2010 - The Year of Focus

Last year I made a pretty substantial set of goals for myself. Because these are a list of goals and not resolutions, many of them will transfer over into this year, and some years to follow. And that's okay because they are about progress and moving forward, not just checking items off of a list.

But I do think this year is going to have a different feel. Maybe it is the closing end of a decade. I'm not sure. 2009 really was a year of change a year to accomplish and strive. I feel that 2010 is going to be all about focus. Focusing internally and externally. So many things were created - connections, experience, work, that now it seems like a time to reflect and refine and find the right directions in which to grow.

Personally I want it to be a year filled with more experiences. We traveled more this year and I want that to continue. I want to regroup and decide on which path I want to follow. I have some very personal goals that I need to work on. And I need to work on creating more of a balance in my life between self, work, online, town and home. Having so many outlets can often be draining which makes me rebel by not accomplishing the things I want to accomplish. So by pulling back in some areas I hope to be more efficient and impactful.

How are your goals or resolutions formed? Do you feel the need to take stock at the beginning of the year or is this an ongoing process. I'd love to learn more about your plans and how you integrate change into your life.

Days of Intention - The Beginning

Image via Flickr - Legno by himitsuhana

I am a believer in the power of intention. I believe that writing things down makes them happen. This is either a subconscious manifestation or, in some cases, a magical one. But I’ve seen in time and time again in my own life so that I can’t discount it.

Each year I take off the last two weeks of the year. I have been doing this for over 12 years now. While many people spend their vacation time in the Spring or Summer, I prefer the Winter. It is a time when my job can often be quieter and I find that when other people are distracted by the holidays, I have more freedom to concentrate on things I want to do just for me. I try to work on personal to dos, relax, read and spend time with the pets.

I have a ritual of reading, right around mid-November, How to Simplify your Christmas. The book itself isn’t that great or innovative but it reminds me of the intentions that I have for myself during this period. What I like to at the end of the year, along with buying a new weekly desk calendar and filling in all the birthdays and events I need to keep and eye on next year, I write out a list of goals. I don’t do resolutions but I do list things I want to accomplish personally or around the house or trips I want to take. Last year I took it a step further and broke it down into categories. It is amazing how many of them are checked off at the end of the year in one way or the other.

The great thing about making goals is some of them can be used as building blocks for longer term (and I’m talking 5 – 10 year) accomplishments, so it’s not always a horrible thing if they aren’t completed when December 31st rolls around. The goals list is also useful to see where I need to focus better in the next year; where did I get lazy or skimp on myself. I haven’t done a thorough review of my 2009 list yet, so I can’t give a report out, but I’ll give myself a B against my 2009 list.

One thing I want to add to this end of the year ritual is what I am calling Days of Intention. I read a comment pointing out that starting today (December 20th) there are 12 days left in the year. A power number. How impactful would it be to envision a list of 12 days during the upcoming year that could become truly amazing touchstones? By envisioning these days you will create memorable, potentially pivotal, events in the future.

I think you could be very over the rainbow with these envisioned days. Putting it out there to the universe that you are open to magical events. And I think that is important too. But I’m going to use most of my days to create scenarios that are simpler and totally under my control. Things that I can either make happen or just be mindful and aware of when they are happening so I can guide them and imprint them into my memory banks, similar to cognitive dreaming.

So, look forward to the series, one for each of the 12 days, and I hope you will share some of your days as well.

Poochie

2009 - The Year To Get S**T Done

Everyone is writing their resolutions. But I don't like to do resolutions... I've always written goals. In fact, I write down my goals each year. I then save them in the same place so I can pull forward the long term goals that carry over from year to year. And I believe in the power of intention... of writing things down and watching them happen. I've put what I want out there and time and again I've been surprised by what happens. It's amazing in such a positive way.

And this upcoming year seems as if it is going to be one heck of a year! I'm already so inspired by the level of positivity and energy that is out there for 2009. So inspired that my list of goals is HUGE! But in a good way. I'm trying something new for the year; I'm breaking my list down into sections. I usually do a big long list and then organize it by month so they are more concrete. A lot of this year's are all year long so I will need to put some more structure to them. Oh yeah, they range from huge to terribly mundane.

