2016 Goals and Resolutions

Happy Monday everyone!  Did you have an exciting New Year's weekend?

Usually I recap my weekend on Mondays, but I wanted to share my goals and resolutions for the year today (mostly because I didn't do anything interesting and have no pictures to share!), so today I'll be talking about goals and resolutions.

If you've been following my blog, you know I'm extremely goal-oriented, and share my monthly goals.  I'm going to continue this in the new year, but have my goals all centered around bigger annual goals and resolutions.

I've never come up with a word or phrase of the year, but this year I decided to try it out.  2016 is going to be huge- full of personal, physical, and professional changes.  I couldn't think of any word that would be more perfect than CHANGES (which means my song of the year is this).  There are so many inspiring quotes about change, so each month when I do an update of my resolutions, I'll also share one that is helping me!

Here is my quote for January:


Now, let's get into the goals!  Today, I'm just going to be sharing an overview of my goals.  Each week, I'll be breaking them down to give more information about each category, and how I will set myself up for success throughout the year!



Financial Goals

Spending freeze until my birthday (June 28)
Save reward money (Discover, Ebates, Ibotta) for entire year
Save $15,000
No fast food, coffee shops, restaurants, bars
Get a library card
Run commute at least once a week when it's warm

Fitness Goals

Run 1200 miles
PR in two distances
Run 20 races
Swim 1,000 yards without stopping
Bike 20 miles without stopping
Try out 4 new workout classes

Health Goals

Get regular check-ups
Clean up eating habits (my Whole30 starts today, so off to a good start on this goal!)
Take vitamins and supplements

Personal Goals

Read 25 books
Declutter 10 items each month
Set up cleaning schedule
Monthly cooking challenge

Blogging Goals

Improve photography
Write an e-book
Get over 15,000 views in a month
Start to earn money
Start a newsletter (I started this goal already!)
I would love it if you would sign up! - just fill in your email address below and hit enter, or in the permanent side bar box!




What are your goals for the year?
Do you come up with a word or intention of the year?
What do you like to see in a blog newsletter?

linking up with KatieErinCaryleeJenna and Catherine

Comments

  1. Love, love, love, love, love, love (love?) how you're setting up your goals. Seriously. Did I say I love it? I'm in the process of putting together/organizing my goals and I'm sitting here like, uhm, this is onnneeee long post. I may need to borrow your format a bit, if you don't mind!
    But let's be honest - your financial goals are AMAZING. So ambitious but setting yourself up for such success! I did a whole30 last year at the start of the year and loved it. I was going to do it again this year but I'm just experimenting with gluten-free for a month to see if that helps me health-wise at all. :)

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    1. Thank you SO much Morgan! I'm really glad that you like this format :) And feel free to take it if it works for you! Good luck with gluten free!

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  2. those are some huge goals, but i've no doubt you will nail them! omg the spending freeze would get me, lol.

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    1. Thanks Elle :) The spending freeze will definitely be tough...but I'll try as hard as I can!

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  3. SERIOUS goals. but if anyone can do it? It would be you!

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  4. you go girl! I love that you are so goal oriented and they are spread to so many categories. I definitely save money, but I've never set an actual number for the year. I think thats such a good idea though so you are actually thriving daily to get there. I want all of your whole30 snapchats!

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    1. Thank you Margaret! I've never had a number goal, but I actually made a budget this weekend and set that as my goal number. Hopefully I can surpass it!

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  5. Those are some big goals. But like they say go big or go home. I think you will hit them all

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  6. You have some ambitious goals, especially in fitness. My word is "story". There is so much story to be told and played out this year in all areas of my life. Best wishes to you.

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    1. I agree that they're ambitious! It will take some work to achieve them, and as long as I push myself, I'll be fine if I don't get all of them. I read something that said that if you hit all of your goals with no pain, your goals aren't big enough. So I figured I would make some that I might not be able to reach, and that's ok!

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  7. Sounds like some great, ambitious goals!!! I know you can do it!!!! :-)

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  8. Signed up for your newsletter too :-)

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  9. Love your graphic & love your goal posts! They're such a good kick in the pants, either to remind me of a future goal I have, or to just keep my eye on the prize, as sometimes our goals are similar.

    Can't wait to hear more about your financial goals. Spending freeze? I've toyed with the idea, but would love to hear how it goes for you.

    And all the races you plan to run if there are any Pittsburgh must runs!

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    1. Glad that this was helpful! I'll definitely talk more about my financial goals, and the "rules" of the spending freeze. I'm nervous and excited about it! I haven't picked out my races yet (the ones I'm thinking about are on my "races" tab) but I'll definitely keep you updated throughout the year!

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  10. Holyyyy smokes, woman those are some great goals! I have no doubt you'll nail each and every one of them too. You are so confident and capable annnnd inspiring. Twenty races is a lot! Maybe it just sounds like a lot to me because I run only half and full marathons. Although my first 5k ever is in Arizona, so that will be interesting! I'd like to run a sub-19 min there.

