Mom Goals

New year, new leaf! In this episode we’re talking “mom goals” for the coming year. Productivity guru (and mom of four) Laura Vanderkam says that “goals should be our tools, not our masters.” But since we need to set goals in the first place in order to make them achievable, we’ll take her advice, skip the feel-bad part, and kick this year’s butt.

Amy’s mom goals for this year are:

* more meditation, because it makes me a happier and calmer parent. Headspace is a great app offering a user-friendly introduction. My kids like it too.

* more one-on-one time with each of my kids (and I may steal Margaret’s idea for one-on-one birthday dinners)

* keep up the #devicefreedinners, and institute device-free playdates (a great idea from author Daphne Uviller)

* reconnect with three old friends— and Facebook doesn’t count (from Gretchen Rubin’s podcast episode “Revive a Dormant Friendship” )

* more books, less smartphone scrolling

* structure more time for my personal goals by writing them down. I got a great Christmas present— the Productivity Planner— that I love so far!

Margaret’s mom goals for this year are:

* get fit, and she’s not playing. She’s going to use self-help dude Keith Ferrazzi’s goal-setting system to lay out how she’ll accomplish this in the next five days, five weeks, and five months.

* yell less. If she needs more advice on this topic, she might look to this foremost parenting expert quoted in this New York Times article, who prefers the word “hollering.”

* set specific personal goals for the rare free non-kid-focused hours that she has. Vague goals=Candy Crush.

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