First Steps

So I suppose once you have goals, you need to have a plan on how you're going to get there.  Quite frankly, I'm good at plans. I'm just not always that good at follow through. Of course that's always the plan, and I tend to do good for the first few weeks. Then I have a bad day and fall off. My biggest issue is getting back on the horse right away. I always find myself doing this thing where it's Tuesday and I don't workout, so they I wait til Monday to start again...  WTH? Why didn't I just do it on Wednesday? Who knows. Because I'm tired! Because I don't feel well! But I'm never going to feel well or well rested if I don't work to get healthy. Talk Catch 22.

But I suppose my next step is making the plans. How do I get from where I am, to where I want to be? I understand it can't all happen over night. But I have issues understanding how long it should or will take. My goal is to open a shop in town in 10 years... But I wonder if I shouldn't aim for 5 years. I mean, my biggest reason for not working outside the home is that I still have a kid at home full time... But she'll start school in just 3 years, at which point I should be able to put all day (while she's at school) in to my projects and shop. From then on aiming to open a shop in town in 2 years shouldn't seem like such a huge thing. But here I am starting out and unsure as to where to aim. I don't want to aim for something unattainable - like opening a shop in town in 6mos. And I don't want to aim for something that won't give me something to work for - like a 25 year goal - because I'll drag my feet. So I tend to feel overwhelmed when it comes to setting time lines for goals, and that makes it hard to build a good solid workable plan.

Anyways, plans... I can do plans. And hopefully I can stick to them. I just have to remember to take baby steps, and not drag my feet all at the same time.

So what goals do I need to work on first? I suppose if I want the big stuff I need to get the "little stuff" out of the way first. Can't buy a house if you have a ton of debt, can't get healthy if you're eating junk...  And those sound like good places to start.

Here goes...  I'm going to try to break up my goals and then make 30 day plans that I can work on. At the end of 30 days, I hope to reevaluate and see what needs changed, added or removed to make things work better.

Goal 1: Journalling
I'm going to say the first step to making change is knowing where you are. Because of this, I'm going to head out and get a few notebooks that I can use for journalling.  In one I will keep a record of everything I eat, drink and whenever I workout.  And in another I will keep a record of our finances. What is coming in and exactly where is it going?

Goal 2: Meal Plan & Budget
If my first month is going to be about learning where I stand, the second needs to be about making changes for the better. So I need to work on creating a 30 day meal plan for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and 2 Snacks a day! That way I will always know what needs prepared, what needs bought and I (hopefully) won't wonder in to the kitchen and reach for cookies more than I should either.  And a budget is a MUST if we are ever going to pay off our debts or get a savings going. Way to often we aren't paying real bills because we're wasting our cash on junk we don't need.

Goal 3: 50 Items in Shop
As of the moment I'm writing this I have 13 items listed for sale in my etsy shop. You can NOT build a business on 13 items! I have quite a few items that I hope to list and even a few that are ready to list and I simply haven't done it yet. That needs to be changed! I need to have a minimum of 50 items in my shop at all times, and get to the point where I'm adding 5 or 6 listings a week! Since many of my herbal listings just need mixed & packaged there is really no reason I can't do that!

Goal 4: Daily Docket
One of my biggest hurdles in getting and staying organized is creating a system that will allow me to get on and stay on track. I found one woman's option on Pinterest that she called her "daily docket." It allowed her to break down her day and keep it all visible and accessible at all times through her day. I love the idea but printing up a new one each day just sounds like a waste of paper and money, plus if I have to type up one each night, it's a lot of time...  Instead, I took her idea and created my own that now simply needs finished,  printed and placed in a "report cover" so that I can use a dry erase marker to cross off or add to it each day. Hopefully with a simply and portable system in place I won't get so off track.

Now, if I can get all this "prep work" done before January first, I will really be setting myself up for a win in the next year. It's going to take some time and a lot of work, but I believe I can do it all if I really work on it.

Good Luck To Me!