A List of Lists

I love lists.  My entire life revolves around them: shopping lists, to-do lists, wish lists, reading lists.  I love being able to write something down, see it, and eventually know that it will be crossed off the page.  It's a motivator, of sorts. I have to do such-and-such, it's on my list!  That is why this year I decided to list my goals for 2012.  There are many benefits to this -- I could list them!

1. By listing my goals, I am forced to think about my goals.
2. A list keeps the goals visible.
3. Visible goals are more easily achieved because one is more mindful of them.
4. Now that it's a list, I'll want to check things off of it, so I am more motivated.

Now in my mind goals are different than resolutions, which is important because I am, perhaps, more likely to keep the goals.  So, what do I want to do with 2012?

2012 Goals

1.         Finish The Artist’s Way and blog about it.

2.        Read Science of the Mind and find someone with whom I can talk about it.

3.        Read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and consider participation in a book club.

4.       Write notes and letters more often. Aim for one note or letter per week.

5.       Decide how much time and effort to put into relationships and what kind of relationships I want.

6.       Find a doggy day care where Lotus feels comfortable so that I don’t have to rely on unreliable family when I want or need to go out of town or work long days.

7.       Craft more (at least once per week).

8.       Blog more (aim for every day).

9.       Exercise more (get toned for summer weddings!)

10.     Spend less (save more!).

11.       Produce income.

12.      Improve my gardening and canning process so that we produce more of the food that we eat.

13.      Take classes that increase my self-awareness (at least two over the course of 2012).

14.     Learn a new skill.

15.     Finish my novel.

16.     Finish an academic article.

17.     Try to have writings published.

18.     Figure out what I want to do for a career.

19.     Be a better spouse (remember to do everything with love and respect).

20.    Journal daily.

This is not an exhaustive list.  I am sure that if I sat and thought long and hard I'd have more items on there, perhaps things that had to do with more volunteer work or with more demonstrations of love and care for others or something about having less involvement with the family members who make me crazy, but this list was already getting too long (20 goals in 2012? Why not just 12?), so it is what it is.

It's been three full days in the new year and I am making progress toward certain goals (blog more -- check, exercise more -- check, write notes and letters -- check).  One of the goals is to learn a new skill, and this month that skill is photography.  At least I'm trying to become a more skilled amateur photographer -- we'll see what results at the end of the month.  As part of the journey, I am walking through lessons on 31 Days to a Better Photo and participating in a 30 Day Photography Challenge.  Perhaps you would like to participate in the photography challenge with me?

Here's the 30 Day list from Mary at whitepeachblog.com.  This is from her first photo challenge back in May of last year...yes, I know, I'm a bit late to the game.

1. Self-portrait
2. What you wore
3. Clouds
4. Something green
5. From a high angle
6. From a low angle
7. Fruit
8. A bad habit
9. Someone you love
10. Childhood memory
11. Something blue
12. Sunset
13. You with 13 things
14. Eyes
15. Silhouette
16. Long exposure
17. Technology
18. Shoes
19. Something orange
20. Bokeh (What the heck? Is that a misspelling? I had to look it up and found a kind of answer here and here.)
21. Faceless self-portrait
22. Hands
23. Sunflare
24. Animal
25. Something pink
26. Close-up
27. From a distance
28. Flowers
29. Black & White
30. Self-portrait

Of course now that I look through the blog I see that Mary is starting a January photo challenge.  Shall I double-up?  Save the January challenge until next month?  Hmmm....I'll have to think about that.  But just in case you want to jump into the January photo challenge, here is that list from Mary's blog.

1. You
2. Breakfast
3. Something you adore
4. Letterbox
5. Something you wore
6. Makes you smile
7. Favorite
8. Your sky
9. Daily routine
10. Childhood
11. Where you sleep
12. Close-up
13. In your bag
14. Something you're reading
15. Happiness
16. Morning
17. Water
18. Something you bought
19. Sweet
20. Someone you love
21. Reflection
22. Your shoes
23. Something old
24. Guilty pleasure
25. Something you made
26. Color
27. Lunch
28. Light
29. Inside your fridge
30. Nature
31. You, again

And there you have it, folks.  A list of lists.