A New Me in 2012 – Sharing My Goals

You’ve probably seen more than one post of a blogger sharing her New Year’s resolutions or goals for 2012. So, while this one is a bit late I still wanted to share it. It’s quite a bit longer than my usual posts but I got lots to say today so bear with me!

I hadn’t actually planned to do a 2012 personal goals post but after reading one from Think and Grow Chick, I decided that doing so could help empower someone (maybe you?).

Fitness Goals

Maintaining a healthy weight was never a struggle for me. I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain an ounce. The problem is eventually the poor eating led me down a path of developing very poor eating habits – specifically with snacking and an imbalanced diet.

When I hit 30 years old (that seems to be a magic number), I started having such difficulty with losing weight. My metabolism slowed and my energy level tanked.

I’ll be 43 years old in 2 weeks and I get winded walking up a 1/2 flight of stairs. I also started getting pains in my hands and feet (sugar overload).

Since I have a special needs child that I plan to be here for a long time with, I knew I had to get myself in order.

Thank you American Express

I don’t usually talk about my day job but in this instance I must. I work my day job at American Express (This is the best company in the world). The company is very big on work/home life balance and also on it’s employees being fit.

American Express has graciously offered to cover the cost of any employee wanting to join the Weight Watchers plan. That’s FREE for one year. Can you believe it? That’s a $300+ dollar cost per employee.

Wanting to lose weight and get fit is impossible without a plan. So, I signed up for Weight Watchers and I’m re-learning portion control and making better food choices. Stay tuned for updates which I’ll share in a few months. I very rarely show my entire body on camera but for the sake of sharing this journey, I will do so in the future.

Financial Goals

Next to my fitness goals, my finances are closely aligned. It is my goal to focus on building my emergency fund.

Every family should have 3-6 months of expenses saved in the event of an emergency. If you’re self employed, 9 months is recommended.

Emergencies pop up. It’s the best feeling when you can pay for them outright and not have to depend on a loan or a credit card to meet the expense.

So, I found a 52 week financial challenge on YouTube from MeshaLuvzBeauty. Each week for 52 weeks I’ll be saving money $1.00 for the week I’m in.  For example, week 1 is $1, week 8 is $8, week 17 is $17 and so on for each week of the year.

MeshaLuvzBeauty started in September but I decided to just start at the first of January, to align with my other goals.

At the end of 2012, if you follow this challenge you’ll have saved $1,378. That’s not a lot but it helps to build discipline with savings.

I used my ING Direct account as a tool to help me accomplish this goal. I set up 52 weeks of transfers to withdraw the funds from my regular checking account and deposit them into my ING savings account. This way, my savings is facilitated seemlessly and I don’t get tempted to not save the money. Plus, what I love about ING is that they place your funds on hold for a week so you can’t touch the money. If you get an urge to spend it, you can’t and usually by the time the week is up, the urge to splurge has passed. This is a great strategy for saving.

Spriritual Goal

The reason I shared this last is because some people wouldn’t keep reading if I shared it first LOL. That’s OK I’ll pray for you.

My spiritual goals are not all that deep really. They may even sound simple but developing a relationship with God is nothing but.

I signed up for the Hello Morning Challenge which will begin in a couple of weeks. This challenge is really more of a lifestyle change than it is a challenge – kind of like the fitness goals I shared above.

Hello Mornings was created to inspire women to maximize their mornings by developing life giving habits. Anyone who signed up was placed on a team for accountability. We check in with each other at least once weekly to share what we’ve learned in God’s Word for the day or week. The best part is we aren’t left figure it all out. We are given a bible study plan, a dailyprayer  plan, a plan for exercise, and a goal sheet to plan out our days.

The whole Hello Mornings challenge is designed to incorporate every aspect of your life, bringing you in closer relationship with God through it all.

Last year I was allowed to join a group for this challenge after registration was closed and in the middle of the process. I don’t think I commited to it as much as I should have because I did not have the accountability in place from the beginning. Now, I look forward to seeing what God has in store for me.

Well that’s it. Stay tuned for more update on my fitness, finances and spiritual life. I won’t be as long winded in the future because this blog is about brown beauty not how much of Michelle’s life can be put on display LOL.

So, what about you? Do you have any goals  and a plan to accomplish them for 2012. Please do share!

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