This month, we celebrate marriage!

– In the Book Club, we’re reading His Needs Her Needs – my favorite book on marriage.
– At NRP, we will be sharing our marriage advice here on the blog (the day after Valentine’s Day) and sharing our Valentine’s Day traditions in Team Meeting
– And in my own life, we celebrate OUR marriage, our ups and downs, the commitment we made, and the good man God has given me.

I’m keeping it simple but intentional. We’ll go on a date for Valentine’s Day, I’ll surprise Will with a gift (I have some fun things in mind!), and we’ll pull out our wedding DVD (which we haven’t watched in ages). We also have been wanting to have a “10 year plan” conversation. It overwhelms me and excites me to think about all that we want to do as a family these next 10 years. Vacations we want to take. Memories we want to make. What we want to say yes to. What we want to say no to. Dreams. More kiddos. I’ve said it before – I am super excited about my 30’s. (You are welcome to borrow that topic of conversation for your Valentine’s date night, too!)

February Goals

• Read His Needs Her Needs

• Read 140 pages of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Y’all. This book is SO good.)

• Write the Contentment Challenge Guide and Devotional

• Go on a hot Valentine’s Date with the hubs

• Finalize content for 3 Products for the Nancy Ray Shop

• Continue Weekly Sabbaths

• Continue Family Dinners 2x/week

• Hire a Nanny!

• Schedule NRP Team Lunches

• Attend my first C12 group of the year

• Implement NRP Scorecards

• Continue training for a Half Marathon

What marriage has had the biggest impact on your life?

This year I decided to get a giant white pasteboard and get after it. I felt like I needed a newer, bigger sense of clarity for 2016. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a mama now and things are a little bit more scattered in my thinking, maybe it’s that 2016 marks the start of my 30th year, maybe I just needed something new this time around. But I will tell you this: it was the best $2 I spent. Sometimes all you need is a sharpie and some white space.

First, I wrote the most important categories of my life:

– Spiritual
– Family
– Work (NRP)
– Finances
– Physical
– Intellectual
– Social

Then, I began dreaming. In each of these areas, I began dreaming of all the things I would love to do in 2016.

I liked to use this phrase as I filled the white space:
“If money or time weren’t holding me back and I could do anything, what would I do in 2016?”

When setting those initial goals, it is NOT the time to think small. Just let go of all limitations and write. Sometimes we say “it’s just not practical for me,” and sometimes that’s true. (This past year held many limitations for me as I had my first baby, so I totally get that!) Most of the time though, I find that the biggest obstacle between where I am and where I want to be isn’t money or time or my circumstances or my season.

Most of the time, it me.

I am my biggest limitation. It’s the fact that I don’t believe I can actually do it, so I don’t write it down. But what is the point of letting those self-doubts win? Who does that really serve? As Marianne Williamson said,

“You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.”

So I wrote without limitations. I stayed realistic, but I dreamt BIG. For example, I didn’t write down “make 1 million dollars this year!” That’s simply not realistic. But when the Lord dropped the number $30,000 in my head, I got scared but I knew it was doable with His help. When I thought of re-reading my 12 most life changing books and hosting an online book club, it scared me because it seems like so much with a baby. Let me repeat: that seems like SO MUCH with a baby. But with the Lord’s help, when I wrote it out on and it stared back at me in black and white, I knew it was good. When I thought about sharing knowledge and teaching through an online store, I had so many thoughts like, “What’s the point? Others are already doing that. Why do I need to add my voice to the others?” Then the Lord reminded me that no one else has my story, my voice, my path, my knowledge. So, I’m gonna do it. Even if it just helps a few people, it’s better than staying quiet.

2016 Goals

– Launch the Nancy Ray Online Shop this spring
– Re-read my 12 most life-changing books
– Read 4 new books
– Host the Nancy Ray Book Club
– Run a 10K
– Run a Half Marathon (hopefully with my sister and the NRP team!)
– Have weekly family Sabbaths
– Have family dinners twice a week
– Raise $30,000 for ministry (More on this to come)
– Implement 12 “Duty Days” in 2016 – 1 per month (thanks Katelyn for this helpful blogpost!)
– Save $30,000 for a new home
– 12 month marketing plan
– Write Contentment Challenge E-book
– Memorize monthly Bible verse (write on our chalk wall)
– Take my team members to lunch each quarter
– Finish Milly’s Baby book by her 1st birthday
– Hire a Nanny
– Create new promo films for NRP
– Revise business mission + policies
– Revisit family photography
– Celebrate my 30th birthday by doing something fun
– Attend 6 C12 Groups
– Continue church Connect Group involvement
– Join the Worship Team
– 1 Sugar fast each quarter
– Implement Pay for Performance Sheets
– Complete another Contentment Challenge
– Introduce accountability aspect to Weekly NRP Team Meetings
– Plan a family vacation

I must say, I was pretty tempted to just stop this blogpost there. But if I’m serious about actually doing these things, I can’t stop there – I have to break them down into Monthly Goals, then write them all in my calendar each week! So here are this month’s goals to keep me on track.

January Goals

• Block off family dinner nights and Sabbath days in my calendar

• Block off 1 Duty Day for business budgeting, tracking mileage, and misc. business maintenance

• Have a 12-month marketing planning day

• Read How to Win Friends and Influence People

• Read 70 pages of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

• Choose Online Shop Format

• Sign up for Half Marathon

Can I be honest with you for a second? I’ve put a lot of goals on this list. I’m pumped for 2016 and terrified of it at the same time. I honestly feel like I’m biting off more than I can chew. I mean, this is a big list for pre-baby Nancy! Now that I’m mama Nancy, and I don’t have a nanny yet, and I can barely run a mile, and I have read 1 book in the past 7 months, and I’m terrible at resting and meal planning (see Sabbaths and family dinners), and I know nothing about online shops… I feel like this is a LOT. I’m all excited, but I feel like a very realistic possibility is that the 2016 comes and goes and I’ve MAYBE accomplished half of what’s on my list. Maybe. So I risk sounding stupid and being a public failure by putting all of this out there for you to read.

But SO WHAT! What if I fail? I’ll move on with my life and try again. Trying and failing is better than not trying at all, am I right?!

So here’s to 2016 and scary goals! Who’s with me!?

Merriest Christmas to you and yours! It’s the season for hot chocolate, Christmas lights, and focusing on what matters most: faith and family. Praying this month you celebrate all that you’ve accomplished this year.

A big thank you to each of you who took time to comment on the last blogpost. I’m excited to get some posts and products gathered for all of you in 2015! Some exciting things are in the works!

The Winner of November’s Giveaway is Cayenne! Email the studio your mailing address and we will send the new Jess Ray album to you!

December Goals

• Read: Take the Stairs

• Go on a Christmas Date with Will to celebrate all we’ve accomplished in 2015

• Mail all Christmas Cards by December 12th

• Order and Wrap all gifts by December 15th

• Begin training for my 15K in February

• Bake Peanut Butter Cookies

• Celebrate Advent as a family with traditions and family devotions

• Have a “me” afternoon with my Powersheets + 2015 dreaming and goal setting

• Celebrate my 29th birthday in Nashville