{goals} Two fun, intentional birthday traditions you may want to consider

I just celebrated my birthday – this is 46! It’s the strangest thing; I’m writing these increasing numbers and I don’t feel 46 at all. I feel strong, vital and full of energy yet I know intellectually that I’m now middle-aged 😮 and that other people see me like that.

I had a very lovely birthday indeed. You can see more in the Instagram post below.

  1. Do a birthday review

I wrote two posts here in 2016 and here in 2018, and you can download my free birthday review printable here.

2. Make a birthday list

I used to make a 36 things, 37 things, 38 things list…. and then they got too many to do once I hit 40. So now I do a lovely things to do list and I only make 20 items 😉

This year my list has things that are very doable within my immediate environment. I have not entirely completed it yet, but a couple of the categories include:

  • workshops (I want to develop a new one to replace Four Tendencies – let me know if there’s something you can think of, but I am definitely doing a goals/ planning workshop)
  • photos and photography
  • reading (obviously – did you know I started a bookstagram account during the last year? See more @marciareadsalot)
  • cooking/ baking
  • family and friends

What are some fun things I should add to my list?

The Birthday List

I’ve done a birthday list for the last 5 years. I called them my 36, 37, 38, 39 things list….. and then last year I called it Lovely things to do this year.

41 things-001

My list happened to have 24 things on it. I’ve just done a stock-take and I ended up with 15.2 things done. If you’re wondering how one does 0.2 of something, it’s because I was accurate with the number of new recipes I tried, and with the number of books I read, and those worked out as % as I didn’t fully get to the number I’d intended.

Interestingly, I did much better with the items that were habits or habit-forming activities and totally bad with most things that were once-off items. This speaks to Gretchen Rubin’s theory that, for her, habits are much easier than goals. Hmmm.

There were some once-off activities that got done though, like painting the house! Well, it was one item that involved a ton of co-ordinating and running to the paint shop multiple times (I ended up with 4 tester pots and I’m still not 100% sold on the final colour, but it’s not bad enough that I want to go through the schlep and cost all again – I can live with it for 7 years!).

To be honest, I do much better with big lists 🙂 so I’m wondering how to approach things this year.

41 things-002

I haven’t settled on it in my mind yet but my list is sure to include

  • some fun – photos, reading, food….
  • some family and friends activities
  • some health and fitness goals – sleep and steps!
  • some giving goals – every year my list has some random acts of kindness and that is one of the easiest things to do
  • some house goals (the list is still considerable!), and
  • lots of holiday goals (my absolute favourite!)

At the end of the day, while I make plans, I want God to order my steps and “write” out my days well 🙂

41 things

Aside from this list, I also want to do a little bit of navel-gazing to see if I’m where I thought I’d be this year, why and why not.

Do you make a list for your birthday?

Do you spend any time around your birthday reviewing the last year?



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