Nourish Your Body, Mind and Spirit with These 30 Easy Goals

In January, instead of making New Year’s resolutions for the year, I set three attainable little goals for me to accomplish throughout the month. Because honestly, who really sticks to New Year’s resolutions, anyways? I didn’t intend to make this a monthly endeavor; it just sort of evolved. Now it’s something that I stick to, and have started sharing about on my blog every month. It like everybody enjoys reading about them!

I’m a huge fan of self-development. Setting little goals has helped me to achieve more significant ones. Even though I didn’t plan it this way, all of the goals I’ve set fall into one of these three categories: body goals, mind goals, and spirit goals.

Setting myself little goals for a month, has given me the opportunity to create new habits, to challenge myself, and to try new things that I wanted to try for a long time, but felt I didn’t have enough time. Though I didn’t maintain all the habits I tried to create, the process has served to help me figure out what’s important to do regularly so I can stay healthy and sane.

I know people always look for examples of personal goals, so I rounded up the goals I set for myself throughout last year, with a few extra ones thrown in. I hope they serve to nourish all aspects of your being.

Whether you prefer to set monthly goals or to focus on one single goal at a time, my list will certainly give you ideas as you think about what to work on next! And even if you’re not into goal-setting, you’re likely to find lots of ideas and tips to help keep your body and mind healthy and to improve your sense of well-being.

Nourish Your Body

Everyone knows that exercise is important. But finding the time and motivation to actually do it is a constant struggle. If you break down this large, general goal into smaller steps, you will have a much easier time finding something that works for you, so you’ll be able to stick to it. Here are 10 goals that will help you nourish your body:

1. Take a walk every day, after lunch or dinner. Walking after dinner might be my favorite goal that I set for myself last year. A brisk walk after a meal helps you reset your brain, allows your food to digest, and gives you a nice, healthy dose of fresh outdoor air.
2. Choose tea instead of soda and coffee. I’ve been trying to stop drinking coffee for a long time now because it doesn’t exactly agree with my body (I still love the smell and taste of it, though!). If you feel like you’re dehydrated, or that your coffee or soda habit costs too much, try trading your usual drink for a cup of tea.
3. Exercise for 10 minutes every day. If it’s a struggle for you to squeeze in a trip to the gym, or if you just lack the motivation to go, tell yourself that you only have to exercise for 10 minutes. This will help you get started, because it won’t feel like a major commitment. You probably will even keep going for more than 10 minutes, once you’ve cleared he initial hurdle of starting.
4. Eat more vegetables. I envy people who manage to consume the recommended daily amount of vegetables. Fruits are easy for me. But I really struggle when it comes to vegetables! Figure out how many servings you want to to eat in a day. If it will help you, seek out recipes that incorporate or “hide” vegetables—you can’t even tell that there are vegetables in some of those!
5. Do yoga for a month. “Yoga with Adriene” has a month-long online yoga plan that’s free and perfect for every level. Whether you’ve been wanting to try yoga, or if you want to do it more consistently, I can’t recommend this goal highly enough.
6. Give meal prep a try. If you never have anything good to eat, or you’re spending way too much money on fast food, set yourself a goal to meal prep every week for a month. It will save you a lot of time, and you’ll find that it’s much easier to make healthy choices.
7. Come up with a workout routine. It’s really important to be consistent when it comes to your health. Having a workout plan will help you stay on track and meet your overall wellness goals. Try fusing a workout calendar to record your routine and to track your progress.
8. Drink enough water. There are countless benefits to drinking enough water. Besides, your body needs water to survive. Staying hydrated will makes your skin glow and will keep your brain alert. For this month-long goal, have drinking water available to you at all times, and drink often. You’ll feel so much better from allthat goodness!
9. One-month squat challenge. Do you want to literally work your butt off? Try PopSugar’s 30-day squat challenge. Both of your buns will thank you.
10. Try a new exercise method. If you struggle to exercise regularly, you may benefit from trying a new exercise. There’s a whole world outside of the gym! For this goal, try some new form of exercise for the month. You could choose barre, hip hop, Zumba, karate, CrossFit, kickboxing, Pilates…there are endless possibilities!

