My goals for the 30 days leading up to my birthday.

It is currently Saturday the 9th of June and I just finished my MBA yesterday. Well, technically, I still have one more final test next week and don’t get the $80,000 piece of paper until the 15th, but classes are done.

And, in addition to my first day post-MBA, today also marks 30 days until my 26th birthday. If you have been reading for the past few years, then you know that I love to celebrate my birthday with a challenge. For 24, I went skydiving, and for 25 I ran my first half-marathon. This year, I want to enter 26 and this very different phase of my life as the best version of myself. I am challenging myself to build good habits, and work on them little-by-little every day.

 Here are my five final goals for 25:

1. Daily Yoga Practice: I’ve been practicing yoga for seven years total, and for the past two years, very consistently at multiple times a week. But I want to incorporate yoga into my everyday routine. I will start my mornings with 30 minutes of yoga on my brand new Yoloha yoga mat that my wonderful boyfriend Nick gave me as a graduation gift. As of now, I have been self-guiding, but am thinking about downloading an app, such as Amanda Bisk’s FreshBodyFitMind. If you have any other suggestions, write a comment below.
2. Daily Meditation Practice: Nick also gifted me a year of Headspace for Christmas (he just gives the best gifts!), and while I’ve meditated for ~850 minutes thus far, I’ve been really inconsistent in using it during this last term of my MBA. After I finish my morning yoga, I will do 10 minutes of guided meditation. Today was day one of the 30-day Finding Focus pack.
3. Daily Book Time: I love to read, but I haven’t finished many non-academic books lately (I do really recommend The Four by Scott Galloway though!). I want to get a chapter in every day. Currently, I’m reading Tara Westover’s Educated).
4. Tech-Free Nights: I’m on my phone until the minute I go to sleep. But now that I don’t have four team projects going, I can pull away some. I want to be off my phone for at least 30-minutes before bed (what a great time to read a chapter of my book!).
5. Daily Gratitude and Happiness Practice: Years ago, I started a daily gratitude journal after reading Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project. Since, I have filled up many notebooks with a two simple sentences about what brought me happiness and gratitude from that day. It is an amazing way to end the day and puts me in a peaceful mood right before bed.

Bonus: I also want to write five days a week and cook/bake one new recipe a week.

I am looking at these habits to add a new sense of calm, allowing me to really savor and enjoy this moment in my life. One where I am saying goodbye to my first quarter century, 25 years that almost entirely involved being a student. I am so excited to say hello to 26 and hello the next phase of my life. Best foot: forward.

-TM

What are your goals for the next 30 days? Let us know below.