It's Time for a Change!
I had a good chat with Jessica the other day about my work load, the things I say I will do, things promise I will do, priorities, and life decisions. She always gets me into a thought provoking mood. It turns out that I have made it a habit for myself to tell everyone YES! to whatever they're asking ... then attempt to cram it into my schedule. It's been pointed out to me that if I somehow don't get these things fit into my schedule... I appear un-reliable. eek. So there are 2 action items that I've decided I NEED to take. I need to start telling people that I'm busy, and I need to come up with some clear goals that I am going to work on. So I've decided that in order to build motivation I need a list! I've always been inspired by Erik Kastner's Blog posts about his goals and I think that writing them down and making it permanent will help make it happen. I have a reputation to uphold, you know!
This Month's Goals
- Write this post.
- Contribute something good to an Open Source project.
- Follow up with at least 1 idea.
- Break 100 twitter followers.
- Work on our Wedding & RSVP web page.
- Finish 2 paintings.
- Finish my mother's website.
- Lose 15 pounds.
Write this Post!
...and more more after this
I've had this post stored in a text file on my computer for about a month. It NEEDS to be written out, and followed through with. So in completing this post, goal number 1 should be adequately sufficed!!
Contribute something good to an Open Source project
This has always been one of my goals. I know that I contribute to the Dashboard Framework almost daily, but that doesn't count. I'm talking big time project, small time grunt work. I've been using this software and giving them a pat on the back, saying it's great, reporting bugs etc. I need to give back to the community that I am continuously taking from. It's the nature of it all.
Follow up with at least 1 idea
I've come up with so many great little web ideas over the past year or so that i no longer know which ones are good / feasible / possible. I'm going to try to whittle it down to 1 for this month and attempt to get the ball rolling. Even if it is as little as*IsDaneCookInThisMovie.com*, it's still a tiny step in the right direction.
Break the 100 Twitter Followers barrier
They say that you don't get the full experience of twitter until you have at least 100 followers. So I really want to experience the full effect of this social network.
update This happened yesterday. I've reached 100. So i guess i'll aim for 125 by this time next month!
Work on our Wedding & RSVP website
This is something very important to both Jessica and I. I've been saying that I'll work on it as soon as i get some time. All I need to do is set some time aside for this, and without design, the programming shouldn't take more than an hour or 2. (design help is very welcome -- thurloat at gmail dot com wink)
Finish 2 Paintings
I have 2 paintings on the go right now, and they always take the back seat to other projects. It's something I really enjoy, and something that I can connect with Jessica on. I started a huge one around Christmas for her and I still haven't passed the pencil-on-canvas stage. This won't be an easy one to fit in, but if I can hold off on doing other things, I know I can find time.
Finish my Mother's Website
So my Mum started her own cloth diaper business last year and I've been promising all along that I would make her a website for it, and help her with online marketing for it, etc. I can usually only seem to find 20 or 30 minutes at a time and I'm stuck at about 85% on this one, I just need a little boot in the arse to complete it. The only reason it's on here is to make sure that I get it done.
Lose 15 pounds
I know this goal sounds un-reasonable, but I know I have the power to do it myself, and they say the first few pounds come off really quickly. I'm not expecting this sort of weight loss to be linear. I just know that if I put a ton of work in early, than I can see faster results which will motivate me to continue. The muscle burn that I'm feeling already is motivation so far, but the numbers do help.
So that's my list to complete over the next 30 days. I'm going to make it a priority for this month to post a weekly check in with my goals to make sure I'm following through with them. If you're noticing me slacking on these goals, put me in line! This is extremely important to me, and I hope you're all kind enough to help !!