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    1. Thank you Suzy! What a nice comment :) That's why I love you so much! Always make me feel so good about myself. If I was half as fast as you, I couldn't race as much haha! Thankfully I'm slow and recover quickly, so I love to do lots of races!

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  11. These are awesome goals Gretchen! I'm excited for you this year! I think getting a library card has saved me sooo much money when it comes to books. Using an E-reader, it was so easy for me to just "click" to buy a book and not realize how much they added up. Library card saves the day:)

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    1. That's great to hear! I've been so lazy and putting off getting one, but it's free and right down the street from me. No excuse!

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  12. 20 races?! Are you crazy? I can not imagine racing that frequently; I would burn out so fast. Can't wait to follow all of your training and racing this year! I like your idea about a spending freeze, I might try that this year too.

    Also as someone who works at a library...Get that library card! I love being able to cycle through so many books and movies without spending money or adding clutter to my house.

    I'm still hammering out the details of my goals; I hope to have a post up about them later this week.

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    1. Haha oh geez! I didn't realize 20 was a lot. A bunch of those will be "training races" as part of my training for a marathon (I'll talk more about this on Thursday!). I also seem to recover quickly, and I am the type of runner who needs to be training for something to stay out there running. Without races I get burnt out, but with a goal in mind I could run all the time!

      Going to get my library card today after work :)

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  13. Love that you're setting the bar really high on your goals. I have no doubt you will kick butt in all of them! Here's to an awesome 2016!

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    1. Thanks Jennifer! I figured if my goals seemed too easy, I wasn't pushing myself at all. Some of these will definitely get me out of my comfort zone, and that's the best chance to grow, right?!

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  14. Seriously that is so like my goals ha! I have about four pages of them written down this year. Good luck with the spending freeze, that sounds really tough...

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    1. We do have similar goals! I bet the spending freeze will be tough, but I need to save money!

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  15. These are great goals! My highest priority goals for 2016 are fitness related and I'm trying to start the year off right with that!

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  16. Love all of your goals! I have no doubt that you'll achieve them all - the hardest step is defining clear goals, and you're so confident and focused that you will have no problem following through! I signed up for your newsletter also :) Growing my subscription list is a big goal of mine for blogging as well. Happy New Year and good luck on Whole30!

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    1. Thank you for the support Laura! And thank you for signing up for the newsletter!!

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  17. I love your ambitious goals and I wish you the best of luck to complete them all. Here's to an amazing 2016!

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  18. Awesome post. My goals are here http://runwright.net/2016/01/04/goals-vs-resolutions-whats-the-difference/
    I love the categories. I do something similar.
    Happy New Year and all the best to you in accomplishing them. I'm going to follow your social media now. I hope you'll follow me too. IG: karen_runwright Twitter: @kamari2001

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  19. love all of these goals girl. good luck with them all, lots of big things happening! and that song! lol.

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  20. I love how detailed your goals are! very inspiring! Have an awesome New Year!

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  21. I love how you have your goals laid out! I don't come up with a word or phrase of the year and any changes I make are small ones! Change kind of frightens me...lol!

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    1. I love change! I've always been someone who embraced changes, so if things are the same too long I get crabby :/

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  22. You've got big plans, Gretchen! And I know you can achieve all of these! Good luck, lady! :)

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  23. Love how you have goals for each area of your life! I am very goal oriented as well even though I don't make "resolutions" per say, I make lots of goals throughout and at the beginning of the year! We have very similar blogging goals- I know the BGB community can help us achieve those! Also, thanks for the card in the mail! I just got it since I was at my family home for the holidays.

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    1. I'm so glad you got the card! And I agree- BGB is helping so much already :) Hope you had great holidays Kerri!

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  24. Awesome post, Gretchen! I hadn't read yours before I posted mine (was too busy writing mine! LOL!) and I love how we have some overlap. I also love your infographic!! You'll have to tell me the secret on how you made that. I can't wait to read the detailed breakdowns in your upcoming posts this month!
    Gina || On the Daily Express

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    1. Thank you Gina! So glad you liked this post :) My secret is using Canva..it makes it SO easy to make amazing graphics.

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  25. Great detail to your goals, Gretchen! Go big or go home!! Hope you keep us updated on these throughout your journey :)

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  26. Finally catching up after vacation and you are motivating to be more concrete in my goals. Writing them down is necessary sometimes! 2016 is bound to be a great year with this plan :)

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  27. Wow, wow, wow - so impressed with your goals for the year of change. So many concrete things that really sound like they'll make it happen. Love the idea of running your commute occasionally. And I've got to make 1000 yards my goal too! Made it up to 750 in December but now I haven't been since then thanks to a bad neck spasm... Oh! And how's Whole30 going?! I bet you're doing great - a goal-oriented nature helps, in my experience :)

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