End of the year BS

[ostarella]

Year ending the same as most years. Things I wanted to get done, undone. Things I expected not to happen, happened. Good intentions from 365 days ago still just that - intentions.

My biggest problem is that I think of all these things I must do/should do and then they get lost in the jumble of me little pea-brain. So I think I just need to develop the habit of writing things down WHERE I CAN FIND THEM EASILY. That's the big deal. I have notes scattered all over the house in cryptic shorthand - need to buy a little notebook that will fit in my back pocket with an equally accessible pen/pencil so as things occur to me I can jot them down. Then at the end of each day, I transfer these notes to the appropriate file/calendar so I see them when I need to.

I suppose trying to make up some sort of schedule would also help. But I don't know if it's age, habits, or just laziness that makes me not want to follow one. At least not a detailed one. Maybe just a general "This month I want to get this accomplished". Possibly then break it down to a weekly "I want to accomplish this" list.

Yeah. That could work.

Anyway... temps were in the upper 30s, low 40s the last couple days so a lot of snow melted away. Now waiting to see if the freezing rain/sleet hits this far north/west of the imaginary lines the weather people have drawn so I know if I'll get to work tonight. Yay - New Year's Eve in Walmart's Frozen Food Section!!!!

Comments

[beckyblack]

I think the key with goals is to keep on reviewing how you're doing with them. Once I've set my year's goals I have a review every month to decide shorter goals to get me towards the year's goals, and a weekly review to check how I'm doing on the monthly goals and what I can do towards them in the week coming up. It breaks them down into nice bitesized bits and it makes sure I don't forget about them.

And always make them SMART of course! :D

Like with my 100 books challenge, I didn't keep thinking "OMG, I've got to read 87 more books!" or whatever. I just broke it down, thinking I need to read 8 books or 6 books etc this month to be on track.

[ostarella.livejournal.com]

I think I really have two problems with goals. One, there are so many different areas/projects that I need to work on (writing, household, yard, retirement, etc etc) and despite all attempts, I keep seeing all of them together as totally impossible to deal with. The second problem is that so many of them (other than writing and retirement) are things I'd much rather just walk away from than deal with.

But yeah, maybe I need to just decide where I want to be at the end of 2011, then work backwards to see what I need to do month by month, then week by week. And try to stay conservative (ie, realistic) so I don't see each goal unmet.

ie - get some discipline back in my life! :p

[beckyblack]

You can always think longer term than 2011 of course, of some of the things wouldn't be achievable this year. You can either leave some till later, if that's possible, or break them down into major stages and have the first major stage of it as a goal for 2011.

And it's important to look at other aspects of life too and ask are they helping me towards my goal, if not can I stop doing them? In some cases the answer will be no, but it's always worth asking yourself.

[ostarella.livejournal.com]

Maybe what I need to do is divide things into My Stuff and Other Stuff. My Stuff would be the writing and retirement, things that I can really get enthusiastic about. Other Stuff would be all the things that I have to take care of, like it or not. Make the goals more flexible in both, so if I get fed up working on Other Stuff, I can more comfortably (with less guilt) move to the My Stuff.

Or something.

Maybe I just need to get my mind into "I really do care about something" mode.

[beckyblack]

Maybe I just need to get my mind into "I really do care about something" mode.

Maybe try and get started soon on the novel, because then you can build up momentum.