Goals for 2012

I don't usually make resolutions at the beginning of every new year. Sometimes I think about things I want to change and I kind of like to use the word "goals" to describe those things. This year, I'm going to write down some of my goals. Just so I can look back and see what I hoped to do this year. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Go to bed earlier. I really need to work on this one. Before kids I got about 9-10 hours of sleep a night (no kidding). And it was awesome. I just went to bed whenever I was tired at night (usually around 9-10pm). And because of that, I hardly ever felt tired during the day. I realize that 9-10 hours a night is probably not possible for me at this time in my life no matter how great that would feel. But, I know I can do better than 6 hours. Basically, I'd like to be in bed and turning out the light by 11pm every night.

2. Read at least 2 books a month. This one is an ongoing goal from previous years. Usually this happens without me even trying. Or I'll have an off-year like 2011, where I was 3 books short of this goal. 

3. Make and Print Albums. This is the year. I know it. I really, really want to make a real effort to finish and print the boys' baby books. If that happens, then I want to move on to printing a few family albums. I haven't decided yet if I'll allow a blog book to double as a family album or if I want to do something separate. But no matter what, I want some albums printed.

4. Workout 3 times a week. This falls into the cliche new year's goal category. But, it's still a goal of mine. Ideally, I'd love to learn to workout more than 3 times a week, but I need an attainable goal. Especially for something like this. I've had periods of great success with working out consistently in my past. And then I had kids. Which is actually not a great excuse. We make time for the things that are important to us. And truthfully, working out (because I don't particularly enjoy it) is not something that is important to me. But staying healthy is...and I'm not 20 anymore!

I'm trying to keep things simple and realistic, so 4 goals is enough for this year. We will see how it goes. I will celebrate small victories along the way and I will not beat myself up if I don't end up doing things exactly as I would like. Also, (and maybe this should be a goal itself) I will do my best not to compare myself with others when it comes to these goals (or anything else, really).