Reflecting on August And Achieving September Goals
While I consider my September goals I must first reflect on August happenings.
Yesterday afternoon I was writing a note to one of my Life/Wellness Coaching Clients and I opened a dialogue focused on September goals.
I always think that the first of a month is another great time to reassess where you are, review any obstacles that have popped up, congratulate yourself on handling those obstacles, brainstorm how to avoid obstacles that were a little harder to traverse and then look at how far you have come thus far in 2017.
It made me think of a post that I wrote in 2014 called The Art of Self Reflection. In this post, I talk about the fact that sometimes you have to look back so that you can look forward and achieve your wildest dreams.
So that got me to thinking a bit more.
Of course, I have my own goals.
I have goals for my personal life, my health, my family, my business, and my clients.
And yes, the last two are different from one another.
Each month I reflect on those goals. I essentially follow the steps that I had laid out for this particular client.
I find that this keeps me very much on track and moving forward.
[ctt template=”5″ link=”bbaRx” via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]It is essential to spend time reflecting on where you have been, where you are and where you are going.[/ctt]
I also want to connect with you all on a more intimate level. More like the way that I did when I first started this blog with my very first post on August 13, 2011.
For all these reasons and much more, I have decided to kick off each new month with a post that wraps up the previous month and provides some context to what is next on the horizon.
I hope that you will enjoy this.
August was a real life changer type of month.
And yup that is a Christmas photo I am sharing but I am about to give you all a kid update and I wanted to share one of my favorite photos of the kids. 🙂
Christmas Day. 2016Mountain Man Ho (20) is still living and working up in the Sequoia Mountains. We had not seen him since the beginning of June and he is not planning to return until the end of October. He is Certified Lifeguard and Adventure Staff up in the Sequoias. His day is filled with hiking, zip lining, canoeing, and also trailblazing and a whole bunch of mountain man type of activities. Fishing has also been part of his Summer adventure. There has also been some bear chasing but we will not go into that.
I am so excited for the life experiences that he is racking up. I was also super excited when he came home for two nights last weekend. YEAH!!! Mommy is happy.
Young Mr. Science Ho (22, middle of photo) has given me the gift of living at home for a few bonus months after having lived in Santa Barbara for two years. He will be off on his next adventure soon (new university and new things to learn) but in the meantime this summer he has been BUSY. A new restaurant opened in Rancho Santa Margarita called Karmuh Kitchen and he can be seen cooking there almost daily. Well except right now while he and his girlfriend are away on a fabulous road trip.
The Baby (18) went and grew up on us. I am super happy for her and all she has in front of her. She is off to college and has left behind her high school days which were filled with being President of the Make A Wish Foundation at her school, being on both the Tennis Team and the Track & Field Team, working and tons of fun times. She has adjusted well to college, loves her classes and has already made some great friends. Shoot she even went to her first Frat Party on Move-In Weekend. I miss her terribly but not right at the moment because she came home for the weekend. 🙂
The hubby and I are doing well. We have a very different life that we need to adjust to. It is an interesting transition.
In other news, we are still deep into home remodeling.
There will be a blog post series all about the troubles, things we learned and before and after pictures on the blog once we make it to the after. I have not started that yet as we have yet to reach after even though this began in November of 2016.
September goals should include finishing house remodeling but it is really not in my control…lol
About Dr. Ho….
In everything I shared so far you can certainly see where my head has been and that I have been distracted by emotions and helping the baby get ready to move away to college. These are a few of the other things that I have had going on.
- ConnectHer Media Conference. Totally fun event for invited media influencers. I had a great time and got a great new bestie out of the experience. She calls herself a “Crazy German” and we have lots of fun adventures planned plus some great business things too. Of course, I will share about that and you can learn more about her at Ask Yvi.
- I forgot to wish my brother-in-law a happy birthday even though he never misses mine. I am sorry, Jason. Happy Belated Birthday.
- I added another regular writing gig to my schedule. As it goes live, I will share more.
- I am now doing some consulting work for a health agency.
- United We Parent First Annual Conference. This is my newest baby. Our first conference was an intimate and powerful day. I am thrilled with where we are going with this.
- Our newest series of Iridology classes were kicked off. I teach these virtual classes with Dr. Mercedes Colburn. I find it amazing what can be seen in the iris of the eye. I love sharing this knowledge with others.
As I reflect on all of this, I can see that I had many successes but also some failures. There is the obvious one of missing a loved one’s special day but there are also some other ones. With all of this in mind, I can now make a September plan. my Top Ten To Accomplish for the month of
My Top Ten To Accomplish for the month of September.
In other words, these are my September goals.
*I call my list “To Accomplish” instead of “To Do” because it has a much more positive spin. I do like positivity. 🙂
FYI, the list is in no particular order.
- Figure out plans for my babies to come home for Thanksgiving.
- Make sure that Young Mr. Science Ho is ready for the move.
- Share all the things with all of you that I promised in this post. Writing things out really does help to move things forward.
- Make sure that I have calendar alerts set up for important occasions and actually reach out to the person when they are on my mind.
- Reach out to all of the people who have been supporting and showing interest in United We Parent, plan the second annual event and work on the other plans that are in motion.
- Streamline the busy work in my business through tool exploration and implementation.
- Finish writing my new FREE newsletter bonus gifts.
