Anyone looking for a way to really pick up the reins of your New Years Resolutions or Goals for Self Improvement might be interested in this list of questions to ask yourself from Simple Mom. Here are my answers:

I. Personal Growth

1. What healthy character traits would you like to see developed in your life this year? What are some specific steps you can take to develop these?

(Here is a list of character traits if you’re stuck for something specific).

Creative: One of my plans for 2010, if you hadn’t noticed, I am doing a 365 photography challenge to take a picture (or twelve) every day in 2010. I want this to be one several examples of me honing my creativity this year.

Energetic: I want to continue my efforts from last year and lose some major weight and more importantly get more active, energetic and healthy. I want to move more, exercise more and be a good example of a person with an active lifestyle for my children.

Friendly: I’d really like to reach out and make some friendships – part of this is going to mean trying to be more friendly and put myself out there and you know… go where people are and talk to them.

Stable: Financially. I need to get in the habit of spending less money and saving more… so that we can have a house someday. Please and thank you.

2. What is your plan for maintaining accountability for progressing in personal growth?

Well writing my goals here is step one. Also, enlisting the help of my number one fan and motivator, my husband.

3. What are some of your learning goals for this year?

I’ll be working on learning photography skills, no doubt, to keep from getting bored with my 365 challenge.

4. What books would you like to read this year?

What books don’t I want to read? And that is the problem. I definitely want to read more of the books already in my possession as that stack is getting too long but you know there are a million other books I’ll want to read, too.

5. Do you enjoy your job or jobs (include being a stay-at-home mother, if this pertains to you)? If so, what are your favorite things about your work? If not, what are some ways you can change this?

I think staying at home with my kids is important and financially sensible but I do want to get out more in the evenings, make some friends and get more grown up time. I also want to strive to make the time I am spending with my kids more quality-filled and less sitting around-filled.

II. Physical Health

1. What is one area of progress you’d like to see this year for maintaining or improving your physical health?

Losing weight / getting more active is a big numero uno. I would love to lose about forty pounds, give or take, this year – at the very least, I do not want to gain back all the weight I managed to lose in 2009.

2. What are some tangible, daily choices you can add to your life that will improve your health?

Exercise more and regularly, snack a bit less at night, be more diligent in counting calories – be more ACTIVE.

3. In what way would you like to be physically healthier by December of this year?

I want to be thinner.

4. What is your plan this month for starting this progress towards a healthier you?

I’ve been using my Wii Fit Plus almost every night and plan to continue doing so, at least until it’s warm enough outside to take walks again and maybe even run. We are trying to make it a priority to work out with the Wii before watching tv and / or snacking. We are also trying to adopt a “kitchen lights out” at 8:30 or 9pm.

III. Marriage & Family Life

If you’re married, proceed to question 1. If you’re single with children, you can skip to question 5.

1. What are some goals you have as a couple to strengthen your marriage?

I think the only goal we have “as a couple” is, again, to continue losing weight. We’ve both dropped the ball a bit in the last month or two between the holidays and life with a new baby, we’ve only been working to maintain our weight. As a couple, we’ll need to support each other as we get back into the habits of a healthier lifestyle – and get the baby sleeping through the night in a couple months so we can both get some sleep and reclaim our bedroom when she moves into her own crib.

2. In what ways can you grow in intimacy with your spouse this year?

Getting the baby sleeping through the night!

3. What are your plans for having regular date nights? How will you handle childcare?

We like to think of every night, after MM goes to sleep, as a mini date night, and you know by that I mean – we have really no immediate plans of making anything better happen. We just don’t know the area well enough to feel comfortable looking for childcare yet, especially while BB is so young – so we try to fully enjoy the downtime we do have together even if it’s not completely kiddo free.

4. What plans will you make to pray and/or have “family meetings” together? What books would you like to read together this year?

Whenever I read something really good, I tend to encourage Dan to read it, too. We’d also like to read some books on vegetarianism and religion together to bounce ideas off each other – something we always enjoy doing!

5. What will deliberate, regular family time look like this year?

We eat together as a family every night. When the weather gets warmer, I expect us to take lots of family walks together in the evenings (or anytime on weekends). Our kids are so little that it’s not like they have anywhere else to be – but I do like to spend some real quality time and not just miscellaneous minutes together.

6. Do you have specific planned vacation time in mind for this year? What needs to happen to make this vacation a reality?

We’re taking a trip “home” to visit family this May and I’d like to take a mini trip to Schaumburg, IL this year. To be honest, not much planning is required for either.

7. How is your current physical living space working for your family? Do you need to make changes to this? If so, what are they?

I would really like to get our own house in the not too far future (a year or two would be awesome) – we need more room and more freedoms in our living space -more privacy, less neighbors. I don’t like living in a third floor apartment, don’t like living in an apartment period. So we need to save money towards a down payment as an absolute priority.

to be continued…