23 for 23
My intentions for 2023 + family goals
👋🏻 Helen here with one of my favorite posts to write! My goals (big and small) for 2023!
Two years ago, I began following Gretchen Rubin’s practice of setting goals for the year. This year, in addition to me making a list of things I’d like to accomplish, we brainstormed as a family about what we’d like to do together as a part of our 23 for 23 list. So I’m excited that we created a combined list this year and I’m eager to experiment with that.
Thematically, in 2023, I want to mostly focus on things that bring me joy as a wife, mother, professional, friend, and human - both in the short-term and long-term. So without further ado, here is the list:
🚶🏼♀️7k+ steps a day walked and be outside for at least 23 minutes daily - I have noticed that spending time outside and being active, really helps my mental wellbeing. So I look forward to being more intentional and regular about walking daily. With a combination of walking kids to school and making one meeting a “walk and talk” - I expect to be able to accomplish this goal on most days.
✈️ Take a trip with each of my daughters - Adam did this last year during his sabbatical and both he and our daughters got a lot of joy from a short trip with quality 1:1 time. I’m excited to try that this year (while Adam will repeat it as well).
🍳🧀🍙10-day food challenge as a family - We have agreed as a family to try to learn to eat a new food that we don’t like this year. Our youngest has learned in kindergarten that it takes 10 days for one’s tastebuds to change so we are going to each eat a food we don’t enjoy for 10 days in a row to see what happens. I have chosen blue cheese, Adam is going after seaweed, our oldest picked eggs and the youngest is pairing up with Adam on the seaweed challenge. I foresee a lot of sushi, egg tarts, and cheese plates in 2023.
🍽 Kids make parents’ dinner - our kids have added to this list a goal to make Adam and me dinner one night. I will keep you all posted on the menu and the results.
🎂 Celebrate my 40th birthday - I have always loved my birthday. Still, I have been experiencing fatigue with party planning (especially by the end of January after all the holiday magic and some other family January birthdays). However, I am so excited that my husband and my sister are giving me the gift of not needing to plan my birthday but doing it all for me.
👩🏼💼 Get a product leader mentor - I joined three wonderful product communities in 2022 (Friends of Lenny’s Newsletter, Mind the Product and Women in Product) and I’m hoping to find and engage with a mentor who will help push my thinking in product leadership.
😊 Get a regular facial - My goal is 3x in 2023. It is elusive for me to schedule and make time for this, but I’m always happy after I do this.
🍾 Host a mom’s party - I love hosting events and I want to do something special with the mom community that I have around me. I don’t quite know what this will look like, but I hope to do a party for moms - and create an evening for connection.
👗Re-establish a personal weekly night out - Adam and I have a practice to each get a night out every week and it has fallen off the calendars since COVID. So I’m hoping to get back to this and use this time for dinners/walks with friends or enjoying the arts. Here is an article that inspired this practice: How Wednesday Nights Saved My Marriage
🎭 Foster the love of art with the kids - I’m so excited that my daughters are getting old enough to enjoy more and more art. Growing up, art was a big part of my life though I’m not sure if I enjoyed it as much as I’d want my kids to. So I hope to not only see more ballet this year (Snow White is playing at PNB is on the list), attend more musicals, and visit more art exhibits but also be intentional in helping them learn to love the arts.
👩🏻🍳Take a baking class and use it to make a new cake - I’m going to continue my baking hobby and take a class this year (another carryover from last year) and practice whatever I learn on a new cake.
⛷Take a ski lesson to get back to loving skiing - I spent much of 2021 recovering from my ACL injury and while I met the goal of getting back on skis in 2022, it is not yet bringing me joy. So I’m going back to lessons so I can start enjoying downslope skiing.
✍🏻 Continue to contribute memories to the Memory jar - last year we started writing down memories in a jar that we then read on January 2nd as a family. So we are going to continue doing that as a family this year. After this year, I hope to take this off the list as it will be part of our regular routine.
👩❤️👨Have a monthly night out with Adam - Adam and I try to be really intentional about our relationship as it’s easy to let that fall down between busy family lives and our careers. I plan to start a list where we can both write down date ideas as they strike us.
👏🏻Volunteer as a family - This was on the list last year, so it’s a carryover that I hope we are able to accomplish.
⚕️Get a mammogram - With big milestone birthdays come new health screenings and checks. So I plan to schedule my first one. Great article on this: Why Your First Mammogram at 40 is a Vital Health Priority
🩸Donate blood - I have been squeamish about donating blood. However, I know that it is critical and a near and dear cause to so many friends in my life who have been directly impacted by the need for blood. I’m inspired to overcome my fear and go donate.
🚤Do a boat day as a family - When we introduced the concept of family 23 for 23, the first thing that our kids suggested we do as a family is a day on the boat. We love renting a Pontoon boat on a nearby lake once a year and sounds like it’s also bringing joy and making good memories for the girls too. So we will do our best to honor their wish and this goal.
🐻 Get more chainsaw art for our cabin backyard - we decided to add chainsaw art to our backyard at our cabin in 2021, and successfully acquired the first piece. In 2023, we hope to acquire another one - so if you see any good ones at any local markets or fairs, please contact me or Adam immediately. Below is a picture for reference of chainsaw art that we bought last year:
🍫 Redo pantry cabinets in our cabin - this is a house project to move our pantry storage strategy from bins with lids to cabinets with doors that open and close.
💡Learning time at least once a week with the girls - One of the good things that COVID made us do in 2020 is institute learning time at home with our kids. Even though school is in full swing, both Adam and I realized that we miss that practice so hope to bring it back in 2023. The goal is to spend 15-20 minutes with each kid once a week doing “learning time” with them - whether it’s helping them with a project or learning something net new - we will dedicate the time.
🥾Do a new hike as a family - Hiking with all 8 legs has been a recent unlock for us so I can’t wait for summer to come so we can do this more as a whole family.
📚Read 75 books as a family - we continue to foster a love of reading in our household so we decided to read/listen to 75 books in 2023 between the four of us!
As I do every year, I will post progress on how I’m doing halfway through 2023. For my 22 for 22 list, I ended up hitting 16/22 - 72% completion rate, which I feel good about. The past few years, I have gotten lots of feedback and follow-up ideas from you all on the substance of the list, so if you have suggestions for me on how to accomplish some of these or where to buy 🐻 chainsaw art, please drop me a line!