I want to simplify my life, and this blog is about my journey towards simple living. I started sharing my goals in January in the hopes that it would help me stick to them.
A goal like “simplify” is incredibly vague. I’m still working on what a simpler life looks like for me. But I hope these monthly goals will take me, little by little, closer to that idyll.
In January, I started with four goals, which was too ambitious. I failed one completely. For February, I dropped it to three, and I made the goals a little easier to meet. I believe strongly in goal-setting, but those goals must be achievable to be helpful. If I set too many goals, I just feel deflated when I can’t reach them all, and then I’m not motivated to achieve the next month’s goals. So if you take any inspiration from these posts, please don’t make your goals into burdens!
How Did I Do With Last Month’s Goals?
1. Visit a local museum.
Success! I visited an adorable one-room local history museum. The docent was very helpful and gave me some fun facts about the town. And it was free!
2. Read at a coffee shop or library for 1 hour every Saturday.
Success! On the first two Saturdays, I tried two separate branches of a local bakery chain. The third was a library. On the fourth Saturday, I returned to one of the bakeries, which I liked so well that I’ll probably make it my go-to spot. It’s close by, not too expensive, and has good seating.
3. Complete a 2+2 decluttering challenge.
Success! This challenge was to declutter 2 items to donate and 2 items to toss every day for the whole month. It got really challenging in the last week and a half. I found plenty of old papers and other things to throw out, but it was really difficult to find items to donate by the end. I have a stack of books, CDs, and DVDs I might want to donate, but I need to re-read/re-listen/re-watch them first to decide. As a result, I’m not doing a decluttering challenge in March.
Goals for March
1. Do 1 thing on my to-do list for 10 days in a row.
I have so many things I need to get done. Appointments to schedule, emails to reply to, donations to organize and get out of the house. On and on. Sometimes it feels like being an adult is just an endless task list!
You might ask, what does this have to do with simplifying? Simple living is about prioritizing the things that matter over the things that don’t. And yet, some things just need to get done. Putting them off only makes life more stressful. So from March 6th through March 15th, I’m going to knock out one task each day.
2. Unsubscribe challenge.
For the month of March, whenever I get an email newsletter I clearly don’t need, I will take the extra minute to unsubscribe instead of just deleting the email. Over time, this will simplify my life because I won’t receive as many emails and I’ll only get emails that matter.
3. Spend 24 hours off screens every Saturday to Sunday.
This one comes from 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by Tiffany Schlain, a book I read a couple of years ago. She suggests taking one day a week (or any 24-hour period) to go screen-free. I’ve attempted this before. It was kind of amazing…while I was able to keep it going, which was not for very long. So I’ll try this again in March, from noon on Saturday to noon on Sunday.
So there we go! Those are my 3 goals for March. I’ll report back on how these went and whether I think they contributed to simplifying my life.
Do you set monthly goals? Are any of them related to simplifying, starting new habits, or disengaging from your devices? Please share your tips!
