As I have done for several years, I am using a Volt Planner to work on my goal setting for the year. And that includes the monthly challenges that I’ve been doing every year I’ve had the planner. When I started using it, I think I was a bit more successful with the monthly challenges. Maybe I was doing easier challenges or maybe it was the novelty of it. But in the past year or so, I haven’t been completing them as much as I used to. I don’t know what I can do to change that, but I’m going to try hard to pick challenges that push me but are doable.
And my challenge for December was one that I was able to be successful with. I wanted to spend my month getting prepared for this year. A lot of that meant getting organized because I know a cluttered space makes things more chaotic for me. I did get a lot of organizing done with different spaces in my house. It’s not a completed project, but it’s significantly better than it was before. I also wanted to be in a better mental place for the new year and I feel like I was finally able to release some negative feelings and people from my life. I didn’t do anything special to do that, but I did make a focus on why I was dealing with those feelings and somehow they faded away. Maybe I just needed to acknowledge them and that allowed my brain to know they were there and I didn’t have to think about it more. I still have a few things that bring me down that I want to let go, but just like my organizing, it is a work in progress. But the most important thing is that I got started on the right path and I know it will be better for me.
Going along with the idea of being ready for the year and in a better mental place, my January challenge will be another one that hopefully will put me in a better space. My challenge for this month is to only read self-help and self-improvement books. I usually do a mix of self-help/improvement books with fiction or fluff books. Lately, I’ve been neglecting the non-fiction books and I’ve just been reading things that make me happy or are an escape. But I want to get back into the habit of changing up what I read and I want to catch up on books that I’ve been putting off.
I have several books on my Kindle that are self-help/improvement ones that I bought when they were super cheap and told myself that I would read them soon. So I already have lots of books to choose from. I don’t know if I have enough to read to get through the entire month, but if I need more I know I can get some e-books from the library. I have been putting some books on my wishlist that would be good options. I usually buy these books instead of getting them from the library because I like to take my time reading them. But I think that reasoning isn’t the best one. I can always get something from the library to make sure I like it and then if I want more time with it I can buy it. My book purchasing habit is significantly less than it was before, but I do want to find more ways to save and this is one way. Fortunately, I’m pretty sure all the books I bought are ones that I will like so I’m not too worried that I wasted money.
Since I read every day, I know I’ll get a lot of reading done this month. And since I will only be reading books that fit into this challenge, I feel very good that I can be successful at it. I will need to resist the temptation to read something silly as a break, but maybe I can find a self-help/improvement book that isn’t as serious or intense to read if I need that mental break. But challenging myself to not go easy on me is a part of this challenge that I want to try to do. I know that I can try to do something hard but I want to prove that I can complete what I set out to do. And hopefully, that will give me the boost I need to keep pushing through future challenges if they seem too hard to do.
I’m excited to work through this challenge this month. Not just for proving to myself that I can do it, but also to see what I will learn from what I read. I know that I will learn something from every book I read even if it’s not exactly the perfect book for me or my situation. And those things I learn can only benefit me in my life.
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