Alright y’all, if you know me you’ll know that I am a highly competitive person. I love to compete in basically anything, against anyone, and especially competing with myself. Because of this I am a huge goal oriented person. Goals to me are a major motivator and help with my procrastinating personality. Without goals (big, small) I cannot focus and tend to get really complacent. I also find that writing my goals down really help me to stay accountable. I’ve got a big Plum Planner where I monitor my monthly, weekly, and yearly goals. I like to have a giant calendar in my home office where I write out my goals. I even have apps on my phone to help me monitor and track my weight, workout, and running goals. Now, I’m posting my goals to my blog, so you, my readers, can help keep me accountable!

Before I actually drill down into what my own personal goals, just a reminder that goals don’t have to be major or huge goals. Even simple goals can help you to have a sense of purpose and focus. It’s also important to have a variety of goal types. I tend to have a few big year goals and then some smaller milestones that I still consider to be a goal. So make sure you’re setting your own goals!

20 Goals to make 2020 the best year yet!

1.  Read 100 Books: My reading goal for 2019 was also 100 books and I missed my goal by 7 books. Normally this would drive me insane, but I’m becoming a grown up and understand that just because it matters more that you tried vs. reaching the goal. I’m not planning a wedding this year so I feel I can totally reach 100 books read this year. As a note, I don’t include audiobooks or rereads in this number.
2.  Book buying ban for 6 months: I got a little crazy with books last year. I can’t help it, there are just too many amazing books I want to read. I also was swayed by #bookstagram on a lot of those purchases, so this year I’m going to do better about reading what I have first before getting new books. Book of the month subscription doesn’t count though y’all.
3.  Get my Netgallery rating up to 80%: I find Netgallery last year, and I went a little crazy requesting books. I wasn’t fully aware of how it worked though so my review percentage is at like 10%, whomp whomp. So I’m going to be more diligent about what I request through Netgallery and ensuring I read and review the books!
4.  Half Marathon pace down to 2 hours 10 minutes: I only ran 1 half marathon last year back in March 2019. It was below 30 degrees with snow on the ground and my knees locked up from cold. Texas girl did not expect it to be so cold at the end of March in DC. I was planning on signing up for a warmer half during 2019 to redeem myself but with the wedding underway, it just didn’t happen. This year I’m going to be more diligent on training, Sadie will like that as she’s my new training partner. I’m aiming to hold a 10 minute a mile pace, which will put me at a 2 hour and 11 minute completion time, so cutting an extra minute will hopefully be doable. My first half will be April 25th this year so wish me luck on the next 3 months of training.
5.  Post 3 blog posts a week: I started this blog to really help my writing skills increase. I find that writing a little bit every day is extremely beneficial and want to keep up with it. I generally read 2 books a week so my goal is to write two reviews a week plus another blog post of varies nature. Expanding the blog’s range from just book reviews etc to other topics is the goal.
6.  Reach 10,000 Instagram Followers on Bookstagram: Currently sitting at just under 3000 followers, I’m hoping to hit 10,000 followers so I can get the swipe up feature! This is going to take some diligence and dedication but even getting my follower count up to 5,000 will be fulfilling to me.
7.  Reach 500 Blog Followers: currently I have right under 200 blog followers. I’ve really gotten use to sharing my writing and work with you all, my readers, and I’d love to continue to increase my reader base.
8.  Workout 5 times a week: I already do this for the most part but I’d like to keep at it. I find that working out, even just small workouts, helps me to stay destressed and helps my back pain. Here’s to keeping it up.
9.  Write 2000 words per week: Not blog writing, but novel writing. I have a lot of ideas in this over active imagination of mine and I’m working to share them with the world. My biggest problem is being distracting, starting things, but not keeping up with them. Now that I have more free time, I’m aiming to write 2000 words a week for one of my novels. Maybe I’ll even finish one this year!
10.  Read my Book of the Month backlist: Book of the Month is my kryptonite. I have a ton of Book of the Month picks I have yet to read so one of my goals is to read all my unread BOTM shelf. There are maybe 20 unread books there so very doable.
11.  Read my 20 Backlist books of 2020: I have another stack of 20 books I’ve been dying to read but keep putting off. Some are part of the BOTM backlist, and I’m hoping to get through all of them this year. With a goal of 100 books, this back list is half my reading for the year, I feel that it is totally doable.
12.  Pay off all debt: Last year was an expensive year for us. Weddings are expensive, Honeymoon’s are expensive. New cars are expensive. New pupper dogs are expensive. We accumulated a little bit of debt and I’m really working to pay it all off this year, so we can start the decade debt free (minus our home mortgage).
13.  Start saving more $: We’d like to build our dream house in the next decade and we’re looking to start a family in the next few years. In order to be prepared for this, or at least as prepared as can be, I’m really trying to save more money this year. We’d like to build a nice nest egg while we’re young!
14.  Get back into Sewing more: I have a degree in Fashion Design and use to sew a ton. I got a little burned out in undergrad with it and have done almost no sewing in the last 5 years. I’d like to get back into it because I love the creative aspect of it. First up, I’m sewing myself some booksleeves.
15.  Spend more time being present: I’m the worst at being present. I am a planner, so I am constantly thinking of the future. My goal is simple to focus more on the now rather than tomorrow.
16.  Get more sleep: This goes without saying, I don’t get enough sleep. I need to get more sleep.
17.  Lose 20 lbs: This is a lofty goal but I would like to get back down to my college weight of 130 lbs. There isn’t any reason for this other than, I want to stay healthy and the extra weight really puts a strain on my back sometimes. This will just take dedication but even if I loose only 10lbs, I would consider it a win.
18.  Clean up and setup our guest room: Our guest room has been a storage room since I moved in almost 4 years ago. We almost got it cleaned up before our wedding but now left over wedding things have taken over. We’re aiming to get everything cleaned out of there and put in it’s place, paint the room, and get it setup for my husband’s office /for guest to sleep in. We’ll see how that goes, lol.
19.  Be kind: do I need to even expand on this?
20.  Enjoy every moment of 2020: 2019 was a year full of change. All of it good things but I’m ready to relax and simply enjoy my first year of marriage with my husband. We love our little family with Sadie, and we have a lot of fun events planned for the year. I would love to start the decade off with a year full of love, adventure, and thankfulness.

Thanks for helping me stay accountable with my 2020 goals. If you’d like to share your goals with me please comment below or visiting my Instagram page @speakingof_books. Make sure to follow both my blog and Instagram to see how I’m doing on my goals all year long!