A support, motivation, and accountability group to help members achieve short term goals with long term benefits!
Cycle 2 Introductory Post (October 1-30, 2016)
This is the introductions post for Cycle 2, beginning on October 1, 2016
Introduce yourself and share your personal goal or goals here. Choose as many or as few goals as you wish, or choose short term goals to work on for only part of the cycle if you prefer. We have no restrictions on goal setting here!
If you are struggling with setting "good" goals, there is some great advice here, and here. I find the acronym SMART helpful in setting my own goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevent, and Time-Bound.
Some questions you may want to answer here in the introductions (answer as many or as few as you wish, and feel free to include information that isn't on this list!):
- Who are you?
- What short-term goals will you be working on this month?
- Are these new goals or ongoing?
- How do those goals fit in to your long-term goals?
- How will you be measuring or tracking your progress, and what will you consider "success"?
- How have you built flexibility into your goals?
- What do you hope to get from this community?
I'm excited to work with you for the next 30 days!




Hi, I'm Alex! And apparently the Hellenic polytheist group I hang out with isn't doing the God of the Month thing for October, so I shall tailor my goals to Deities of my choice instead.
1: Hestia
Bronze: Clean my apartment for five minutes a day.
Silver: Clean my apartment for twenty minutes a day or do something to make it consistently more organized and/or less cluttered in future.
Gold: Clean my apartment for forty minutes a day and do something to make it consistently more organized and/or less cluttered in future.
2: Athena Sophia
Bronze: Study something related to Hellenic polytheism for five minutes a day.
Silver: Study something related to Hellenic polytheism for twenty minutes a day.
Gold: Study something related to Hellenic polytheism for forty minutes a day and/or create something for the Gods.
3: Athena Sthenias
Bronze: Walk for five minutes or do two sun salutations.
Silver: Walk for twenty minutes or do a twenty-minute yoga routine, or walk for ten minutes and do four sun salutations.
Gold: Walk for twenty minutes and do a twenty-minute yoga routine.
4. The Titan Mousai
Bronze: Pray to at least one of the Gods or pray to at least one set of the Dead or ground and center.
Silver: Two of the Bronze goals.
Gold: All three of the Bronze goals and offer something or some time to at least one of the Gods or at least one set of the Dead.
5: The Olympian Mousai
Bronze: Write fifty words a day. (No, college coursework doesn't count, unless it doubles as artistic work.)
Silver: Write five hundred words a day.
Gold: Write fifteen hundred words a day.
I seriously do not expect to earn all the Golds in any given day. But if I earn at least all the Bronzes at least two days in three for the next thirty, I shall be overjoyed. Having edited to add a fifth goal: I shall aim for four Bronzes, two Silvers, or a Gold every day.
I mostly hope to get community and encouragement from this community. :)
[Content deleted by author]
I totally stole it from the second advice post linked above, so have at!
Resident nonnymouse, actually anon because I haven't decided if I want to use my fandom profile or something else. (I see others I recognize using their fandom profiles! *waves hi* but I don't know if I want to connect the two or not yet.)
I'd like to finish C25K, which I think is a reasonable goal because I'm nearly done and can already run 28 minutes. I'd like to finally have a month where I actually hit my minimum wordcount or more (750 words is the minimum) every single day. I can do 750 words in about 45 minutes, so finding the time for it shouldn't be that hard, and last month was close but then I got distracted with RP, whoops. XD (I still want to do the RP, I just want to also write fiction!) I'd also like to draw for Goretober, but I'm a bit out of practice and I think finishing a drawing every day might be a little unrealistic for me. Maybe I can at least do the first week of it.
These are generally ongoing goals, though some of them are specific to this month (such as Goretober being an October-themed fest, and C25K actually being close to finished).
My long-term goals involve a lot of getting better at writing and drawing, increasing my output, having some professional output, increasing my confidence in my creative work, and eventually getting to the point not only where I'm good enough and prolific enough to make a living at it, but I can handle the strain of doing that much of it without it negatively impacting my mental health, which has to be built up slowly. The running is there to support my mental health, as well as my physical fitness, which I believe is linked.
I make a checkmark on days when I do the thing. More checkmarks = better progress. Some checkmarks > no checkmarks.
I recognize that it's not all or nothing. For example, even if I only write 15 days out of 31, that's 15 days of writing, and probably 15 more than I would have had if I hadn't made it a goal worth working towards. It's not really possible to "fail" as long as I'm trying my best. I always get some practice and that always makes it easier when I try again. That's why it's okay to shoot a little higher than I think I can do. It's no big deal if I don't hit it, and setting lofty goals gives me something to strive for. I always feel proud of what I did manage to do in the attempt.
