Goals for 2021 (+Review of 2020)

A recap of the goals I chose for 2020 with a new set of 12 goals for 2021 in the areas of personal, home/financial, and business.

It’s taken me a bit longer to review and set new goals for the year – the week between Christmas and New Years I usually reserve for this was full of other things this year.

I’m just rolling with the flow – as most of us have been doing through 2020! The timing isn’t the important thing, it’s getting those goals, dreams, plans – whatever you’d like to call them – written down.

Before we get into the recap and new goals for 2021, I’d like to remind you why I share these each year. I always hope sharing my goals inspires you to set one, two, or more goals you’d like to see happen in the coming year.

I am convinced that setting a few focus areas is key to not just letting life happen to you – where you simply react to all the things that come your way in normal day-to-day life – but helps you move forward towards being the person you’d like to be.

How to Set Goals/Dreams/Plans

I use the goals section of The Flexible Planner to record them (obviously, ha!) and it’s like a funnel, with each relating to the next:

5-Year Big Goals -> Yearly goals -> Goal Action Steps

I’ve found having the bigger goals has really helped the last few years to picture what we’d like to focus on over the next 5 years. It’s helped us to say “no” to some things that don’t move us closer to our big goals and then “yes” to others more easily.

Our big goals for the next 5 years are not that different from last year:

1. Fix Up Farmhouse & Move In
2. Travel
3. More Predictable Income & Increasing Retirement
4. Invest in Relationships

I’m again adding where the goals below help us toward these bigger overall goals by listing them in purple after the goal. I hope it helps clarify how to see the goals working together towards are bigger dreams.

2020 Goals Recap

Home/Financial:

1. Farmhouse Fixer: walls, floors, finish exterior, kitchen, new stairs, and living/dining room finished. PROGRESS. So many things not on the list we finished in 2021 (bathroom and huge shower tiling is one!). #1 big goal.
2. Three Trips: Australia (March); Yellowstone (August); Arizona (November). PART. We did make it to Australia before the pandemic – and almost got stuck and had to leave early. And we visited Yellowstone as planned a year in advance – along with all the other people who were changing to domestic travel for the pandemic. The November trip to Arizona was postponed to this spring. Travel.
3. Sunken garden next to farmhouse: lay out, initial planting and mulch. NOT AT ALL. This just didn’t happen with everything else going on – finishing the vegetable garden too precedence. Farmhouse.
4. Adjust finances (our self-employment income is changing) to tighten budget but keep retirement. DONE! Worked with our CPA and refined our budget. Retirement & biz.

Personal:

1. Maintain weight and visit my doctor regularly (I tend to put this off, but really need to check in a few times a year). DONE! Met with my doctor once in person and once on zoom. Good health = travel #2 & DIY projects #1.
2. Move 6 days/week. Continue Barre3 videos 3x/week; walk & garden spring, summer, fall; add more movement throughout the day on bad weather days (use the Pomodoro timer I installed last year to get up and stretch, etc.). PART. I’m set with Barre3 during the week and getting outside when it’s nice isn’t an issue. Pomodoro didn’t last for me; did set a timer for blocks that’s working some. Again, health = travel & DIY projects.
3. Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge. So excited about this new type of reading challenge for me. MOST – all but two books (I share here how this didn’t really work for me, but it was a fun experiment). Expand my world to better relate to others -#4.
4. Relationships: start new Sunday small group and meet with friends a couple times each month. DONE! Being intentional is key for me. #4 big goal.

Business: (all relate to #3 – retirement, biz & passive income.)

1. Create 1-2 new products. NOPE.
2. Update newsletter. I’m looking into changing my provider and format as well as creating more funnels to direct new readers to my existing content. WORKING – kept my provider and added a couple new funnels.
3. SEO & Audit. I’m in the middle of a whole website audit in order to keep up to date with all Google wants to see (that’s what “SEO” is about = “search engine optimization” to get seen in Google). I foresee updating and cleaning up the site after 11 years of blogging to take most of my time in 2020. YEP – most of my time went here. It’s ongoing, but HUGE progress was made in 2020.
4. More video – try to keep a consistent video day each month to produce 1-2 videos on both old and new content. DONE! Brian and I created the Simple Homemade Life videos twice a month with additional how-tos sprinkled in between.

What about those habits you talked about?

Hmm. Yeah, this didn’t really work for me, and I’m not sure why. I was going to develop three habits:

1. Write gratitude daily.
2. Keep Friday afternoons for a creative block and stop work at 5pm.
3. Do the big things for the day first.

Well, I know why I stopped recording gratitude – that would be pandemic and all the stuff going on. You’d think I’d really need to focus on the good, but my mental energy just wasn’t there as I look back.

I did really try to stop work at 5 and for the most part will claim that as good. The creative block? No – after January I never did it again, ha! I think I need a place for this to happen, so when I get my studio set up in the farmhouse that may be a good goal again.

And to be honest about big things first – that’s really hard for me. I’m not a morning person and don’t usually sleep well, so thinking about something important the first thing just doesn’t work for me. I check email and respond to comments with my coffee and then am ready to tackle bigger things late morning, early afternoon.

Lesson Learned

Sometimes setting goals and then evaluating them helps you to realize what works for you and what doesn’t! Now I know it’s me and don’t have to follow everyone else’s morning routines.

Goals for 2021

Personal:

1. Write a daily gratitude in a dedicated journal. Yep, I feel the need to make this a set goal this year – I need to be reminded to focus on the good, no matter how small. Sort of #4 – being positive affects my relationships.
2. Keep up 3/wk Barre3 and seasonal outdoor activity. Add in a meatless meal 1-2x each week. Good Health = ability to DIY, garden, & travel.
3. Continue working with my church to give food to those in need. (I started this the end of 2020 and it’s been really wonderful). Goal #4.
4. Cookbook Challenge – cook through Modern Comfort Food though out the year. (You can join in if you want! Click the link to see how.) Goal #4 because I’m doing it with others!

Home/Financial

1. Continue the farmhouse remodel: floors, kitchen, doors & moldings, finishes and MOVE IN! #1 Farmhouse
2. Two garden projects: Sunken herb garden and an evergreen hedge border to diffuse headlights from cars into the farmhouse. Farmhouse
3. Increase retirement investments as available. #3 goal.
4. Travel to Arizona in April and ? (we’d like to take another trip, but aren’t sure yet if it’s doable!). #2 goal.

Business

(All the following are related to big goal #3.)

1. Complete a 13-week course I have on products and business.
2. Complete four bigger projects, one for each quarter of the year (this will be main focus for that quarter).
3. Make the website’s homepage into a resource page.
4. Finish content audit.

That’s it! As you can see, some goals were not met, some moved to this year, and some were abandoned, but it’s all a learning process and movement towards the bigger picture. In other words, a victory!

I hope this encourages you to think about goals, even if it’s just one big goal for the year, one for each quarter of the year, or more. Make it work for you so you are moving towards the simple homemade life you want!

Thank you so much for walking with me on this journey – I lOVE that I get to be a part of the bigger community we have here at An Oregon Cottage. I do not take for granted that without you I wouldn’t have this dream job – I appreciate every single one of you.

xo, Jami

Interested in my past goals? You can see them all here.