- Finish website updates already in motion.
- Update the September Editorial Calendar.
- Make time for self-care.
So that is everything for now. I would love to know what your August was like and what the September goals are that you are working on.
Please leave comments below and if you have any questions please do ask.
[ctt template=”5″ link=”mgFi3″ via=”yes” nofollow=”yes”]Ask Dr. Ho…because you can literally ask me anything.[/ctt]
41 thoughts on “Reflecting on August And Achieving September Goals”
You are so busy Elise glad your daughter has settled into college, my baby heads next year. But like you, my 22-year-old is back for a spell until she is off on a new adventure. They always find a way home.
Thank goodness for that, right?
I love how you call your to-do list “to accomplish” to make it more positive! Sometimes I get overwhelmed by my list and maybe this will help me 🙂 You are super busy, but they say if you need something done it’s best to ask the person who has the most to do!
That is exactly what they say. 🙂 I definitely feel that the positive name makes it much easier.
I find that having a more positive spin is really rather helpful.
You have a beautiful family. I find writing things out helps me to. Thanks for stopping by anointedtoday.blogspot.com.
Thank you for the compliment regarding my family and for being here. 🙂
Great goals for September! Looking in the past helps in making goals for the future.
Yes, that is exactly how I feel.
Very well written. Time does not stop for anyone. We need to keep taking a step forward and reflect the times and experience every step that we take.
It certainly does not stop. Of course, the reality is that we do not want it to.
While August was fine for me, I don’t even want to reflect on it because I do not really like to live in the past – plus, August might be my LEAST favorite month of the year….. SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER = HERE WE COME!!!!
It is good to know what works for you. For me, reflection helps me to move forward. I hope that you have a wonderful Fall.
Hi Elise,
I love the part you shared about your children. I’m sure they keep you hopping! There is so much to do and accomplish in just a few months it is amazing when we look back at what we have done.
I wish you all the success in every part of your life.
-Donna
Thank you very much, Donna. The kids certainly do keep me hopping. The baby is back at college now. She arrived in her dorm about an hour ago. Mommy cried 🙁
We, too, are renovating!! I actually just made a HUGE September to-do list with the hope that the house will be finished by the end of the month! We’re preparing to go on a three month long holiday in a caravan to the Eastern States of Australia, so need the house finished asap! ❤️
That vacation sounds amazing. Good luck with the house.
That’s a great post and you must be so proud of your children – and of yourself, managing all those things at once.
I live my life with a series of phone alarms / Google Calendar alerts. A bit of a nuisance being beeped at all day. and took quite a while to set up, but has been well worth the time.
My August has been busy because of big changes in our business, but having waited for them so long, it was a welcome change. There were a few glitches, but they’re being handled well, so I’m not panicking about them 🙂
Joy Healey – Blogging After Dark
Thank you. You have also had a very busy month. In business, there are always a few glitches. The magic is in how we handle them.
You sure have some goals!! I love the way you have mentioned your kids’ names! I can’t wait to check out your up and coming posts! 🙂
I, indeed, have some serious goals. I have this vision of life and I am excited to keep reaching for such fun things. Thanks so much for visiting and also for the comment about the kids names. 🙂
I am a crazy German! 😉
Can’t wait to dial it all in and be able to publicly announce all the awesomeness 😉
I too am looking forward to announcing but we have some serious dialing to do first. LOL. It will be a great adventure (which is incidentally the name of a theme park.)
Your kids are so adventurous, it sounds like you’ve done an amazing job raising them!
xoxo, SS
Southern and Style
Thank you very much. I am really proud of them and often in awe of exactly how adventurous but like in all families there have definitely been bumps in the road.
Hi My Friend…
Loved reading about your children.. you are very proud of them … I can hear it in your writing.. . you had a spectacular August .. looking forward to hearing about your event 🙂
Thank you very much. I really am quite proud of them and I look forward to catching up soon.
Such a wonderful month wrap up. Congratulations on becoming empty nesters (hard to imagine!). And, good luck on your September list- lots of fantastic goals to work on!
Thank you. Given this is my first time doing a post such as this one I am so super happy for that feedback.
Great goals for September! I’m glad I’m not the only one who is already thinking ahead to Thanksgiving! And I love that you added a goal for self-care. That’s such a great idea!
I suspect a good many of us are. I hope the house remodel will be finished by then but I somehow doubt it. Enjoy your self-care too. 🙂
You have been so busy! I know the feeling and think I need to add a little more self care to my goals list!!! Good luck on your remodel! 🙂
Thank you. That has been quite an adventure. I hope that you will take some time for self-care this weekend.
You’re so busy it makes me feel tired!
It makes me feel tired too (well, sometimes) but that is why I also make sure that there is time for self-care.
You have a gorgeous family. I love the nicknames for your kids. And I love the idea of the “accomplish” list
Thank you. The universe has definitely blessed me. I look forward to seeing all you accomplish in September.
Your children seem well adjusted and enjoying their life, you did a wonderful job. Thanks for the update.
Thank you. That is always the goal 🙂 Thanks for reading.
I agree with you that we need time to reflect to move forwards. I feel time looking back can sometimes be more helpful than always looking forward.
I agree with you. There are so many lessons to learn when we look back which, of course, is very different than dwelling in the past.