I like to make goals. I am an extremely goal oriented person. Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly….I always have a goal I am working towards. On hard days I even have hourly goals! Goals keep me moving forward and working towards something keeps me motivated.

Last year in 2020 my husband and I decided to lay out goals in three categories: personal, professional, and charitable. I wish I could say I met ALL my goals – but really 2020 happened and life went off the rails in many ways. Because of that some of my goals are the same, but some are different. I DID achieve my personal goal last year of running a marathon. I had hoped it would be the Philadelphia Marathon, but again, 2020 happened – so my self supported marathon took it’s place! But still, I consider that goal complete.

This year I’m adding three more categories for goals: Fitness (last year my personal goal was a running related goal…but I want to do MORE :)), Parenting, and Relationship. I’ll explain more in a minute….just keep reading!

Here are my 2021 goals:

Personal Goal: I actually have two personal goals for 2021….I just cant narrow it down. My first goal is to read one book per month. I love to read. It’s nice to get lost in a book. I love lighting a fire and stretching out in a comfortable chair to read on a winter evening. And I especially love sitting outside in the sunshine to read. I tend to go in waves with reading – I find I’ll read 2-3 books one month, then I won’t pick one up for three months. I’d like to be more consistent with it so my goal for 2021 is to read one book a month.

My second personal goal for 2021 is to take better care of myself mentally. I already prioritize my physical well being – I am dedicated to keeping my body fit and healthy by running and working out and I try to eat a balanced diet. But in 2021 I’d like to prioritize my mental health as well. I figure, we take our car to the mechanic for tune ups every few months….why shouldn’t I do the same?! Not ACTUALLY at the mechanic but you know what I mean. Journaling, talking with a therapist, and meditation are all on my list of things to do to work towards healthier mental health in 2021.

Professional Goal: I would like to continue to grow Multiples & Miles in 2021 – both here as a blog and also on my Instagram page. I have loved connecting with the community since the very first day I started the account back in 2016. I want to do that more. I love having this space as a creative outlet, as a place to share thoughts, and as a diary that captures my daily life as a mother and a runner.

Charitable Goal: The twins are getting older and now are grasping the concept – or at least trying to! – of charity. We talk a lot about doing charitable thing, making donations, and giving time or money to various organizations. I would like to do one family service project per month in 2021. Some months that might be running a family 5k for a charity, or collecting food donations for a local pantry, maybe even we will make some busy bags for patients at the Children’s Hospital. I’m excited about doing these projects with my kids, helping others, and teaching L&H all about what it means to give back!

Parenting Goal: Be more empathetic. I’ve learned in my 4.5 years as a parent that things seem to go smoother when I approach situations and difficulties with my kids with empathy. But do I always do it? No. It’s hard. It takes patience. It takes lots of deep breaths. It takes time. But regardless of all that, I’d like to be a more empathetic parent. When they’re having a hard time I’d like to think WHY is this happening to THEM? Not, WHY is this happening to ME?. There is a lot more I can say about this – and I will! But for now, I will just say that my 2021 parenting goal is to be more empathic.

Fitness Goal: My fitness goal is running related – I am sure you’re not surprised :). My goal is to run 100 miles a month….for a total of 1200 miles for the year. I’m hoping to sprinkle in some half marathons in there as well as a fall marathon! I’d like to think that if I run those miles and continue doing strength training I’ll be the strongest I’ve been in a long time. I hope that is the result of my goal!

Relationship Goal: Spend more quality time with Chris. It’s funny to think that I’d like to spend MORE time together considering in the past year our family has been together NON STOP – like so many of you. But sometimes I crave more quality time with Chris. Often times by the time we get everyone to bed, house cleaned up, and things set for the next day we are so zonked we have no energy left to do anything besides zone out in front a show. A few weeks ago we put the kids down for bed a little earlier and ate dinner together – just us! It was really nice. Our own little at-home date night. I’d like to do more stuff like that!

So there you have it! My 2021 goals. I’m looking forward to a lot of growth in 2021. I don’t believe in making widespread changes with goals, but I do like using them to work towards getting better at something. I hope that’s what these goals will do.

To help keep myself on track I’ll be using a monthly goal tracker in my Golden Foil planner. I can map out yearly, monthly, even daily goals! I like that I’ll have a place to remind myself of what I am working on.

But tell me! What are your 2021 goals? Do you have lots of small goals or one big goal? Tell me below!