Hello, friends. It’s July, which means it’s time to check in on our 2024 goals, progress towards them, and reset our focus for the remaining half of the year. I love a midyear goal reset because our goals change from season to season. Our goals and our priorities ebb and flow and shift as life happens. This is a good way to assess how the first half of the year has gone, the growth we’ve had, and if the goals we set at the beginning of the year are still worthy of our attention moving forward.
What is a midyear goal check-in and reset? It's an intentional check-in on the goals you set at the beginning of the year to identify areas of progress and areas of stagnation. To reset, reassess if those goals are still important to you and decide which goals to leave or take with you as you step into the second half of the year with renewed focus and priorities.
As I move through my goals, check in on progress, and reset for the remainder of the year, I invite you to do the same. Light a candle, grab your mind map, vision board, or goal list from the beginning of the year, and have a self-date to check in on your 2024 goals.
My 2024 Goal progress and check in
Here’s a midyear goal progress and reset video if you prefer to watch/listen instead of read.
Midyear goal check-in and progress
Health Goals
√Invest in my health
√Doctor’s appointments
√Advocate for myself with doctors
√Finally figure out what’s been going on with my chronic pain, exhaustion, and infertility
√Fitness class for fun
√Eat more whole foods and fresh foods
This has been my primary focus this year. After 22 years of chronic pain and exhaustion, 15 years of having “unexplained female infertility” and being told by every doctor beforehand that my symptoms were normal and most women experience them, I finally got connected with an incredible doctor. She performed investigative and diagnostic surgery at my request and within a month of meeting her, I had surgery and was diagnosed with Stage 4 Endometriosis.
Read more about my diagnosis, symptoms, and surgery here.
Watch the YouTube video about my endometriosis journey here.
Since surgery and my diagnosis, I’ve dived into all my health goals. I’ve been eating organic acai bowls, drinking smoothies, and cooking myself breakfast. I started immunotherapy for allergies, cut way back at work to reduce stress, read a book about my disease, attended some yoga classes, and so much more. Now we are on an IVF journey and I’m continuing to prioritize my health and investing money in my health.
buying new clothes for my changing body and learning to accept my surgical scars.
eating more whole, fresh foods
husband cooking me amazing dinners that focus on reducing inflammation
smoothies are a new obsession this year
Personal Goals
√Build a wardrobe I feel confident in
√Be gentle with myself
- Learn how to cook a handful of recipes really well
- More patience
- More connecting with husband
- Become licensed foster parents
- More self-care
Not a whole lot of growth in this area yet this year. I added a few new pieces to my wardrobe that I love, as my body has changed and my previous clothes no longer fit. I’ve also been trying to be a lot more gentle with myself, especially since my diagnosis. Gentle about my limited capacity and when I don’t feel or aren’t very productive because of pain. I’ve been most successful at being gentle about goals and accepting that not everything priority, some goals will take a back seat to others.
And we are so close to becoming licensed foster parents! We submitted all of our requirements and finished all of our training, just waiting on the state to approve our license application!
Financial Goals
√Pay off my car
√No stressing about health costs
- Pay off three student loans
- Spend on experiences more than objects
- Low spend / no spend challenges
- Budget / track spending
I knew this area would take a back-seat this year if medical costs were high, and it has. I’ve had multiple drs appointments most weeks and meeting my high insurance deductible has been the priority. Trying to have grace that that means there’s less focus on this area. However, paying off my car was huge! And I am continuing to grow in the area of accepting that investing in my health is a significant financial commitment.
Fun Goals
- Take trips, explore new places
- Move my body in fun ways
- Live for the hope of it all (my all-time favorite Swift lyric, by the way, my personality)
- Dinner by candlelight
- Flowers/stems indoors
- More laughter
- Dancing
√Host girly activities
√No perfectionism
√Dream garden- add first rose
√More candles
√Gold permanent jewelry
√Take a cooking class for fun
√More nature
√More connection
The first half of this year has felt exhausting. Fun can be hard when struggling to have physical energy and wellness regularly, on top of processing my new disease diagnosis, and a few family crisis things that came up. But goodness, I tried to have fun haha. I planned and hosted a couple of girly events, including a picnic brunch for a girlfriend’s birthday at a local garden and a Bridgerton season 3 watch party!
