I hope the first few days of 2018 are treating you well. (I keep wanting to type/write 2017 – let’s hope I get into the habit of 2018 sooner rather than later.) Now that it’s officially the new year, I thought I’d share my goals for 2018. I’m one of those people who loves goals – as you can tell by my monthly goals posts that I’ve been posting nearly every month for the last few years. I love hearing about what other people want to accomplish throughout the year. This time of year it feels like 2018 has so much potential, so I’m excited to share what I have planned for the year. Before you get started reading, I have to warn you that this will be a long post.
I’ve divided my goals up into three categories: personal, fitness, and professional.When I started thinking about what I wanted to accomplish I found that all of my goals fit under one of those three headings, so I thought it would be a good way to organize them. Are you wanting to make some goals for yourself for 2018? Check out my SMART goals post for all the details on how to make goals that you’ll actually accomplish.
Personal
Read 24 books in 2018.
I haven’t read much the last few years since I’ve been in school (reading for fun is the last thing I wanted to do after reading a textbook chapter for class). Now that I’m finally done school, I’m finding myself reading more. And it’s for fun now! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I’m currently re-reading the Harry Potter series. I have a few more books in line that I’m looking forward to reading in the next month or two: The Violets of March
24 books in a year is only two books per month, which I think is totally doable. I’ll be sure to share the books I get through as I read them. I love hearing what other people are reading, so I figure other people are the same way. I’m always looking for book recommendations, so if you have any be sure to leave them in the comments below.
Be in bed by 9:30 4 nights per week.
I’m one of those people who needs their sleep or else I’m grouchy and not very productive the next day. I also like to workout early in the morning, which means being at the gym between 5:30 am and 6 am most days. The only way I’m getting out of bed at 5 in the morning when my alarm goes off is if I’m in bed early the night before. I know that there will be nights when I’m out or date nights with my boyfriend when I won’t be able to be in bed by 9:30 pm. Instead of being hard on myself, I’m setting my goal to be in bed early 4 nights per week. I think that will give me a good basis of sleep so that I can be my best during the day.
Save money.
Being in school for the last few years wasn’t at all conducive to saving money. It felt like all the money I was making while working part time while I was in school went to tuition or books or parking. It definitely made saving money tough to do. Now that I’m done school though, I’d like to get back to putting a little bit of each paycheck away. I’d love to move in 2018, and as everyone knows, that’s an expensive thing to do. I’ve committed to putting a fixed amount straight into my savings account each and every time I get paid in 2018.
Fitness
Run a 5K race.
Back when I first started this blog (I just checked – 2011, that feels like such a long time ago), I was starting to get into running. I had a treadmill so it was convenient to do, and I knew that it was a good workout. Unfortunately plantar fasciitis sidelined my running, and although I tried to get back into it again, the plantar fasciitis came back again too. Thankfully I’ve been able to keep it under control for the most part lately. I do get flair ups, but I know how to deal with it and take it easy for the next day or two.
I’m hoping to get back into running in 2018. I’ve never run a race, but I’d love to do a 5K. I definitely won’t be trying to win my age group or anything, but I think it would be really fun and feel like a huge accomplishment if I could complete a 5K. I wanted to do something new, different, and out of my comfort zone, and this seemed like the perfect goal to set. If anyone is a runner and has struggled with plantar fasciitis, I’d love your advice on how to deal with it!
Meal prep 3 meals each week.
Although this goal isn’t fitness related, I thought I’d add it in to this section as it’s still health related. I’ve gotten pretty good at meal prepping one or two recipes each week. I’ll typically have enough meals to last through Wednesday or Thursday, and then I run out and don’t make the healthiest choices when I’m hungry and want to eat now. I’m hoping that meal prepping three meals each week will help with this. That should give me enough meals to least through Friday or Saturday. Since I’m already in the habit of meal prepping, I’m hoping that adding another meal or two on top of what I’m already cooking won’t be too hard to do.
Do at least 2 strength training workouts each week.
Not going to lie, I’ve been really slacking on the strength training since July. The gym at school had tons of strength training equipment that was largely unused on weekend mornings when I liked to go. As a result I had my pick of what I wanted to use. I was so spoiled. The gym I go to now is a lot busier, so it can sometimes be tough to get the equipment I want to use when I want to use it. Most of the time I’m in a hurry to get in and out of the gym, so I don’t want to wait around.
I’m committing to getting in at least 2 strength training workouts each week. A new gym will be opening not far from me in mid January, so I’m hoping that will help with how busy my gym is. I have access to this new gym too, and I’m happy to report that they have a ton of dumbbells, deadlifting platforms, and squat racks, so I can always go there if need be.
Professional
Grow my blog.
I won’t go into a lot of detail on this goal because it probably doesn’t really interest anyone but me, but I really want to make 2018 the year I put some extra effort into my blog to make it better and increase my readership. While I think I’m really good at posting evergreen content, I’m planning on writing some more personal posts in 2018, and share more of my everyday – the same kinds of things that I like reading about on other people’s blogs.
Create workout plans and offer online training.
I’m really looking forward to sharing some products on the blog. I’ve been wanting to offer both of these things for so long, and being able to finally work on them is so much fun. I’m currently in the middle of putting together my first workout plan. I’m hoping to start offering it for sale, plus some additional health and fitness printables in the next month or two, so be sure to keep your eyes open for them. Online training will probably be a bit later on in 2018, but I’m just as pumped about that.
Attend at least 2 fitness industry conferences.
Since I have to get professional development credits to keep my CSEP certification, I’m planning on going on attending a couple conferences. I’ve heard good things about this one put on by AFLCA in Kananaskis as well as Fit Rendezvous in Edmonton in the spring. Not only do I get more education (there’s always something new to learn when it comes to fitness), I’m also looking forward to making connections and networking. Sort of related to this goal, I’d love to become certified in different programs. So far I’m considering strength training classes (think something like Body Pump), a cycle certification, as well as yoga teacher training. There’s just so many to pick from, it’s tough to make up my mind.
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog, I appreciate it!
What are one of your goals for 2018? Share it in the comments below.