It has been over five years since I left my last blog behind. I started Small Things in December 2011 with a quintessentially Kait (although, I would have been going by “Kaitlin” at the time) post about my resolutions for the year ahead. Before Small Things, I was puttering around on Xanga with a blog titled: One Cute Muffin. I am sure the high-school/early-college “Katy” thought that was somehow hilarious?
I stopped blogging on Small Things in March 2018, when I shifted most of my digital documenting to Instagram stories. But over the last year, my stories have been slacking. I am distracted by Instagram content. I am overwhelmed by trying to consolidate experiences into a few photos, a witty caption and a couple of emojis. I have drifted away from Instagram, and considering the hours I waste scrolling and scrolling and scrolling, I can’t say that I mind. But I need a new platform where I can document and define my experiences, and I think a blog might be just the place.
So without further ado, let’s start this blog off right…talkin’ bout resolutions (my #1 favorite conversation topic from December through January until I have burned out all of my friends of the subject).
2023 Resolutions Report
| Goal | Result |
| Achieve 80% of daily habits (yoga, 3 fruit/veg servings, workout, read, journal) | 81% |
| Spend 400 hours outside | 448.5 hours |
| Move (walk, bike, run) 1,000 miles | 828.5 miles |
| Make a career change | Remote work approval Resigned from job Started freelance |
| Read 10 of the 100 greatest books | 13 books |
| Visit 3 new places | Portland, OR Detroit, MI Lacey, WA |
| Make 1 Amazon purchase per month | 9 months |
2024 Resolutions
| Goal | Notes |
| Achieve 80% of daily habits | 1. Yoga 2. 3 Fruit/veg servings 3. Workout 4. Read 5. No alcohol |
| Spend 500 hours outside | 42 hours per month |
| Generate $50,000 income | $4,167 per month |
| Read 10 of the 100 greatest books | |
| Visit 4 new places | ~with Aaron |
| Make 2 DoorDash delivery order per week | ~with Aaron |
| Meet 12 new people | 1 per month |
| Make charitable contribution of $1,000 | ~with Aaron $250 per month / 1 hour volunteer = $50 |
1. Tracker System
I know keeping track of your progress isn’t exactly a groundbreaking idea in the world of goal setting, but I would guess the majority of people who set resolutions do not have a system in place to keep track them. How regularly you check-in on your goals will depend on the timeframe of the goals themselves, but here’s my schedule:
- Daily – I keep this printed tracker page in my bathroom where I can mark my daily habits from the day before.
- Weekly – Once I have filled up my printed tracker page, I update the “Habit” tab of my Tracker sheet with the week’s data.
- Monthly – At the end of each month, I consolidate the monthly totals on the “Resolutions” tab and note any other deliverables to non-daily goals. This is also a great time to evaluate any adjustments or plans I need to make to stay on track.
- Annually – By December, all of my data is already compiled, so I just total/average out my monthly data and can easily evaluate results.
Printed Tracker Page
“Resolutions,” Tracker Sheet
“Habits” Tracker Sheet
It may sound like a lot of tracking…but breaking it down this way helps you efficiently get the most accurate data, AND disperses the completed-task dopamine hits out over the whole year! If you’re into that kind of thing…
2. The 80% Rule
You could use this rule for any goal, but I find it works best for goals that require daily action. If one of your resolutions is to implement a daily habit, it’s unrealistic to think you’re going to actually do it everyday. As soon as you miss a day, then you think you’ve “failed” and you’re discouraged. You’ve derailed yourself from the purpose of resolutions which is to change, not to achieve. (Says the girl who’s first resolution is to “achieve…” and has literally assigned a grade to each goal). So, you have to get yourself out of the 100% mindset and shift into striving for 60, 70 or 80% over the course of the year. You will feel like a rockstar (because probably rockstars only average a C in school, at best).
I’ve played with this formula for daily habits for a couple years now and my favorite combination is 80% of five daily habits. That means, I could technically skip one habit a day and still feel successful, so I can keep working towards change.
As you probably anticipated, I will likely be using my new blog as part of my tracker system—providing a monthly report of how my resolutions are progressing and what adjustments I’m making along the way!
P.S. Want to checkout my resolutions/random summer goals from blog posts pasts? 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018