Nourish Your Mind

It’s common for us to obsess over our lists of things to do, and to worry about how we’ll get it all done. It’s important that you give your brain some down-time to rest. Because if your brain’s not working properly, nothing else will work properly, either! Here are 10 goals you can set to help nourish your mind:

1. Go offline for a day every week. Choose a day (I usually pick Sunday) to completely stay offline. Avoid your computer and other technology for the whole day.
2. Start every day with meditation. Meditating can seem intimidating. Some people may feel like it’s too new-agey for them But taking as little as five minutes to sit and mediate can really improve your mood. The most difficult thing about meditating is getting started.
3. Read 20 pages every day. Probably everyone wishes that they read more. Start out by reading 10 pages sometime in the morning, and 10 more pages before bed. You’ll soon be finishing whole books!
4. Spend timejournaling every day. I’ve found that journaling can be very relaxing for me, especially if I’ve had a day when my brain just wouldn’t turn off. It can also help you clarify difficult situations, and get you more attuned to what’s actually going on. You may feel at times that you don’t have anything to write about, but you’ll be surprised what actually happens when you open up that journal.
5. Get up as soon as your alarm goes off. I used to repeatedly hit the snooze button every morning when my alarm went off. So I set a goal that challenged me to get up when it went off the first time. No more snoozing! You may feel like you need that extra time in bed, but you’ll feel a lot better if you just get up right away.
6. Limit your screen time after work. Many people stare at screens at work all day, and then go home and stare at more screens there. Try getting more out of your free time and relax after work without screens.
7. Start a gratefulness journal. At the end of the day, right before bed, write down a few things in a gratefulness that you’re thankful for. You’ll naturally start finding more joy in little things, and you’ll be more appreciate things in spite of the challenges you may face.
8. Take the one-tab-at-a-time challenge. For a whole month, keep just a single tab on your browser open at any given time. (I actually survived this challenge!)
9. Do a media detox. If you feel overwhelmed by all the information that constantly bombards you on the news and online, do a seven-day media detox. It will help you cut down on the time you spend using media, and it will significantly cut down on the amount of information you consume.
10. Plan a “me” day. Some people may consider this to be much of a goal. But lots of us truly forget to properly look after ourselves. A “me” day involves spending an entire day doing something that you love to do. Book yourself a hotel room, schedule a spa day, or stay home and pamper yourself there. Whatever you choose to do, treat yourself.

Nourish Your Spirit

Ah, the spirit (also called the soul). It surely means different things to different people, but I view it as the things that make you who you are apart from your body and your mind. This could involve your interests, job, relationships, hobbies, religion, and so on. Whichever way you define your spirit, it’s important for you to care for it and to do the things that make you happy.

Here are ten things you can to help you nourish your spirit:

1. Go to bed every night at a reasonable hour. Make sure sleep is a priority. Create a nighttime routine, and stick to it for a month. If you go to bed early, that doesn’t mean you’re old! Allow yourself to rest.
2. Explore a new place. See what you’ve been missing in your own hometown and in the surrounding area.It has a lot to offer! Explore and visit a place you haven’t been before. You don’t have to take an airplane to travel!
3. Learn to do something new. Try learning something creative, like painting or calligraphy. Or give a new language a try. Take time and challenge your brain by learning something new. You could even participate in an online creative workshop and learn things like weaving, photography and lettering.
4. Declutter and organize your home. You may have been putting off decluttering your home for a long time. It’s time to get it done. Decluttering will make your living space more inviting and more relaxing, leaving you with one less thing to cause you stress!
5. Take control of your spending with envelopes. It will help you save money and to get more informed about your spending habits. Budget out your monthly expenses and keep the cash to cover them in separate envelopes. This will help you become more conscious of how you’re spending your money, and your savings account will thank you!
6. Start something that you’ve been procrastinating about. It may be a task that’s been nagging you for a while. Or maybe it’s a more significant project that you want to start. So get started! Break the task down into 30 small steps, and do one of those steps every day for the whole month.
7. Let your hair go natural. Give your tresses a break from heat styling for a month. Your hair will be healthier, and you’ll save time in your morning routine.
8. Find a way to help out in your community and volunteer. Even if it’s just for one day! Volunteering will give you a good feeling, and you will be doinggood for other people. That’s a win-win!
9. Reach out to somebody. We all have somebody in our life that we’ve been wanting to check in with. It may be your grandmother, or a grade-school friend or, in my case, a blogger I’ve been wanting to collaborate with. Set this goal and actually connect with them.
10. Use the capsule system to organize your wardrobe. Maybe you feel like you never have anything to wear. Ormaybe you just get overwhelmed when you look in your closet. Try starting a capsule wardrobe. It’s a basic way to make sure that each item in your closet matches every other item, so you will always have things to wear. And a bonus—you’ll be able to get ready quicker every the morning.

What are some of the goals that you’ve set for yourself? How did you achieve them? Comment below or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!