2012 here I come

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks looking at my goals, dreams and projects for 2012. Okay, when I say the last couple of weeks that has been on and off. I’ve also been listening to some great music, making some (great?) music and doing my fair share of writing too. And that really is summing up where I want to head in 2012 – with a little bit of digital art thrown in for good measure. Of course I’m talking primarily about hobbies here. The day job is more challenging than ever, and the goals there will stretch me too.

Post it time

I spent the last weekend with a pile of sticky notes and covered the desk with these. The picture above was when I had finished just one pack, I ended up using several. The aim was to capture all the things I wanted and had to do. Since then I’ve been trying to align everything, using the classic GTD approach. To end up with the following:

  • Next actions
  • Projects
  • Roles (or areas of responsibility)
  • short-term goals (1-2 years)
  • long-term goals (3-5 years
  • life long vision, mission type thing

I haven’t completed it yet, but I am getting there. But one thing I do know is that 2012 will be a highly creative and transformational year for me. I hope it’s good for you too.

Bookmark and Share

Final 10 in 2010

At the beginning of the year I set about achieving a range of things. I tied them into a nice little package of things relating to the number 10. The idea being that the number 10 would act as a constant reminder of what I wanted to achieve.

I have to admit it hasn’t really worked. Having the goals has been good, but the whole number 10 thing as a prompt hasn’t worked for me. It was one of those nice ideas that looked good on paper but in application wasn’t quite effective.

Having said that I have made progress on most of the goals. This will be my last post in this series and the goals will be translated into whatever system I come up with next. It most probably won’t be recorded here though. I’ll be focusing a little more on the three areas that interest me most at the moment, publishing, digital and things related to the divine.

So how did I do?

  1. Spend 10 minutes meditating on my mission statement - I managed to get going on this and then slipped a little. I’ll be addressing this in future posts here relating to the divine. But overall this was a goal that was achieved.
  2. Record 10 pieces of music for distribution – This was perhaps the goal that I really wanted to achieve. But it is also the goal that I have fallen well short of. I have lots of ideas and unfinished bits and pieces. So to find out why I haven’t progressed on this will be interesting to work out.
  3. Lose 10lbs in Lose Weight Exercise – From not getting anywhere on this I am actually really, really close to achieving it. This last month I have cut out a whole range of foods from my diet and I have also cut down on the amount I have eaten. And I am 90% of the way there.
  4. Write 10 posts – I will be relaunching !maginality very soon. I also have a posting plan for this site and a couple of others I am maintaining. So although not yet achieved all the preparation is in place.
  5. Create 10 images – I have been creating the odd image here and there. So I could give this an amber colour. However, it has been an ad-hoc approach. So I’ll keep it as red.
  6. Identify 10 people for an influential network - I have begun this, so amber, but a light amber.
  7. Have 10 minutes Lose Weight Exercise per day – Well it will soon be time for new year resolutions, so perhaps I’ll leave this till then.
  8. Increase web traffic by 10% – This was a poor goal, not very SMART. It will be assimilated as the Borg do into something far more substantial.
  9. Scan RSS reader for 10 minutes per day - here – Managed this and now need to be a bit more selective in what I read.
  10. Practice twitter in 10 minutes – Managed this too, although I am wondering whether I ended up restricting myself too much. The nature of twitter is that it is an always on connection. I feel a post about this coming on.

So there is the review of 10 in 2010. It didn’t really work, but I am further along than I was in January so not a complete failure.

Bookmark and Share

Ten plus three

Yet again I have missed the deadline for my review of things I want to achieve in 2010. I’ll use the standard excuse that things have been fairly busy but I’ll also throw in that I have been doing a bit of re-evaluating. The concept of linking everything to the number 10 and multiples of 10 is a great idea to be reminded of what I want to do. However, once reminded I have then stuttered.

Of course one reason I maybe struggling is that the goals aren’t, or haven’t been, particularly SMART. This may have something to do with all the various options for what the mnemonic actually means. However, as I have gone through things I have decided to make everything a little SMARTER.

I have looked at what I wanted to achieve back here, and tried to develop some direct things that I can do and put into practice. I’ve also dropped, the projects list I had. It is still in the archive somewhere but it’ll soon disappear from the navbar. The projects and ideas I had there though, have been transferred to the list below. So, next month, I’ll be reviewing how the following has gone.

  1. Spend 10 minutes meditating on my mission statement
  2. Record 10 pieces of music for distribution
  3. Lose 10lbs in Lose Weight Exercise
  4. Write 10 posts
  5. Create 10 images
  6. Identify 10 people for an influential network
  7. Have 10 minutes Lose Weight Exercise per day
  8. Increase web traffic by 10%
  9. Scan RSS reader for 10 minutes per day
  10. Practice twitter in 10 minutes

Now there are 10 things for me to get on with for the next month. Some of the things are daily, others are weekly and still others are longer term. Some will have sub-lists of things to do and others are pretty self evident.

This list is not exclusive. There are many other things I am and will continue to do, but these things highlight areas I want to explore and develop. I’ll explain more details as I continue, such as traffic stats and what sites am I actually talking about. But this list is primarily for me, to hold myself accountable for the rest of the year.

Bookmark and Share