I always have quite a slow start to the New Year, I never seem to convince myself it has begun until I am back at work (tomorrow), or it is my birthday (only 3 short days away). So here I am on day 3 of 2011 still trying to sort out my goals for the year.

I did spend the last few days of 2010 clearing out every room in the apartment, going through the kitchen and bathroom cupboards, the large hall storage cupboard and my craft supplies; tossing, recycling and sorting out into charity bags and stuff for my friends. I also planned my savings goals for the year, which are quite intense so we shall see if I am able to meet them.

My plans for the year include:

Enthusiasm:

This is a bit of a “fake it till I make it” goal, I find that I often turn down invites because I am a homebody, even when I know that I usually enjoy myself when I am out with my friends. So I will say “yes” more often in 2011, I will give myself a pass to expensive events but most times I am invited to someone else’s house, or maybe a dinner out at an inexpensive restaurant. The second part to this is regarding work, I really do enjoy my new job but I find myself dragging myself in on Mondays (and sometimes other days). I’m very lucky to have this position, it is interesting, useful to my future career and actually is doing good for people, now I just need to act like this is the case; no more moaning. Obviously, if I actually am having a bad or stressful time at work I will allow myself a little venting but not about mundane things, like having to go in everyday!

Creativity:

Continuing from 2010′s 2 nights a week of hobbies I will continue to spend time on my various crafts; and pick up some new ones perhaps; I’m considering a pottery course- currently I just need to decide which community centre is most convenient for me, I will also put this off until spring when I will be able to walk to class. Unluckily for my friends and family perhaps, I will be trying even harder to make as many birthday and Christmas gifts as I can, certainly I will aim to make all my cards again; I managed it in 2010.

Working the little grey cells:

I will be signing up for Spanish beginner’s level 2 this week at work and hoping that my learning companion from level one will also return so that we can continue to meet each week between classes for further practice. I am also going to make sure I read more; towards the end of my last job I pretty much stopped reading for pleasure, and I really have only got back into it over Christmas, so I am hoping to keep it up. I will be participating in FT’s Classics Book Group, as well as reading my little stack of books at home, I’m also hoping to tackle a few non-fiction pieces in different fields, I’ve just ordered “The Trouble with Physics” from the library! Finally I am also considering giving in to SO and learning some “techy” things, perhaps I will learn html code for a website, or finally spend some time on Linux, this is as yet undecided.

Working the little muscle cells:

I must find a new dance class, and possibly even a gym membership somewhere, on top of this I will reinstate my morning work out routine. This summer I hope we will get back in the habit of our long weekend walks and I need to be sure that I can manage them.

I’ll be breaking these larger goals down, either monthly or quarterly and hopefully that will help me keep on top of them…

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