Thankfully, as we slide into the second half of this year, I feel renewed hope and excitement for the future. Hopefully, the remainder of the year is filled with genuine fun, and not just attempts to have fun lol.
diy hang out with a friend in the park, making jeweled suncatchers for the garden.
hosted a season 3 Bridgerton watch party with a tea party theme. Everyone got a flower arrangement to take home, there were candlestick candles lit, and snacks.
going outside with the puppies makes it easier to spend more time in nature.
took a cooking class with a friend.
diy mosaics with friends above, girly picnic below
Home Goals
- Adjust our home to create a nursery
- Finish or abandon old craft projects
- Dining room to craft room conversion
- Declutter and have more breathing space
√Have approved home study
I’ve started some decluttering! And although we will have to make adjustments to our home as we become foster children, some of it is a waiting game to see what ages and genders children we will be placed with before we makeover some of the bedrooms for kids. Because our “preferences” are wide (ages 0-18, both genders), we don’t want to set up a bedroom for a 14 year old then need to change it all if we have a two-year-old in that room instead. So our home has been approved for foster care, but changes will need to happen when we do take a placement!
Business Goals
- Weekly videos
- Write heartfelt blog posts
- Host workshops
- Host a retreat
- Finish business courses
√Take more photos
√Write heartfelt blog posts
This area was brainstorming ideas, rather than goals I expected myself to complete within the 2024 year. I have been working on a couple of them though, and hope to prioritize this area more in the remainder of this year!
Work Goals
√Less work, more life
√Make work enjoyable again
- Host groups for higher impact and earning with less time
- Build something of my own
Still working on this area. I reduced my work by about 1/3 of what it was and that has allowed me to have so much more balance and enjoyment in my life. It’s been a priority to help reduce stress for my disease as well. I hope that last goal on the list gets some major focus the second half of this year, by working on my blog and youtube channel and sharing things from the heart.
GOAL RESET FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR
Reassess Your Priorities and Goals
This next part is so important for a midyear goal check-in. We have to assess our priorities and goals moving forward. Some of the goals we set at the beginning of the year may not be important or relevant for us anymore, while others may need more action steps to break them down.
As I checked-in with my goals and current priorities, I reworked my goal categories. Here’s my refreshed goals for the second half of 2024 after the goal reset. I sorted my goals into the following categories or priorities- health, peace, fun, build something of my own, and finances.
My Refreshed Goals for the Second Half of 2024:
Peace
- Declutter house
- Spend more time in nature
- Dinners by candlelight
- Gratitude journal
- Practice non-attachment to outcomes
- Pray
Health
- Determine if we’re doing IVF or surgery next
- Start whichever process we choose
- Eat whole, nourishing foods
- Consistent, gentle movement
- Less social media
Finances
- Pay off credit cards
- Pay off cruise
- Pay off student loan #06
- Only intentional shopping
- Focus on contentment
- Lower lifestyle costs
- No more debt
Fun
- Improve attitude
- Fun, gentle movement- roller skating, walking club, bicycling
- Day trip to hike in the mountains
- Swimming
- Enjoy everyday moments
- Have new experiences
Build Something of My Own
- Photography trading day with Becca
- Get a business mentor
- Fill blog with valuable content
- Continue growing youtube channel engagement and following with great videos
- Finish business class
As you can see, I simplified things for the second half of this year. Instead of seven categories of goals, I narrowed it down to five categories. None of my goals feel impossible, they are simple. I want to continue having grace around goals and flexibility for the changing of life and seasons. I’ve grown so much this year in my gentleness around goals and understanding that they don’t HAVE to be accomplished, they are just nudges in the direction I want to be headed. They are good reminders and measures of intentional living.
I hope you’re able to check-in with your 2024 goals, and reassess and reset them if needed! We are rarely the same person in the middle of the year as we were at the beginning, and our goals and focus need to be able to change as we do and our lives and circumstances do.
Wishing you a meaningful, fulfilling second half of 2024.
Love, Laura
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