This has been a great place to talk about goal-setting and strategies, there's always something new to learn!
I totally get the anon deal, nonnie. I think I'm still commenting anon in TwoX for the exact same reason. Do I want to use this name, or the other?
Have you joined the /c25k community here on Imzy? We just became neighbors (subtle advertising, lol).
Sure, I'll join! I'd mostly been using the Reddit one, which is very chill and not full of the kind of thing that makes me give most Reddit communities a wide berth--I guess it's easier to be nice when it's just runners giving each other support. But it might be nice to have a bit more general discussion.
Hi I'm akasha and this is my first time participating here!
Hi! My October goal will be:
*writing: Finish 3 fics: a fic for a prompt fest, a currently unfinished fic and a microfic. Bonus: work on bingo extra
workout: light exercise and brisk walking everyday for now, and resume my workout and c25k routine before next Sunday
work: finish a translation task and a data analysis before the deadline
Bonus: work with my friend to have a rough outline for his novel before November
Hello Everyone! My name is Alishia. Overall, long-term, I am working on minimizing and reducing clutter both tangible and non-tangible. My stress derives entirely from clutter. Too many things in my house, on my desk, in my bag... Too many things on my mind, on my shoulders, in my heart. I need to find ways to reduce clutter, so this month I am working on:
1) Run 65 miles in October - I am not feeling much like running since finishing my first half marathon a few weeks ago. I am burned out from the training, but running has been an effective way for me to decompress from work and stay focused and present so I will run on.
2) Journal to reduce stress - I hope this works and doesn't add stress ;) I think it will be a good way to de-clutter my mind and heart and also help me to identify what areas of my life are causing stress consistently and also what brings me joy. I want to try idea mapping as a journal style. I would like to journal at least twice a week.
3) Food/meal prep - A huge stress for me is what's for dinner.. My goal is to plan meals on Fridays, shop on Saturday, and prep on Sunday.
This group is a great idea! I am looking forward to getting to know everyone!
I'm Elle. I joined the comm in the middle of last cycle and I'm glad I get to jump in today. :)
I have two goals: one is to finish the project (FCL) I'm currently writing/posting, and the other is to finish the preliminary planning for my NaNoWriMo project. I currently write daily so the writing isn't new, but the goals themselves are. I had originally planned to give myself to the end of November on FCL, but I had a project come up that I really want to pair with NaNo.
My long long long term goal is to write daily, post fan work, and refine original work with the goal of someday being published. I'm still learning, but that's my ultimate goal.
General success is writing activity accomplished every day- new words, revising, editing, etc. but I also have worked out where I have to be in each project each day to reach my goals by October 31.
Daily writing is already a habit for me, but these specific writing goals have a deadline, so I gave myself 5 cushion days to help if I get behind.
It's always nice to work toward a goal with others. We all need camaraderie and support on the mutual journey down our 30 day paths.
I would really like to achieve a fitness goal I have! It's an ongoing but recently more urgent goal. I hope to get some kind of structure and encouragement / motivation because I am always so bad at this :)
I participated in the first round and found the check-in posts helpful! For those who don't know me from the first round, I'm Kate, I'm a full time office worker bee trying to become a part time writer, and I'm a big procrastinator!
My goals this month:
Write. My long term goal is to finish my novel. This month's goal is 7500 words. (10k was a bit much last month.) I'm trying the "biting the bullet" mode on Pacemaker this month, writing more at the beginning and less at the end, since that generally seems to be how I end up working anyway. You can see my chart here! https://pacemaker.press/users/katemacetak/plans/october-goal
Exercise. (kinda) Do my tendon stretches every day like the doctor told me. It takes 5 minutes, I have no excuse. I also want to try one new exercise/stretching video a week, because I think I'm such a beginner I need to figure out what I am capable of and want to do before getting more serious.
Cooking. Make one new recipe a week. Because I've been getting lazy and making nothing but spaghetti and stir frys, which aren't bad but not all the time.
For flexibility's sake I'm not making myself write or cook every day. I like word count goals for writing because I can catch up on weekends even if I'm too tired/busy after work.
Hi I'm Jo!
Last month I had three goals which involved writing, exercising, and keeping a bullet journal. I think what I'm going to do is keep two of them and change the third, on the principal what what I'm trying to do is build good habits. So the one I'm going to drop (from here) is exercising, since I've been doing that regularly for over 4 months and so it's a pretty well established habit.
I'm going to keep:
Bullet Journalling: I started last month and I learned a lot about what works for me and what doesn't, how I use a journal, what types of spreads I like, etc. It's going really well, but since it's such a new habit I'm going to keep it for another month until it's a more solid one.
