Keeping Up With Kimberly: New Year, Same Goals

January 18, 2014

New Year, Same Goals

I've written about goals in the past: fitness goals, educational goals, blogging goals, and New Year’s resolutions. Since it’s January, I figured there is no better time to talk about some of my goals for 2014. As I was thinking about it this morning, I realized that my goals haven’t really changed from last year. A lot of them are long-term goals that are continuing into 2014. The good thing is that I can look back and see the process from where I was in January of 2013. I feel like I’m one step closer on my journey to accomplish all of my goals. Here are some of the goals & milestones I’m working on this year:

Career: I once had a mentor who told me you should never do the same thing for more than two years. I've been in the same role at my company since February 2011. We are quickly approaching the three year mark, but I’m cutting myself some slack since during that three year period, I transferred to our Pittsburgh office (which was definitely a change!). I've been talking to my boss about where I want to focus on my career and I’m hoping that I can make some changes in 2014. It’s time for a new project, a new challenge, and a new opportunity.

Education: I just started semester 4 of 6 in the MBA program at Duquesne University. I’m on track to graduate this December and my goal is to finish strong. “Christmas Break” (can you call it that if you still have to work 5 days a week?) could not have come at a better time. I was feeling a bit burnt out at the end of last semester, but felt refreshed when classes started last week. One of my goals for education this year is to find a better balance of school work, work, and a personal life…I really struggled with this one last year, so send me some helpful hints!

Health: I am a pretty healthy person in general, but there are definitely some areas I can work on. Eating healthy is the biggest area where there is room for improvement. My goals for 2014 are to shop healthier, cook more, and stop snacking as much in the evening (or maybe just to snack healthier in the evening), and drink more water. I started using MyFitnessPal.com to log everything I’m eating. It's awesome because I can access my log from the computer, my phone, and my iPad to keep track during the day. It has definitely been eye opening these last two weeks!

Fitness: Continuing on from eating healthy is the fitness goal. Moving to Pittsburgh and starting grad school put a huge damper on my running in 2013. This year, I've already signed up for a 10K and a half marathon in the Spring. Knowing what my work/school schedule looks like, I had to set a realistic plan of running three days a week. It’s tough reminding myself that I’m training not to PR these races, but to keep myself in shape slowly build back up to where I was at in 2012.