Goals for 2012

Sisterhood is funny. Laugh so hard you end up in tears while driving down the road and almost have to pull over funny. At least it is for me. My sister and I have great talks about all kinds of things and they frequently make me laugh. Sometimes she's laughing too. Others not so much.

A week or so ago we talked while I drove home from visiting our grandfather. Among a number of other topics we talked about her list of goals for the year.

I laughed.

She wasn't so amused.

She listed out 45 goals for 2012. 

That works out to only one every 8 days or so, but it struck me as really, REALLY funny when she asked if I thought that was too many. Or maybe she didn't actually ask for my opinion. Maybe I just started laughing when she told me she had 45 and I felt compelled to justify my response. That may have been what sent me over the edge. It could also have been that I desperately needed some emotional release at that point and our relationship allows me the space to do that.

For the record,  I don't think it's too many or it's silly to have a 45 goal long list for the year. That's really actually a very reasonable number for a person as ambitious and accomplished as she is. The thing that's funny about it is that most people would never do it. Kind of like writing a personal Mission Statement. I laughed when she first told me she had one and then last year I realized I did too. She's a forward thinker my sister is and I love her for it.

Despite my apparent subconscious cynicism I'm working on a set of goals for the year too. I even sent a rough draft to my life coach.


Go ahead.

Laugh with impunity.

Having a rough draft of your goals is WAY funnier than having a long list of them. I bet my sister went through at least a couple drafts before she decided on the final list. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself.

Sidenote: Does it bother you that I write sentence fragments as separate sentences because when I talk it's clear that they actually are complete thoughts and I say them like whole sentences? If it does your attachment to proper grammar is clear and you should read this cartoon about using "alot" as a word.

I'm not ready to tell you exactly what all of those goals are just yet, but I will tell you that one of them involves posting more regularly to my blog.

One of my other goals is to work on taking better blog photos which has been a bit of an issue lately. My camera and computer are fighting necessitating a string of images taken with my phone. I also have this little hiccup that I have a full time job and it's the middle of winter so there isn't a ton of time available to get shots with great natural light. By "not a ton" I mean absolutely none most days. I'm going to figure it out though or the sun will stay up longer before I do. I'm also planning to get together some fabulous shots of the parsonage to share and post in the Parsonage page. Who says you can't take great pictures of unfinished projects?

Not this girl.

Or maybe I'll finish them. That would really be shocking.

My word of the year

You know Layla over at The Lettered Cottage? You may have noticed I obsess from time to time. She has some great ideas, like coming up with a word to inspire and motivate yourself throughout the year. She's having a word of the year link party Monday, January 16th. You should check it out. Don't worry. I'll remind you.

I'd already been thinking about this for a week or so. When you have a life coach you have conversations about where you want to be in your life a year from now and words to guide your efforts. It makes you realize things. It makes you think, "I don't want my life to be slightly better; I want it to ROCK OUT."

And then you realize that to make your life rock out you actually have to do something to make that change happen. Not exactly earth shattering, but a major breakthrough on an emotional level. At least for me. The kind of breakthrough that makes you write in your coaching notebook every day for a week.

How am I going to make my life rock out? I'm going to focus on owning the use of my time.

Part of owning my time is structuring it so that I get to work on all the different projects I want to and do all the things that go into a life that rocks out. Here's my list:
 

• My blog & working on creating a business - brainstorming post ideas, improving the layout, taking better photos, talking to a couple of very important people about how me might be able to work together
• Academic work - submitting the articles I planned from my dissertation for publication, creating a course or two
• Baby preparations - financial planning, getting the nursery ready, thinking about the shower
• Home projects and maintenance - finishing up projects around the house, making new stuff and decorating, gardening, keeping it clean
• Austin time - making time to spend my babe. You can't work all the time.
• Amber stuff - reading books I've wanted to read for a while, learning more German, becoming a master cheese maker

Obviously these aren't mutually exclusive uses of time. Some of them have some overlap, but I like the idea of splitting them up so I can think of it as focusing my attention on one of them every night after dinner. That way I don't feel overwhelmed by trying to think about everything at the same time and I feel like get to do a variety of things. Don't be surprised if you notice my posts seem to fall under one of these categories in the near future. Maybe I'll even tag them that way.

So what's my word?

Rocking out.

But that's two words. Why not just use TIME?

Because when you rock out you don't have to follow other people's rules about things like how many words can be in a word.

UPDATE: I found this shirt which I think may replace my skull shirt with the hole as my go-to T-shirt. Too bad it's out of stock. And doesn't come in maternity. Hmmm.

A life coach is like a facilitator for discussions with yourself.

I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't posted in a while. Two months and two days to be exact.

I'm not really sure why that is. It could have something to do with my job. I do spend the whole day staring at a computer screen.

Or it could be that I want to make the most of the time I have with Austin. Now that I have this job we have the same time off work so I would have to give up Austin time for blog time. I assure you that typing is less fun regardless of how quippy I am that day.

*REALIZATION: Lunch is Austin-less and at least theoretically work-free. It's the perfect time to blog.*

Or maybe it's something else entirely. I'm not really sure, but I think its time for me to get back at it.

Does this post have anything to do with my life coach?

Excellent question.

It does. Last Tuesday I spent the day in a facilitated discussion for my job and that evening I worked with my coach. I realized they were doing the same thing; helping me to have a more productive conversation.

Jessie just helps me do that in conversations with myself. An impressive talent really. *SIDENOTE: Jessie has shifted to focusing on helping woman become the women of their dreams and find the loves of their lives, but she's still my coach*

As a result of our discussion I'm working on Connection for the next week. When I originally included it in my core values I meant connections with friends and family. This week I mean the interconnection of all the different aspects of my life.  I mean everything.

Not just all the different things I want to do with my life, but all the parts of my life. Actively integrating all the parts of who I am and what I love into my daily life. As in creating the German Jello Salad of my existence.*Epiphany*

Clearly, my blog is about doing that. Hence, I'll be writing daily for at least the next week. Now let's hope for your sake some interesting stuff occurs.