I used to hate the months of January and February. Honestly, after the excitement and fun of the holidays, it was as disappointing as a really bad ending to a good book to be inundated with snow and ice and stuck in the house. I had a few winters like that on eastern Long Island when my kids were little. One year, we had a deep snow (I mean DEEP--four feet--which is very deep for Long Island.) Our driveway got covered, then a wet snow left it topped with an ice-blanket so thick we couldn't use the driveway all winter. My husband had to park on the street for weeks and weeks.
Yes, there were days of sledding and days of building snowmen, and hot cocoa with marshmallows. There was snuggling and reading aloud, and days with the (new to us) Nintendo Donkey Kong, which my boys instantly took to like magnets to iron. (I didn't realize then that the purchase of that first Nintendo system would change our family life forever! It seems boys and video games are fused at the hip--or is it at the mouse?)
Anyway, in recent years, I've learned to love January and February, and here's why. A new year is the perfect time to rev up the tired old routines that aren't working in your life and make changes that count.
Yeah, I know, you've heard it all before, resolutions and all that. But I'm not talking about vague resolutions or good intentions. I'm talking about a specific list of goals, broken down into manageable chunks, and a plan for how to reach each one. (Who cares what the weather's like when you've got so much to keep you busy and interested in life?)
In a nutshell, I start with a Master List of Goals, break them into monthly goals, and use a daily to-do list to stay on track. I have five major areas of life which I create goals for: Personal, Family, House and Home, Career, and Finance.
I'll give more details on this in my next post, but rest assured that when you see immediate, if small, victories and changes in your life, it is encouraging. So January is a time for me to rejoice in the new disciplines I prayerfully implement, and February is exciting because by mid-month, some of my new disciplines will be new habits. (I should also be a pound or two lighter by then; you know, the pound or two that came on over the holidays? No sense bringing it with me all the way to summer!)
How about you? Do you start new goals with the start of the year? What's your biggest goal this year?
Leave a comment and you'll be entered into my new book giveaway. That's all it takes.*Here's what you can win:
Help Your Twenty-Something Get A Life...And Get It Now, by Ross Campbell, M.D., Kregel Publishingwith a foreword by Gary Chapman, Ph.D.
SALE! SALE! SALE! SALE!
My first novel, Before the Season Ends (A Regency Inspirational Romance)
is available on Kindle right now for only $2.51! Great snuggle-up reading (or so they tell me) for a song. :) I have no idea how long my publisher will keep it at this price--I only discovered quite by accident that it was marked down!
*Book Drawing for US residents only, sorry. I should also mention that it will have underlined passages because I'm just finishing this book but I underline as I go. The reason I underline is twofold: One: I'm compelled to! Two: I hire my daughter to type up all the underlined passages and keep them for later when I want to review what I learned in a book. (I got this tip from Mike Hyatt. Great idea!) So-pardon my underlining--but if you'd like to read the book, leave a comment and you'll be in the drawing!
Talk Again Soon, :)
Linore
5 comments:
Great post, Linore! Goals? Hmmm...well, one major goal I have each year is reading through the Bible. I just started on my 13th time through.
I love the way you break down your goals into categories. I may give that a try...
Of course I would love to win the book, underlining and all.
And I am going to try to get your first novel, since I have the second one. I want to read them in order. :)
Thank you, Debbie! I'm really impressed that you've read through the whole Bible 13 times already! That's a wonderful accomplishment. I've done it a few times but not recently, though I agree it's a worthy goal.
As for the categories, I find them very helpful. I hope you'll try it and let me know what you think. My next two posts are pre-scheduled, and more on goals, so I'll be talking more about that. Thank you as always for sharing your thoughts and entering the giveaway. :)
Ps to Debbie: forgot to say, thanks for your interest in my first book. If you have a Kindle one just the Kindle app, it's a good sale! It's also bargain-priced right now on the Nook.
I don't have a Kindle, but I do have the Kindle for PC app. I really don't like having to read a whole novel off of a computer, but what can ya do?
As for reading through the Bible, I am working on my 13th time this year. Each time I read through it, God opens up knew truths to me. It always blows me away how I keep discovering things I'd never noticed in previous read throughs. God is good!
Yes, God's Word is awesome! You know you've read it before, but it isn't the same--. Thanks for sharing about this.
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