I don’t believe in making New Year’s resolutions. If you made some this year, how many are you still maintaining and how many did you ditch by Superbowl weekend (be it the food, skipping a routine exercise plan, maxing out on your beer-a-day limit, whatever)… Point being, we all know January 1st is just as arbitrary as any other day, but there’s way more peer pressure involved and what you need to make goals/resolutions work is your own personal motivation, regardless of other people. That’s part of why I made a list of 36 goals to work on over the course of a year. That one year deadline is still a few months away in early April, but here’s a check-in with how I’m doing with them; the ones in bold have had some progress or I felt the need to comment on them:
1. post to my blog at least once a week – Fail!
2. record and donate an audiobook
3. edit new commercial and animation demos - Produced a new commercial demo last fall, didn’t have anything to add to my animation demo, this one’s done. 10/2/09
4. re-record my audiobook demo – Completed 11/27/09.
5. adjust the inputs in my home and work studios for optimal sound – My work studio sound is inferior to my home studio, but also not 100% within my control. I’m going to start bringing a few pieces of my mobile studio gear with me if I can’t get a cleaner sound out of that chain.
6. stick to a realistic workout routine that fits my lifestyle (ongoing, check in every 2 months) – Going well! 26mi bike ride every Saturday, 2 and sometimes 3 days a week at the gym, pretty consistently over the past year, aside from when I had pneumonia.
7. volunteer my time once a month
8. hike Camelback (summit), Squaw Peak (summit), Lookout Mountain (summit), South Mountain (National trail), Cave Creek (Go John trail), Estrella Mountain (Rainbow Valley trail), White Tank Mountains (Goat Camp, Ford Canyon to Mesquite Loop, or Mesquite Canyon to Willow Springs trail) http://www.visitphoenix.com/visitor/index.cfm?action=trails – I’ve got a lot of hiking to start doing…
9. donate blood
10. get back to Raleigh for at least 5 days – Completed September ‘09
11. renew my passport – Meant to do this in 2009, since my husband is an amazing photographer and I could have a flattering passport picture.
12. use my passport – Making grandiose yet vague and unresearched plans
13. plant a garden on the back patio with native plants – So close! Took classes with the Phoenix Permaculture Guild on how to get things to grow in our wacky soil, and it’s going to be planting season again shortly.
14. get more agent representation – I’m going to consider the few producers I work with who have large clients come through their studios to be completion of this, ongoing goal…
15. learn how to use Photojunction
16. reconfigure the layout of my home studio for ease of use
17. improve my technical photography skills – Can you ever really be done on something that is an improvement-based goal? Always striving to improve my skills in whatever I do…
18. organize business and tax paperwork – I’m so good about this, my tax guy loves me because it takes 15 minutes to do our joint married taxes and 2 businesses because I’m queen of spreadsheets.
19. study with a voiceover pro
20. beat GH 80’s (Electric Eye + encore song), GH3 (Battle for your Soul level) and Rock Band 1 (Green Grass and High Tides) on expert guitar
21. give handmade gifts – We gave our close local friends mango chutney and home roasted coffee for Christmas this year.
22. research composting and determine whether it’s something we can do (and if so, start doing it!) – We’ve got a bin, we put stuff in it, sometimes we remember to water it and stab it with a piece of rebar we bought for that purpose (keep it mixed, aerate…) It’s not a fancy schmancy compost bin that spins, but it’s cut down drastically on how much food gets thrown in the trash. We feed our compost bin every 2 days or so with how often we go through biodegradable coffee filters and red pepper cores, etc.
23. find a local farmers’ co-op – Have researched a few but not taken further action
24. get together with other recent newlyweds and hang out/drink beer in our wedding dresses
25. babysit for friends to give them a night off
26. use our National Parks Pass twice to go somewhere besides the Grand Canyon – Hmm… I think this has expired.
27. cook dinner for friends once a month – Good intentions, tough to schedule.
28. create parents’ albums with our wedding photos using Photojunction
29. learn a new craft or take an old hobby up a notch – Yes! I would have to say gardening/compost maintenance type stuff qualifies.
30. spend more time with Andy and our kitties
31. get allergy tested – Turns out, I’m not allergic to much. I also now have a fabulous ENT to keep me working at full capacity with little down time.
32. sign on 2 more radio stations for imaging (voice and/or production)
33. mail letters/photos to out of town friends
34. finish painting throughout the house – I’m going to cross this off now, because it’s very close to being completed.
35. help someone else put together a voice demo - Offered this to a friend, hope to get together to help her with that soon.
36. participate in (or be entered and training for) a triathlon or duathlon – I hate running.
So that’s 16 completed or mostly completed, and 20 to go. It’s also interesting to see how my goals have changed, what’s important now vs what was important to me in my business or personal goals nearly a year ago. My current goals are much more focused and measurable in terms of results, vs having completion goals I’m now looking at number goals. I really do enjoy running my own business, I just hate running (see #36.)