Resolutions Review: 2014

Setting resolutions each year has become one of my favorite things - I love self-evaluating and deciding on specific things I want to improve. The past couple of years, I've made a chart for my goals so that they're always visible and I can track my progress. This year, I got crazy with goals and made fifteen. While all well-intentioned, they just weren't realistic and I tanked on a few of them. I did make quite a bit of progress in others, though.

Spiritual
1. Read the Sunday School lesson before church on Sunday and email Pres. Myers my thoughts. Halfway check! This one wasn't very hard for me, since I teach Gospel Doctrine, so I have to read the lesson each week. According to my chart, I missed 2 weeks, but I think maybe I just forgot to mark them off. I didn't, however, email my thoughts to President Myers ever I don't think. Maybe a few times in the beginning.
2. Go to the temple at least once every other month and study something about the temple the week before I go. Halfway check! Same thing here, I went to the temple once every other month - sometimes more - but I didn't always study beforehand. Truth be told, I forgot about the study beforehand part. Oops. But I did attend the temple 12 times this year, often doing more than one ordinance while there. I feel pretty good about that.
3. Work on family history at least 2 hours every month. Check plus! I was so nervous about this one. I had no idea how to do family history and I thought I was setting a lofty goal. I had no idea that once I got started, it'd be hard to stop at 2 hours every month. Family history has been my greatest surprise and blessing this year, as I've found over 300 ordinances to take to the temple for members of my family. I have so many that I have to share a lot of them with the temple system because I just can't do them all myself. It's a great problem to have!
4. Index 1000 names by the end of the year. Check! I just completed this one today. I neglected indexing for a while this year, but it's just so easy to get back into the swing of it, and as I search for my own family names, I'm so grateful for those who take the time to index, making records available for me to find.
5. Accompany the missionaries to a lesson once a month. Negative. I only accompanied the missionaries four times this year. In my defense, they have a chart they pass around each week where you specify when you're available and I always put my times on there and they very rarely called me. Still, I could've been more proactive about making this happen, and I just didn't.
6. Extend at least one missionary invitation each month—to meet with the missionaries, come to church, come to institute, come to an activity, read Book of Mormon, etc.  Check...ish. I extended at least fourteen invitations this year, but some months were doubled up. I missed two months. I really gained an appreciation for the invitation process this year, though, as I came to understand how easy it is to just invite people. Once you remove the pressure of them accepting the invitation - because that's not up to me anyway - it's easy to just extend it. As long as I extend it, I'm successful, regardless of their response.

7. Study with PMG each week. Almost. I did so well with this all year then fell off the wagon in November. I'm not even sure what happened. But I was 100% through October.

8. Study the General Conference edition of the Ensign at least once all the way through after each conference. Ish. I'm not even sure how to count this. I have listened to all the talks multiple times after Conference, but I haven't actually read them so...I should've been more specific about what "study" means. 

Physical

9. Work out twice a week. Check! From what I can tell from my chart, I missed 3 weeks this year, and only one of those was no workouts. I'm really grateful for this goal because it helped me stay on track for at least some kind of physical respect and attention to my body. My eating...not so much.

Financial

10. Pay off all my debt, except for a new car loan. Fail. I still have a balance on my credit card and my student loan and I have now added my car loan. I've got a budget worked out now, though, so these should be paid off by May at the latest.

Social

11. Write Thomas each week. Nope. I just really don't have much to say to Thomas every week, you know? And also...Monday comes really fast. I did better in the beginning of the year but lost steam by the end. Sorry about that, Little Bro.

12. Perform some kind of service every month. Meh. I got slightly better than 50% on this one. I really regret that, though. Service is something I need to improve upon; hence, the goal. Maybe I did service that I just forgot to count? Sure, I'll go with that.

13. 100% Visiting Teaching each month. Check! I missed one girl one month, but I got everyone else every other month! This goal has been very beneficial for me, because I've actually made three pretty good friends through visiting teaching. I'm grateful for the chance I had to get to know them!

Personal

14. Learn 4 new hymns on the piano. Umm....technically...I have four songs written down that I practiced and felt pretty good about. I haven't been reviewing them, though, so I doubt I'd be able to play them very well now. Shoot. Should've created a practice schedule.

15. Perform in church once per quarter and somewhere other than church at least once this year.  Check! I performed in church four times this year, and I was able to participate in a local concert in Columbus which raised money for cancer research. It was fun to be on stage again!

Overall, I succeeded with 7 of my 15 goals, partially succeeded with 4 of them, and failed with 4 of them. I think I spread myself too thin this year, and I'm choosing fewer, more focused goals this coming year.