Setting Goals: The First Step

One thing that motherhood has certainly derailed in my life is my ability to set and attain personal goals. Don't get me wrong--I have still been successful at achieving some of my goals--completing my runs and finishing my Minnesota license courses were two big accomplishments in the past year--but the day-to-day goals have become harder to complete. Part of the problem is that I'm setting too many goals (i.e. "During naptime today I will organize the closet, finish all of the laundry, and clean the bathroom!" Ain't gonna happen.)

I have decided to revisit this problem and apply my former goal-setting self to the task. After much thinking and discussing with Bryan, I have settled on three goals to get our family into the swing of things for the end of summer and starting off the new school year right.

1. Organize Our House
This goal falls into the "previously unattainable" category, because in the past I have been too hung up on the enormity of the task. Clean. The. Entire. House. Seems impossible. Buy. New. Organizational. Components. Seems impossible AND expensive.

Then, I went on a trip for a week. Before my trip, I organized and cleaned the house in the most superficial ways, but I neglected the big stuff, such as cleaning out the fridge or taking out the trash. The result? A stinky fridge, a lot of overripe leftovers, and one lemon worthy of a science experiment. Out of necessity, then, the next day, I took my refrigerator to task. I cleaned out all of the bad food and threw things away without remorse. I removed everything and cleaned it with Lysol. I even organized the condiments on our door by--get this--cuisine region. For the curious, our drawers are England (jams and marmalades), America (ketchup, mustard, BBQ sauce, and various salad dressings), Asia (Sriacha, soy sauces, curries and chili sauces), and Mexico (peppers and salsas).

Placing the newly purchased groceries in the freshly clean and sparkling fridge was surprisingly satisfying. I loved having an organization to every part of the fridge, and I particularly loved that everything was earmarked for a particular purpose (see Goal #2, coming next). I took the extra ten minutes to prep my fruits for the week to ensure that they would be used (it is always easier to eat ice cream for dessert rather than cut up the fresh pineapple, but if the pineapple is ready to go in a Ziploc container, there is little excuse).

The entire process took me a little more than 45 minutes, and it got me to thinking. What if I apply this single-task approach to the entire house? I don't have to complete everything, just one or two small tasks per day. Of course, that means that I will not have my completely cleaned and organized home in under a week as I had hoped. But allowing myself "me" time during my day is just as important as having a clean house. And although I know that I want to...

organize the closets, vacuum EVERYTHING, make file folders for documents, print said documents and file them, make lists of our basement "extras," paint the downstairs, paint the bathroom, organize my dresser, make Bryan clean the office, find a spot for our weights, put all the DVDs in the correct cases, sell old clothes and books online, convert my recipes from the file to a bigger binder....

I get no small amount of satisfaction every time I open the fridge.

(Stay tuned for Goals 2 & 3, to include recipes for my new Tangy Ranch Skewers and Orange Chipotle Chicken!)