Time for another round of quarterly goals! As I mentioned in my First Quarter Goals post, I’m trying something new. Rather than make a huge, (and intimidating,) list of goals at the beginning of the year, I’m making quarterly ones instead, limiting each to ten only in hopes of being realistic. (They’re still not entirely realistic. But I’m getting better.)

I also consider it a win if I finished 50% or more each quarter. Michael Hyatt might consider this a form of Sandbagging, but as much as I love his podcast, books, and blog, this works for me. Because I’m not perfect. And while I always strive for 100%, by allowing myself this percentage, I avoid feeling like a total failure from imperfection.

And this past quarter was not perfect. I’m still fighting depression over my injury and not being able to run for seven months. Plus it’s becoming more clear how I need to make some changes in my life, which I’ll get into later. First, here’s the breakdown of how I’m doing so far this year!

First Quarter Goals:

1.) Get Bob through his hip replacement

Bob’s surgery was very successful, thank God! Unfortunately, alleviating the pain from his hip has only shown the issues he’s now having with his back from walking with a limp for so long. Sigh. Both me and my man are pretty banged up.

2.) Finish A Year of Happy Endings 

Argh. Still not done. But I have been making great progress in March. Hear me now, though, I will NEVER write a multi point-of-view novel again!!!

3.) Starting March 1st, write 1,000 words a day. 

I initially intended to start this goal on February 1st but changed it to March so I could get through Bob’s surgery and the Princess Half. I crushed my March count and plan on continuing for the rest of the year!

4.) Complete our tax and college work.

5.) Freshen my husband’s business website.

6.) Complete Princess Half Marathon content

Still have the half recap and video to do. These take such a long time!

7.) Re-do Joyful Miles’ Blog and YouTube headers. 

I still have tons of redesign work to do on this site, but so far, I’m loving the new header image. It took so long to find just the right one!

8.) Complete the Power 90 workout program.

9.) Complete another 30-Day Push-Up Challenge.

I started and stopped too many times to consider this one done.

10.) Read six books.

Read four and have started five others. I have commitment issues!

So that’s 50%. Not bad but also not great. Now about my second quarter goals. Lately, I’ve been feeling spread out by trying to accomplish too much in too many different aspects but accomplishing little. In case you’re wondering, I do bookkeeping and clerical work for my husband’s general contracting business plus rental property management. I’ll also soon be starting a new venture into house flipping as well. Add to that my Joyful Miles duties: blogging, creating YouTube videos, admin work duties, and keeping up with social media. Between all this, something has been slipping through the cracks for way too long.

Writing.

Don’t get me wrong. Joyful Miles is my absolute passion and well … joy, because I love inspiring others. But fiction writing is my calling, my true purpose. I want to create Joyful Miles content, but I also need to create novels rather than give in to fear, doubt, the lingering effects of a crushing rejection, and other mental demons.

So for this quarter, my focus is going to be BALANCE. I need to find a way to follow both my passion with Joyful Miles and my calling as a novelist, even if it means limiting my blog writing to early morning or late at night. With that in mind, here’s my goals for April through June!

Second Quarter Goals

1.) HEAL.

I do realize this goal is out of my control seeing as how my partial plantar plate tear has a mind of its own. Some heal through conservative measures … taking as long as a year, and some require surgery with results that can greatly vary. But what I do hope to know in three months, however, is which direction mine is going.

2.) Finish A Year of Happy Endings.

Seriously. Just FINISH ALREADY! This is a women’s fiction novel I will be self-publishing this year, and send it to beta readers. You can follow my progress at Wattpad!

3.) Continue writing one thousand words a day!

4.) Re-plot Heroes, Wishes, and Trailer Park Hitches.

This is a mid-grade novel I hope to sell to a publisher. I have another mid-grade to rewrite called The Glory Girls of Stockyard County, but I’m saving that for my fall project.

5.) Redesign the Joyful Miles website.

Now that we’re approaching our first year anniversary, it needs a makeover! Nothing major, however. Priorities.

6.) Be more consistent with blogging and YouTube

I’ve been shooting for three blog posts a week and two videos, but I haven’t been sticking to a regular schedule.

7.) Redesign my husband’s business website.

Oh boy. His website is seriously due for a major makeover!

8.) Start new business.

I’ll explain later.

9.)  Complete another round of Power 90

Modified, of course, to accommodate my injury.

10.) Read six books.

Bonus goals:

Okay, I’m only allowed ten goals, but there are some things that either truly need to be finished or I’d love to finish, like…

11.)  YouTube fixes

This includes adjusting the annotations, links, and end cards on older videos before May 2nd, when YouTube discontinues annotations as well as changing some thumbnails.

12.) Finish the rough draft for Operation Joy

Yeah, this is really pushing it. But this nonfiction novel I’ve been tinkering with will be shorter, around 25,000 to 30,000 words. Call it a true passion project.

13.) Figure out my identity.

That sounds deep, right? What I really mean is I need to figure out what to do with my personal, writing, and Joyful Miles social media presence on Instagram, Twitter, etc. Runners might not want to hear about writing, writers might not want to hear about running, and there’s four of us Joyful Milers. So I’ve been floundering lately, especially with my personal blog. Plus I’ll be self-publishing under the name Sidney Brooks, which adds a whole new level of crazy!

14.) Another 30-Day Push Up Challenge

I’m only adding this because I don’t like odd numbers.

So there you go, my list of goals for this quarter. Thanks for reading along with my rambles … this post does stray from the overall theme of this blog, but sharing my goals really motivates me to get things done! Now what about you?

QOTD: What are you goals for April through June? Please share in the comments if you’d like so I can cheer you along!