February is here which means it’s time for another round of monthly goal-setting!

I mentioned in January when I introduced my One Little Word for 2013, DETERMINATION, that I planned to pair my word with four goals every month, themed around the phrase “This Month I’m Determined To…”, complete with a 6×6-inch inspiration card to keep my goals front & center throughout the month.

You can find templates for making your own monthly inspiration cards here.

This is what my January card looked like:

And here it was printed and hanging all pretty like on my white board:

January 2013: Monthly Goal Update

So how did I do on my January goals?

Well I completed 3.5 of my 4 goals, which I’d say is pretty dang awesome for it being my first attempt! I met both of my work goals as well as my fun goal of hanging art in our master bedroom and dining room (including buying enough frames at once that the young male checker at Target asked if I was starting an art gallery, haha).

The one goal I didn’t completely succeed at was getting to the gym two times a week but that was more to do with choosing to prioritize some of the work related stuff over that goal so I’m hoping I’ll be able to fit it in better this month. I’m the kind of weirdo who loves the gym so for my own sanity, haha, this needs to be squeezed into my schedule better this month.

I can tell you that I have NO DOUBT that having this visual reminder of my goals every day as I checked my to-do list was a HUGE reason why I was so successful in January. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t actually expect it to work as well as it did but I think it did for three key reasons:

1) I posted them in a prominent place. My white board hangs in the hallway coming into our office loft area so every time I walk into the room, no matter what I’m doing, I have to walk by these goals. I’m very much a set-and-forget type of goal-setter normally so actually seeing my goals every day kept them on my mind.

2) Writing & printing them out makes them seem legit. It seems silly but it’s true. Having them printed out not only made my goals seem much more real but it also made me feel extra committed to them. Like they were more set-in-stone than if I just randomly thought about them.

3) It kept me accountable. The great thing about having your goals out in the open where you can easily see them? It means everyone else can see them too. Which means if you don’t accomplish them, you’re no longer the only person who will know. The last thing I wanted to have to do at the end of the month was take down that month’s goals card and admit I hadn’t been determined enough to someone other than myself.

The great thing about this was it kept Adam and I on the same page. When I announced my plans one weekend to work on hanging up art around the house, since it was one of my goals for the month, it didn’t come from completely out of the blue.

February 2013 Monthly Goal-Setting

So what made my Four Goals cut for February? Here’s a little look at the digital version of my card. I do have it printed & hanging already but the light here hasn’t cooperated lately (cloudy and blah) so you’re going to have to just imagine it hanging in the same spot as my January card above, haha.

Interestingly enough, my four goals for February fall into the same categories as last month: 2 work goals, 1 fun goal and 1 health goal. It’ll be interesting to see if this trend continues throughout the year.

I also changed up the wording of my workout goal to make it a bit more do-able. Really it should probably say something like, step away from the computer from time to time, haha, but I think this is a good do-able goal, even if it just means taking a quick walk around the neighborhood at lunch.

One Little Word 2013: January Assignment

One of the things I am incorporating into my monthly goal-setting this year are the assignments from Ali Edwards’ One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes. I hadn’t intended to sign up for the OLW class again this year since I’d done it the last two years, but since the prompts are all new this year, I thought I’d give it another go and so far I’m really liking it!

January’s prompt was to set 12 intentions for your word, 1 for each month of the year, by pairing your word with another to make a phrase. Seems right up my alley given my intention to pair my word with goals already.

Since my word for 2013 is determination, I decided to go with the phrase: “Determined To…”. The assignment was then to design a two-page spread showcasing one card for each month using your phrases and the We R Memory Keepers 9-photo page protectors (or something similar).

I started out by sketching out some (really rough & ugly, please ignore my sketch handwriting, haha) concepts for different cards:

I decided I liked the one on the top right the best so next I created my pages in Photoshop using the free 9 card Photoshop template Ali included with the class. I placed the two documents side by side so I could see how things would flow and so I could move papers and elements easily between the two.

Here’s a closer look at the digital version of the left page:

And the right page (which will actually the backside of the page protector once printed):

Supplies include a mix of Zoe Pearn’s new Wanderlust kit (which may just be my new fave kit, love love love it), Kristin Cronin-Barrow’s She Believed She Could and a whole host of Heart Art art journaling products from Sugarplum Paperie: Heart Art: Be New, Heart Art: Spread Your Wings, Heart Art: Fly Away, Heart Art: Softly Spoken. The one wooden arrow is from Traci Reed’s Blondies: Pointers. One Little Word title text was included as part of Ali’s OLW class. Fonts are Bebas Neue, Raleway and Avenir.

I’m not usually one to play with a lot of artsy products, even non-messy digital products, haha, but it was actually really fun to layer and play and see what I could come up with. I love that each card is like it’s own mini canvas.

All of the text on the cards are kind of like general mini-goals, or intentions if you will, which I plan to incorporate each month as part of my Four Monthly goals. So for example, February’s card says:

Determined to start: START on a big project that’s been on your to-do list for way too long.

I actually have two goals this month that fulfill that intention: redesigning the Nettio Designs website and hanging up our adventure gallery wall (which I’ve been collecting stuff for for like two years now, haha).

Since I’m obviously writing all of these intentions at the beginning of the year before I know what’s really going to happen each month, it’ll be interesting to see how these intentions play out. But I tried to keep them general enough that they can be applied in multiple ways.

Here’s a look at my printed cards in the page protectors. Front-side:

Back-side:

A closer look at one of the text cards:

More card details:

And one final look at the title card, which is actually made up of some digital kraft paper and three different digital brushes:

I haven’t decided completely how I’m going to store these pages. Right now I’m thinking I’m going to include them at the front of my Project Life album so I see them on a regular basis. But depending on how the assignments for Ali’s One Little Word class pan out, I may eventually move them into their own album. We’ll see.

Anyone else taking Ali’s One Little Word class this year? Did you set monthly goals in January? If so, how’d your goal-setting for Jan turn out? If you used the Monthly Goal-tracker inspiration cards like I did, did they help you keep your goals front & center? You know I love to chat so share your thoughts in the comments below.

Psst…what to get in on the monthly goal-setting action? Pick up your own copy of the 2013 Monthly Goal-Tracker Templates or OLW Goal-tastic 2013 Goal-Setting Bundle at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

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