Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2012 Resolutions.

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Happy 2012, friends!

Did you have a wonderful New Year's Eve? I did, though it was a bit too low-key for me. I spent the evening having dinner with Erik's family and hanging out with his friend who came over to play video games. The last half hour was spent just with Erik, watching TV and flipping to one of the NYE specials three minutes before the new year. It was nice, but a bit anticlimactic - it felt like any other day.

Now that the new year is here, it's time for goal-setting!

12 Changes

For 2012, I'm doing my resolutions a bit differently -- I'll be participating in 12 Changes in 12 Months, the brain child of Katherine and Stephany. A huge group of us (50+, I believe!) is setting monthly goals so that we can keep our focus on each one. Instead of a big list of goals to tackle all at once - which, for me, usually means a few get ignored - I'm setting up a list of habits I want to develop to make my life better.

So far, I only have a list of nine things. But that's the added benefit of this method of goal-setting: I don't have to figure those last three out right away because they can be accomplished later this year!

1. Take vitamins/probiotic daily
2. Exercise at least three days a week
3. Craft at least once a week
4. Journal daily
5. Read every day (from a book, not a blog/the internet)
6. Reduce sugar intake
7. Reduce processed food intake
8. Limit time spent online
9. Put at least $10 from every paycheck in savings
10. ???
11. ???
12. ???

For the month of January, I'm focusing on crafting at least once a week. I already did a lot of craft projects in December to prepare for the holidays, so it should be simple to keep up the habit.

Digital Day Off

In addition to my 12 Changes, I was inspired by Amy to take part in a "digital day off" every month. She's choosing to take a complete break from technology on the first of every month; I'll be doing the same, except on the first Sunday of every month. Which means that yes, I've already done this for January!

It was pretty simple this month, because I was still at Erik's for most of the day. I will admit that I 'cheated' a bit and checked my e-mail in the morning and at night, but I'm planning for all future digital days off to be completely internet-free for twenty-four hours.

A Goal a Month

And finally, for each month I'll be setting one specific, to-do-list type goal. These specific goals probably won't be set far in advance, but instead at the beginning of each month. For January, it's going to the dentist. Despite setting this as a goal every month last year, I still never made my way there. It's finally time because I have a cavity that's freaking me out and because I need to put on my big girl pants and be responsible for my health.

What goals are you setting this year? Are you doing things differently in hopes it'll work better than past years?