New Year, New Me?

The New Year has come and gone and we are all now in a time of reflection. This is very natural when there is an end to something, whether it be a relationship, a job, or in this case, a year. Now I have never been one for New Year's Resolutions. I know myself and I know that I am a glutton for punishment. Any self imposed limit on anything will cause me to rebel an got the complete opposite way. This is the reason why I try not to go on restrictive diets, do crazy work out plans, etc.


You say low carb, I say eat 5 chocolate bars in one sitting and pass out from a sugar coma. P.S. I don't even like chocolate (I know I'm a freak, judge me later)!!!


I do, however, think that goal setting is a healthy and essential part of life. There are seven basic areas in life where we should all be setting goals; family, social, financial, career, spiritual, physical, and intellectual. These goals must also be S.M.A.R.T in order to be truly long lasting; specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.


Some goals are easier than others for people to follow and stick to depending on your personality. For me, for instance, my career goals come very easily and naturally to me as I am a career driven person. I also like to think that family relationships come pretty naturally to me as well, although being part of such a big family definitely causes me to retreat into my shell at times.


This year, I've set the following three goals for myself and would like to have you all hold me accountable.


1. Financial
I will pay off my next four smallest debts by August. These debts include my two Navient (a.k.a. Sallie Mae) loans that I have left as well as my two credit cards. That's right, I want to be credit card debt free by the end of August! As you may now, I started my Total Money Makeover in July of last year and didn't think that I would make it this far this quickly. I'm so excited to see an end in sight!


2. Physical
I will run all five NYRR borough runs (NYC Half, Brooklyn Half, Queens 10k, Bronx 10 Mile, and Staten Island Half) as well as the NYC Marathon. Yup, that will be a total of 82 miles over the coarse of the year, along with the many miles of training. I have already started training for the NYC Half and will be signing of the Brooklyn Half once registration opens this week. Eeeek! I know I can do it, but being someone who loves running only when I'm not stuck to a training schedule, this one will definitely be a challenge.


3. Intellectual
With the craziness of my longer hours and the burnout from my certificate class this fall, my reading has really fallen off. Additionally, I find myself leaning more toward the fluffy fiction genres (think romance novels) to pass the time away easily. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a good romance novel, hand me a Stephanie Laurens novel any day, but I do want to make sure that I'm reading/listening to books that are going to greater enrich my life and my career. My goal in this arena will be to read one non-fiction book a month for the year as well as stay on top of my Podcasts that I love to listen to on my commute (separate blog post later).


So what are your 2016 goals? Have any fallen off already? Hoping this post inspires your to set some realistic goals this year!