deepen things that you're already doing! And it's so great you've been getting back to a regular writing/blogging habit... we're all very much enjoying this :)
ReplyDelete