Brainstorming goals for 2014

[vaneramos]

I am working out some goals for 2014. They have just been floating around in my head, so here is where I'll brainstorm and then try to solidify them. Any thoughts? Please share them.

Last year I wrote some goals here. Many of them did not happen, but at least a few worked for part of the year:

1. In January I started eating salad every day for lunch and that habit lasted at least until the end of the summer.


2. I started exercising regularly but it didn't last long.


3. I learned to use PhotoShop Lightroom, and also took a photography course and succeeded in getting a good photo essay published.


4. I scheduled a week off three times (it was supposed to be four).


5. On the week off in August I started work on a book, a long form nature essay, writing 22,000 words in nine days.

No doubt I would have accomplished fewer of these things if I had not set any goals to begin with. So as frustrating as it is to miss goals, or start new habits and not follow through with them, the process is still worthwhile.

Here is a rough list of goals for 2014:

1. Establish a flexible morning ritual that is grounding and nourishing.


2. Resume the salad habit.


3. Resume regular exercise.


4. Continue taking one week off out of every 12; writing retreats are fine, but no handling work with clients.


5. Spend time with a friend at least once a week.


6. Be prepared to look after myself properly when my energy inevitably shifts in late summer.


7. Work outside of home at least twice a week; this could include research at the library, writing at a cafe or investigating a story.


8. Set a time (5 pm?) when I habitually stop whatever I am doing and work on fiction, essays or poetry for an hour.


9. Write one new pitch per week.


10. Plan a trip somewhere I have never been.


11. Plan a men's knitting retreat for the fall.


12. Move our house in the spring.


13. Garden daily (look after the worm farm and houseplants in winter).

It's a lot. Still, ambitious is probably better than under-ambitious, as discussed above.

I need to work out what my morning ritual will be. it might include gardening.