[The gorgeous Calgary, Alberta]
If you haven’t noticed over the past few years, I’m definitely on team goal setting when it comes to the New Year (and well, the entire year for that matter). I know a lot of people don’t believe in setting resolutions or goals at the start of the year, but I find goals are a great way for me to figure out what I want to strive for and how I’m going to get there. I look at it as a way to review the past year, see what worked and what didn’t, and then decide how I want to proceed, grow, and challenge myself in the new year ahead.
I also don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing when you get to the end of the year and there are goals that weren’t completed. As many of you mentioned in my 2011 recap post, having uncompleted goals is completely natural. As the year progresses, often do our plans and goals. One person can only do so much and it’s normal for uncompleted goals to carry over into the new year. To me, the point of a goal is to move in the direction where you want to be, not attain perfection.
This year, Eric and I had a fun discussion about 2011 and what we want to accomplish in 2012. It was a great way to share our own goals, current struggles, and things we want to do in the future. Many of our goals are the same, but many of them are different so we created a spreadsheet to write down his goals, my goals, and goals we share together. It was a fun experience because I feel like I can now support all of his goals (since I know about them) and the same goes for him.
My theme of 2012: Break out of the comfort zone
As a Taurus, I crave comfort and routine (and hate change most of the time), however this can easily translate into lack of growth and failing to step outside of my comfort zone. I often prefer to take the safe and comfortable choice instead of trying something new. In 2012, I will challenge myself by doing things that I normally avoid out of fear and just take the leap anyways. I’ve been working on this since fall 2011 and I’m ready for more. There are a lot of things I want to do with the blog (such as visiting an animal sanctuary and doing an interview), so I’ve made a list of things to keep me on track. My plan is to write at least one thing on my calendar a week that I want to try.
Goals for 2012:
1. Track expenses and create a budget using mint.com
Eric and I recently decided that we need a budget overhaul, so we’ve decided to use Mint.com after much debate.
2. Sign with publisher & finish cookbook manuscript in 2012
This is my biggest, time-consuming, scary goal of 2012.
3. Submit to Foodgawker and Tastespotting on a regular basis
I used to submit my photos and recipes to Foodgawker and Tastespotting on a regular basis, but I got out of the habit last year when things got busy. It can be quite time-consuming (especially if you’ve had 10 rejections in a row like I have!! ^#%^&%#@#^&), but it’s also a great way to share recipes with the food community and encourage new readers.
4. Train for a couple races and strength train 2x a week
After a break in 2011, I‘m ready for more racing. I’m planning on running a 5k in April so far and I’d like to train for another 10k or half marathon, depending on my schedule. I also want to keep up with my strength training to a minimum of twice per week using at-home DVD workouts and effective body-resistance exercises such as push-ups, squats, lunges, etc.
5. Organize & Simplify
Being bad at organizing like I am is not fun. For one, things are disorganized, cluttered, and difficult to find. Secondly, it ends up taking up more of my time in the end because I’m often searching for missing items or documents. If I would’ve taken the time to slow down and do it right, I would not only feel more orderly and calm, but I would probably end up saving time.
I started by cleaning out all of my cupboards and pantry at the end of 2011. I donated a bunch of things I don’t need and opened up a lot of cupboard space. Other organizational goals include keeping my virtual and physical desktops clear, organizing my photography files, legible hand-writing (ha), creating an organized system for my cookbook materials, and simplifying living space and doing away with annoying clutter.
I’ll let you know how that one goes.
6. Get back to my positive mindset
I’ve felt internal negativity creep up in my life lately and I need to get back to my positive mindset. Negativity is absolutely toxic in so many ways, isn’t it? It prevents us from being all we can be by sucking the life out of every thought, action, and intention. It kills creativity, personal expression, and the courage to believe in ourselves. The same thing goes for negative people in our lives. As Caitlin says, negative people are Energy Vampires. Not only do they drain themselves in the process, but they can suck the life out of you if you let them.
Zen Habits has a great article on 7 simple tips for dealing with negative people if you want to read more on the topic.
7. The Wild Card from 2011 will happen in 2012
Hopefully sooner than later because I can’t keep it a secret much longer.
And that’s all she wrote.
Congrats to Veronica! I have emailed you to collect your contact info. Thanks to everyone for participating!
How will you step outside of your comfort zone in 2012?
Thanks for the link to zen site. That couldn’t have been timelier for me. I got caught up in a negative and bullying persons behaviour recently and after reading the blog realized that my dealing with her was spot on. I will admit the I’m going to continue greeting her in a cheerful and polite manner simply because I know how much it will annoy her but also because I don’t have to buy into her attitude.
As far as organizing your life & it’s stuff-ness that goes with life i’ve been following this lady’s program for 10 days now and can already see a huge difference in my home. Check out www.flylady.net she is simply amazing and very down-to-earth.
Thanks Caroline!
Glad ot hear that you are making progress with the bully.
I’m so glad to hear that you’re working on a cookbook. I know it will be awesome, and I’ll be first in line to buy it.
exciting! we are using mint.com too ~ good luck!
also can’t wait to hear about the Wild Card!!!
I stumbled upon your blog almost 2 years ago through one of your Foodgawker submissions. I’ve been a fan ever since!
Wow, that’s awesome! Thanks Natalie!
Hi! I want to tell you that you have an amazing blog. I am from Monterrey, Mexico and I am reading your blog since the last year. Please, please…. You have to continue with these goals and help us to accomplish our, too. So, I hope to help you with goal number 6 telling you about the impact of your blog in other bounderies. Regards.
Thank you Katy!
Angela, I currently am using Mint.com and my husband and I like it. It’s a great way to analyze where your money is going, without investing a lot of time. It’s a great tool for us, hope you like it too!
aren’t you afraid of allowing mint.com to go into your bank accounts especially with all the hacking going on? i actually signed up and then decided against it after i saw that they would have direct access to all my accounts. wow
Yea we are definitely uneasy about it…which is probably why we haven’t signed up yet. Eric said you can sign up anonymously , so we might try that.
My SO and I use mint.com and have found it helpful, but I recommend planning a day of review and updates weekly where you’ll sit down together and discuss your progress. Even if it takes 5 minutes max. Helps us a lot when we stay disciplined, otherwise we just let it go to hell until the next month. :)
beautiful, thanks for sharing and inspiring :)