The Kat Files

Happy New Year! It feels wonderful welcoming in a new year after living through a year of disappointment, turmoil, and unpredictability. While there were aspects of 2020 that I am grateful for, I am happy with moving on from that chapter of my life and currently focusing on the next chapter with the anticipation of new opportunities to learn, grow, and increase my joy factor.

FOCUS is my word for 2021. I’m choosing to focus on my health, my home, my happiness as it relates to my career (focusing on creating a new career I have wanted for many years), and my hobbies. My 21 for 2021 list will FOCUS on these four areas.

Kat’s 21 for 2021 List

1. Manage time.
2. Maintain a regular fitness regimen.
3. Create weekly meal plans.
4. Eat more vegetables.
5. Try intermittent fasting for one month (Clean & Lean).
6. Declutter and organize each room in my house.
7. Write a will.
8. Try one NO spend month.
9. Revisit A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle.
10. Complete The Four Tendencies course (Gretchen Rubin).
11. Read Atomic Habits by James Clear.
12. Read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.
13. Create a vision board.
14. Take a WordPress Blogging course.
15. Take a WordPress Podcasting course.
16. Purchase podcasting equipment.
17. Complete Write a Bestseller course (Jeff Goins).
18. Try 12 new restaurants (one per month).
19. Take Becky Higgins Classroom: Photo Tips + Work Flow.
20. Scrapbook at least two times per month.
21. Learn how to use my Cricut Maker.

During the month of January, I will focus on managing my time. I want to establish a better daily routine, create schedules for decluttering, housekeeping, working on my courses, and self care, as well as continuing to participate in improv and RCIA. Essentially, I want to use my weekly 168 hours more effectively. I also want to try to break down the remaining 20 items on my list into the four quarters of the year to make accomplishing them more manageable. Naturally, several of my items are designed to run throughout the entire course of the year which is also totally fine. I’m excited about all the possibilities this new year has to offer and look forward to the journey through 2021.

Other Plans for 2021:

1. On Goodreads, I joined the 2021 Reading Challenge, and my goal is to read 50 books again this year. 
2. I am participating in Gretchen Rubin’s #Read21for21 challenge. Basically, you read for 21 minutes every day in 2021. While I do read a great deal, I don’t necessarily read for pleasure every day. I’ve also decided to read specific books during my daily 21 minutes to see how many books I read throughout the year just in that daily timeframe. According to Gretchen Rubin, “If you read for 21 minutes per day for 365 days, that’s 7,665 minutes, or almost 128 hours of reading. You can read a lot of books in 128 hours!” 
3. This year, I also plan to keep a TA-DA list for 2021. Many times I accomplish goals that are not included on my list, and I should be celebrating those accomplishments, too. 
4. Hopefully, I will be attending my annual scrapbooking convention with my gal pals in June. We didn’t get to attend last year because of the pandemic, so I REALLY hope and pray we can get together this summer. 

What do you have planned in 2021, dear reader? Have you made some resolutions or a 21 for 2021 list? If you could choose a one-word theme for this year, what word would you choose? Let me know what your plans are for 2021. Happiness!

“Focus is the key to accomplish what is necessary – easy word to spell, it contains only five letters but it is probably one of the most powerful words there are in order to move forward with confidence and with the expected results.” ~ Bryan Pulsifer