If you know me, you know I love that fresh start feeling that comes a few times a year: your birthday, the new school year, springtime, and of course, January 1. While there is absolutely no need to wait for a specific date, or even a Monday, for me personally, I love focusing on new goals and habits at one of these “fresh start” times.

With that being said, welcome to my 2023 annual goals. I want to share a rundown of the 8 goals I set for myself in my Cultivate What Matters Powersheets. My goals for this year embrace both my word of the year (more on that in an upcoming post) and my desire to approach this year’s goals with a grace that affords me the ability to make progress, actually reach the goals, and not get burnt out in the process. These past few years, burnout has been the thing I have experienced more than any progress or success, so this year my desire is to change things up so my results are different. Less burnout, more progress.

My 2023 Goals

Become my strongest and fittest self

This goal is my #1 top priority this year. If I make zero progress in any other goal, but I manage to end 2023 stronger, fitter, healthier, with more energy, and ideally a smaller size, the year will be considered a massive success in my book. This goal is one I’ve had for years, but for one reason or another (99% of which is my own lack of self-discipline) I have been unable to make progress here, and I absolutely feel like it is causing me distress in a way that hinders my success elsewhere. Maybe that’s something I should address with therapy rather than with a calorie deficit, but the bottom line is this: my clothes are uncomfortable, the number on the scale makes me uncomfortable, and I am in desperate need to find the energy and vitality that I had back in the mid-2010s. If I want those things I have to do the work, so this year, that is exactly what I’m going to do.

Declutter and cultivate our home

2022 was the year of being unsure of whether or not we were moving across the country and making big changes until basically November, so the ENTIRE year. In 2023 I was promised at least 1 calendar year (barring any unforeseen circumstances) where I can rest assured that we will be staying put. That means this year will bring some pretty great decluttering, reorganizing, and maybe even home decorating projects. I look forward to ending the year having purged our home of things we no longer need or don’t use and streamlining the setup of the things we plan on keeping.

Cultivate an exceptional marriage

I firmly believe an exceptional marriage is one in which you don’t grow complacent and are putting in regular work. Working on my marriage will always and forever be a part of my annual goals because my marriage is a top priority. This year specifically I want to focus on planning a monthly date night for my husband (he will do the same) and I want us to book a vacation of some kind. Other components of this goal include regular habits and actions that could be as simple as complimenting my husband every day or remembering to say “I love you” daily. Little things add up!

Find an opportunity to perform music outside of church

Music is my first love. Specifically, musical theater is my first love. While I am active in my church worship team ( and I love it), it’s time for me to get on stage for another reason that has nothing to do with the church. I want to be in a choir or a cabaret, or even a full-blown musical theater production. It’s time. My soul needs this.

Upgrade my kitchen skills

As a homemaker, content creator, and someone who spends a lot of time in the kitchen, leveling up my kitchen skills has been something I’ve wanted to focus on but haven’t really had the energy. This year, I find that leveling up my kitchen skills directly coincides with my desire to focus on my health. When you have health goals, you need to spend time in the kitchen preparing food and meal planning. If you want to enjoy the food, you’re eating, you need to be decent at cooking. While I am very decent at it, my desire to level up my skills has me wanting to try new recipes, mess with making my own sauces and dressings, baking my own goodies instead of buying them, and so much more. I’m excited to end this year feeling like I have more than just a few go-to recipes that I’m great at making.

Level up my editing skills

This is the only business-related goal I am putting on my personal goals list. Leveling up my editing skills is more of a creative goal than a business goal. I want to lean into learning new techniques and becoming a better storyteller through video for the content on my Youtube channel. I don’t know exactly what this will look like, but I’m excited to find out.

Become intentional about time management and limit time wasters

Time management, doing what I say I will do WHEN I say I will do it, and getting distracted and wasting time are all things that have been a struggle for me since I became a stay-at-home wife. The only thing that kept me on track with my timekeeping was having a busy schedule. I was basically superwoman in college when I was going from first thing in the morning till I went to bed at night. Once I ended up with free time and the option to manage my time as I pleased, I somehow lost the skill to do everything I wanted to do in the period of the day. I know that this is due to a personality trait I have where I need to have external accountability in order to be successful. I had rehearsals to show up for, friends to meet for dinner, and deadlines for homework assignments, which meant that I showed up for everything on time and with my tasks done. Now I don’t have that kind of accountability and my time management struggles because of it. This year, I want to take positive action toward getting back into the groove of self-discipline when it comes to time management. Less mindless scrolling on social media, and more intentionally using my free time. Less disassociating, more productivity. I don’t exactly know how I’m going to approach this yet, but it’s very important that I do. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Read all of the unread books on my bookshelf

Last year I implemented a reading goal. This year, I am implementing a reading goal that doesn’t require me to continue to obtain books that are going to remain unread on my bookshelf. As I regularly glanced through the titles on my bookshelf, the number of times I was able to say “oh, I haven’t read that yet” was astronomical. I have more than a year’s worth of books sitting on my shelf unread. This year, I want to read as many of those books as possible. Does this guarantee that I won’t pick up a new book here and there? Of course not. I love my new books. What this will do, however, is help prevent me from buying an overabundance of books that will continue to sit on a bookshelf unread. I’m really excited to dive into some of the theater books I’ve owned for over a decade, as well as get into those Book-of-the-Month books that I have managed to not read in the month I got them. It’s going to be a great year of reading with a nice balance of self-help and fiction.

All of these goals have me very excited about the woman I will be at the end of the year if I manage to make progress in them. While my health goal is obviously my top priority (with my marriage, being a constant priority), all of these goals inspire me and excite me in a way that has been different than in the past. Stay tuned to find out how I do and what I decide to do to reach them.