Here we go!

Home - House interior, exterior, improvements, furnishings



♥ Get our living room fireplace lined so we can snuggle in front of it

♥ Get our gravel drive redone

♥ Build a "secret garden" with a boxwood hedge and chairs under the wisteria

♥ Create a Victory Garden to help eat vegan and share produce with friends and neighbors

♥ Finally clear out or sell some of the stuff I've been hanging on to that doesn't have a place

Financial - Money in, out and the future

♥ Pay off what I owe

♥ Save more money

♥ See if I can incorporate more monitization elements to my sites without compromising the site from a holistic standpoint

Social - Travel, Connections, Friends, Social Media

♥ Meet up with folks from my old city that have moved to NC like me

♥ Have more tea parties

♥ Continue the Backyard Movie Nights (wanna come?)

♥ Plan a trip (???) to Austria/Germany for next Christmas

♥ Try and organize outings with my online friends when I travel

Family - Pets, People, Future

♥ Make sure the pets are getting all the health and dental they need, especially Bailey who is 15

♥ Train Napoleon to do more tricks... is walking on a leash far off?

♥ Catch up with my elderly cousin in Ireland

♥ Definitively answer some lingering open questions


Spirit - Emotional, Service, Donations, Volunteering



♥ Get my "A Gentle Paw" pet therapy group off the ground

♥ Develop a vegetarian/vegan group for my area - it's the South... veggie lovers need all the support we can get and people need a way to be exposed to the idea and learn together.

♥ Budget in money to donate to my favorite causes

♥ Budget in money to surprise and delight people

♥ Become more active in the causes I support


Physical - Health, Food, Exercise



♥ Meditate - it's really hard for me to work this in

♥ Do more yoga

♥ Walk and get back to running - maybe a half-marathon by 2010?

♥ Do a Juice Feast - Starting with 30 days but will keep going up to 92 days if possible

♥ Keeping vegan but focusing more on raw, whole foods fewer processed foods

♥ Try to create more boundaries between work and home

♥ Get more sleep

♥ Take fencing lessons again starting in the summer

♥ Learn archery


Personal Growth - Learning, Languages, Reading, Culture



♥ Learn French - our long, long term goal is to move to Paris so I'm laying the groundwork

♥ Read all the exising books I have

♥ Continue my British history reading plan

♥ Listen to all the book and history podcasts I downloaded from iTunes

♥ Journal more

♥ Take a course in beekeeping so we can have an apiary

♥ Watch more old classic movies that I've never gotten around to

♥ Take a class in cordwaining (???)


Creativity - Outlets, Projects, Expression



♥ Write more

♥ Attempt to do quilling

♥ Get the tattoo I have planned

♥ Plan my outfits in advance so I can incorporate more of the cool stuff I have that I get too rushed to remember

♥ Bake more and work more with my cake decorating skills

♥ Plan out the colors and elements I want for Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter

♥ Do more photography (get a macro lense if possible)


Professional - Work, Sites, Teaching, Writing



♥ Find an illustrator for the childrens' book I wrote and self-publish if needed

♥ Grow my Technorati ranking and audience

♥ Transfer my sites to a new platform

♥ Reach 1000 posts by my 2 year anniversary in July

♥ Go to BlogWorld

♥ Teach a class on Social Media

♥ Submit a post to IFB at least twice a month


I have more (if you can beleive it) but these are the main ones.

Have you made your plans? How do you organize them? If you haven't, get on it! Let's get some stuff done!


Photo Credits:
- My House by Me
- Ile St-Louis Stairs by Mohsan
- St. Anton am Arlberg, Tirol, Austria by Kruhme
- For Like Ever poster by Village
- Hand to Paw by Jim Dutcher
- One day's worth of produce by David and Katrina
- Eiffel explosion of stars by Ingiro
- Simple by Messaround
- The Magic is in the Telling by Yulia Brodskaya