Writing: In the spring I suffered a serious burn out in my writing (both fanfiction and original fiction) and stopped writing entirely for the summer. Last month my goal was simply to do "some" writing 5 days/week, and I hit an average of 3 days/week. So for this month, in addition to that same goal of "some" writing 5 days/week, I'm going to set specific writing-related goals as well:
And I'm going to add:
KonMari: I'll let you Google it if you haven't heard of it, but I started almost 2 years ago, and got a LOT done, but there's still a bunch of stuff left to go through (including all the kitchen stuff) and KonMari categories I haven't finished yet. So my new goal for this month is to spend 30 minutes KonMari-ing the house, 5 days/week.
Looking forward to seeing your konmari progress! I've been reading a lot about it and it sounds like it could be great for decluttering, but I'm pretty intimidated by the idea.
Introduction: I'm Stella, I'm here every day, I'm not great at doing things I should do.
I'm going to have 3 goals again this month, because that worked out fairly well for me last time.
Walk 8K steps every day. I was thinking about upping this to 10K, but I didn't hit quite as many days as I would have liked last cycle, so I'm leaving it.
Stick with a new meal plan. This has two parts. I'm pretty sure I've become lactose intolerant, but I've been ignoring it because I love dairy products so much. So for the first 10 days I'm going to cut out all dairy. In addition, the entire 30 days I'm going to focus on making and eating more of my meals at home, because I've become too reliant on postmates and restaurants, and my budget is noticing.
Track expenses accurately Speaking of budget, I've really lost track of where my money is going, so I'm starting the first step of good budgeting and tracking all of my expenses accurately for the whole month. Ack!
I'm going to be tracking my expenses with a combination of apps and my bullet journal. Walking will be with my step tracker, and my bullet journal. And the no dairy thing I'm not really keeping track of, I just have to stop buying dairy.
I'm going to make an effort to check in on the daily posts every day, even on days when I royally screw up, as well. I'm excited to see how Cycle 2 goes! If anyone has any suggestions for how to run things more smoothly, or anything you'd like to see happen here, hit me up in the Welcome Post or PM.
Good luck with the no dairy! I seem to have developed the same issues over the past year (I'm middle-aged/menopausal, I think that might be linked?) I can still tolerate the small amount of milk I put in my tea (thank gods!), and hard cheeses are fine, but I've had to stop eating yoghurt entirely :-( Just a suggestion, you might want to stagger your cutbacks: milk & cream first, then yoghurt/sour cream/ice cream, then soft cheese, then hard cheese. You might find you've got a 'tolerance line' like I do.
I didn't do well at all with the last challenge. In fact, I didn't do anything. The main reason is I'm legit addicted to WoW right now, so I'm going to focus on that this round.
My goal this time is: Bronze: Stay under 2000 minutes played each week. Silver: Stay under 1000 minutes played each week. Gold: Be able to say I did 1 thing for 2 hours straight each day that was -not- WoW.
I'm going to keep it just to that, and if I can succeed I'll try to push into something else next round.
Oh man, I know that feeling! I'm not a gamer myself... my vice is binging TV shows. I can easily watch 12 hours of TV a day when I really get into a groove, and let all my other priorities fall by the wayside. It's definitely a balancing act, since you don't want to give up something you really enjoy, but also don't want it to totally take over your life. Good luck striking that balance this month!
Still working on keeping my mind clean Also want to stay calm when people do horrible things in the road
[Content deleted by author]
It's never too late to start! Good luck 😀
Hi, I'm Luke. My goals are: losing weight\exercising : i want to lose 4 lbs by the end of the month. (preferably grow some muscles too)
writing: I'm planning on starting a Youtube channel for short\fan films, so by the end of October, i want to have a first draft of a script for a +- 10 minute action film.
Getting good grades : i want to focus more on my education, to know what i will be able to do in the future.
the first and 3rd goals are ongoing, the second is a new idea.
I like the gold/silver/bronze thing, so I'll give that a try.
Health
Bronze: Get to the gym once a week to do weights. Get 7 hours of sleep every night.
Silver: Gym twice a week. Stretching or yoga 1-2 times a week.
Gold: Gym twice a week. Run once a week. Stretch every day. 8 hours of sleep.
Creative Projects
Bronze: Draw 4 comic pages. Write 10 pages. Draw one dinosaur sprite sheet.
Silver: Bronze, plus finish the rough sprite sheet for the MC of the non-dinosaur game.
Gold: Silver plus 1-2 comic pages.
Aaaand I think I'll consider any additional accomplishments Super Gold Star Bonuses