This year instead of creating a list of goals to accomplish throughout the year, I thought I’d try doing a small challenge each month.  During August of 2013 I unsubscribed to an e-mail newsletter each day and it felt very gratifying and actually helped me to continue feel “empowered” to unsubscribe from e-mails still today!

I also figure that 12 “mini” challenges are easier to keep than a few larger ones.  Each month you get to start over!!

There isn’t a whole bunch of rhyme or reason to my 12 Challenges and I’ll throw some more random ones out there as they come up!  Please feel free to join with me too!!  At the beginning of each month I’ll post a short description of the challenge and a review of the previous month’s challenge.

January – Get rid of something every day – After a busy holiday season of getting gifts and buying stuff for yourself on clearance it is time to remove something from your life!

February –  Do the 7 Minute Workout Each Day – The doldrums of winter are here…  Hitting the 7 minute work out will hopefully spice things up!

March  – Unsubscribe, de-friend, unfollow – Time for some spring cleaning.  Clean out your inbox or news feed by getting rid of some unwanted/unneeded clutter!

April – 30 Day of Biking – This popular event in its 3rd or 4th year is a great way to break out the bike and hit the trails!

May – Read a poem – Read a poem each day this month.  The sky is the limit with so many great poems to choose from…  Don’t just pick 30 haikus though!

June – Blog everyday – There are some cool writing challenges floating around the interwebs about writing novels, etc.  Find something to compelling to write about each day.

July – Be Outside – We don’t have enough nice days to sit out in the sun, so spend 15 minutes or more outside each day in July to soak in some rays!

August – Take a Picture a Day – I’ve done photo challenges in the past, mostly trying to take a picture a day for a year and while that created some cool pictures, I also got some fairly lame ones.  Do it for a month and be creative.  Avoid the weird 30 day challenges that show up on Facebook!

September – Proverb a Day – With school in full swing it seems fitting to go back to the Book of Wisdom and read a chapter from the Book of Proverbs each day.

October – 30 Days of Core Work – Haven’t had a fitness challenge in a few months… Mix it up… 30 days of planks and push ups? or 30 days of planks and squats? Pick 2 or 3 areas and stick with it!

November – Give Thanks – Send in the mail a note of Thanksgiving each day.  A little Cheesy maybe, but we need to spend more time being thankful.

December – 30 Days of Advent – Find something advent related and read/reflect on it each day.

I will doing a few things on top of the 30 day challenges like, reading the Bible each day using this plan and reading out of this daily devotional book.  I’d also like to read 20 or so books this year (as long as Amazon keeps giving me free books!!)

And then I can’t resist a challenge like the January 50 mile challenge laid out by Minneapolis Running!  On the racing scene my plan this year is to complete the following events:

April half marathon with my sister?

5/13 Almanzo 100 (bike race)

8/2 Minnesota Half (running)

8/15-16 Powderhorn 24 (bike race)

10/3 Something… maybe the TC Loony Challenge?

What are you thinking about for 2014?