2013 – More Thoughts and Goals

Like last year and the year before, after I thought about my word and my plans for 2013, I began to think more and more about what the word and the priorities meant. Since I tend to be self-reflective during this time of year, this is very long and mostly for my benefit (I like having a record of my plans and my thoughts) so feel free to skip. I won’t be offended.

By the way, this is influenced by Chris’s annual review article. I’ve read this before and have always liked the idea. I’m a technical person at heart and all these specific goals, measurable steps, etc. are right up my alley. Since I have my list of 9 priorities this year, I thought it would be a good exercise to see if I could come up with 3-5 goals for each.

I will post about each of the projects I mention over the next week. I’ll then come back and link them here but I promise it’s all coming in the first week of the year.

One of my goals this year is to specifically do less. I know this might not seem so from the list, but I am focusing on what I know will feed my soul but no more so I can also rest and breathe more since I know I have a big commitment this year as I work towards getting my coaching certification.

So here we go:

Goals for Each Priority

Family
1. Teach Nathaniel how to read by using the same book I used for David.
2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Weekly Diary).
3. Write daily gratitudes for me and David (Project Gratitude Journal)
4. Have a family tradition where we do something together each weekend for 1-2 hours.
5. Create gratitude-focused art with Nathaniel each week (Project Nathaniel’s Gratitude Pages)
6. Create gratitude postcards with David and mail them out (Project David’s Gratitude Postcards)
7. Volunteer in both David and Nathaniel’s schools
8. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
9. Tell our family stories (The Savor Project)

Health
1. Continue running daily, work your way back up to 5K a day
2. Find a way to incorporate strength exercises weekly
3. Come up with three healthy ideas for each meal and use them
4. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
5. Meditate every day
6. Floss daily

Work
I don’t share much about work on my blog and I won’t here either but I promise you I have 5 specific goals for work for 2013.

Art
1. Sketch minimum three times a week (Project Weekly Sketching)
2. Art journal weekly incorporating hand-lettering (Project SixBySix and Project Gratitude PostCards)
3. Pick one of the online classes I didn’t complete and do the work
4. Experiment with at least three mediums
5. Experiment with collage/mixed media once a week (Project Gratitude Journal)
6. Continue to create for my design teams (Maya Road & My Mind’s Eye)
7. Create a new Savor Project for 2013 (The Savor Project)

Celebrating
1. Write at least three long thought/idea oriented blog posts a week
2. Make a list of 3 achievements each week for each family member and have a celebratory breakfast/lunch once a week.
3. Send one kind email to someone each week
4. Have and end-of-day ritual each night and a welcoming-the-day ritual each morning

Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read regularly to and with David
3. Teach Nathaniel to Read
4. Regularly attend both book clubs

Gratitude
1. Write down two things I am grateful for each day (Project Gratitude Journal)
2. Write daily for David (Project Gratitude Journal)
3. Create gratitude-focused art with Nathaniel each week (Project Nathaniel’s Gratitude Pages)
4. Create gratitude postcards with David and mail them out (Project David’s Gratitude Postcards)
5. Create gratitude postcards for me and mail them out (Project Gratitude PostCards)

Learning
1. Get Coaching Certification
2. Continue to coach clients
3. Take two classes locally
4. Learn to drive on the freeway – still not giving up on this one
5. Learn to ride a bike – nor this one!

Belonging (I changed this around a bit but it’s still about building community)
1. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a week with a good friend (or a potential good friend). If not possible, call/email a friend to reconnect.
2. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
3. Extend an invitation to someone new once a month
4. Send out gratitude cards to people whom I am grateful for

There we go. As more creep up over the year, I will likely come here and add/alter as needed.

Schedule for Blog
I’ve also come up with a tentative schedule for my blog for 2012:
Mondays : Gratitude Journal
Tuesdays : Sketching
Wednesdays : A Book a Week + Gratitude PostCards
Thursdays : The Savor Project
Fridays : SixBySix
Saturdays : Weekly Diary
Sundays : David’s Gratitude PostCards and Nathaniel’s Gratitude Pages (we will alternate this each week)

I will also aim to post self-reflection/thought posts minimum three nights a week. Likely Monday through Thursday.

Thoughts to Cultivate

For the last two years, I created major focus areas I wanted to have throughout the year. Things that I want to come back to again and again. Some of these I will repeat for this year since I still would like to keep them forefront on my mind. And others are new for this year. These will likely show up in my art journals + self-reflection but I also want to have them here for reference.

1. Let go of worry Since my goal is to be present this year, I think this is even more important than usual. My goal this year is to remember to stay in the present moment. To breathe and see if I am worrying about something in the past or future vs the now. I also plan to use The Four Questions and listen to more of Tara Brach regularly.

2. Do Less I started slowing down last year and this year I plan to do so even more. With the coaching, I now have a lot of my free hours not free. I want to make sure I am making quality time to be with family. Quality time to rest. I do not want to burn out. I plan to do less this year. And let myself off the hook whenever I need it. Better to do one piece of art each week then to do 10 and then burn out.

3. Do not yell This one is self-explanatory. I absolutely hate hearing other people yell. And yet I do it more often than I’d like. This year, it’s a non-negotiable. It will not happen. It’s not a 5-10% thing. It’s all or nothing and the goal is nothing. People I love deserve my respect. (This is word for word from both years. I wish I could say I adhered to it. But, no. Ic did have much better moments in 2012 but for 2013, I want to be even more resolute. Stronger. Kinder. Quieter. Calmer.)

4. Be mindful I want to be a lot more aware of my own feelings. Those of my kids. Aware of how my actions affect others. How I actually have time before I need to react. How I can choose what to do next. How I can choose the tone of my voice, the way I feel, the way I react.

5. Celebrate I want to focus on all the good things in my life more purposefully this year. Take scheduled time to celebrate. Celebrate those around me and myself. Spread joy. Spread kindness. Make rituals. Reach out to people and celebrate together. Life is a present. The best gift ever.

6. Cultivate Belonging I have been struggling with community for a few years now. I think working at home and juggling all that I do makes it harder for me. I’ve also cultivated some social anxiety recently, it seems. So instead of trying to cure-it-all, my plan this year is to narrow down my focus. Find the few people I care about and cultivate those friendships. Focus on establishing deeper ties. Not necessarily wider but deeper. For me and my kids. That’s my plan this year. Let’s see if it works better.

7. Self-Compassion I want to be kinder to myself. I want to cultivate awareness so I can see when I fall back into my non-productive patterns and forgive myself. I want to show my kids that we all mess up and we all deserve forgiveness. I want to be kind, kind, kind. I want to practice non-judging awareness. And, most significantly, I want to quit taking things personally.

8. Be open While I want to learn to forgive myself for not enjoying some of the things others might, I also want to continue to ty new things. I want to be willing to do something just for someone else. Be open to the possibility that I might like it. I want to be brave. I want to be an example to my kids that we practice courage regularly. It’s not inherent. I want to show that sometimes we fail but we get up and try again. I want to move away completely from anything that encourages shame-words. I want to show that failure is a part of life and so is showing compassion to oneself.

9. Gratitude And, finally, this year I plan to kick the gratitude thing up a few notches. I want do practice it myself, cultivate it in both my kids, send it out to my friends. Just make it front and center in my life. I know it’s one of the biggest links to happiness. And so easy to do.

And there we are. I am sure more will come up. But these are some of what’s on my mind.

Here’s to hoping 2013 is fantastic for all of us!