The past three years I have taken the time to write a list of goals for the upcoming year. (See 2008, 2009, 2010 was never completely scanned in.) It has been a great way to live intentionally and make positive changes in my life. My favorite part about making a list of goals is going back and reviewing them at the end of the year. While doing that for 2010, I peeked over to my 2008 and 2009 goals and I realized a few things. I learned that while there were a few things on my lists that weren't completed in their specified year, they did stay with me and I truly am completing them one-by-one. But I also realized, the goals that are not task related (new habits, new mindsets) are consistently taking longer than a year to really find a solid place in my life. That said, this year I decided to do something different.
One of my favorite photographers/bloggers, Melissa Jill has been working on a 101 in 1001 list. That is a list of 101 goals to complete in 1001 days. I have seen lists like these floating around the web for years and I never really thought it was a realistic way to set goals. However, watching Melissa set her goals and complete them one-by-one has been super inspiring. Cap that with my tendency to take a little longer than a year to make changes and reach goals in my personal life and I think I have discovered something that might just work for me. :)
My friend Kate and I came together and started building 101 in 1001 lists back in November. I think we both still only have half of our lists completed. I do have enough to share with you all, at least for now. Here's a peak:
Start date: December 30, 2010 End date: September 26, 2013
- Complete this list by Feb 28, 2010.
- Blog every day for a month
- Blog three times a week for a year on my SLP blog
Build a welcome (& thank you) packet to send to couples who book with me- Buy a year’s worth of birthday cards, address and stamp them all at once
- Buy/make/give Tommy 5 "just because" gifts
Change portfolio site to no longer be flash based- Complete 12 consecutive months of a monthly photo theme or blog meme
- Complete 52 consecutive weeks of Gratituesday blog posts
Do something extra special for Tommy's 30th Birthday- Document life more on my blog, even if some entries need to be private
- Donate $5 for each goal I do not complete
- Enter some of my work into a photography competition
Give a gift of something hand-made- Go on a ski trip with Tommy
- Go to DC during a Cherry Blossom peak weekend
- Have a book printed of 1 year of Gratituesday's
- Have all Christmas gifts purchased/wrapped by Dec 1.
Improve my business website search optimizationLearn Yoga poses/flow I can do on my own without direction- Make an album of our wedding pictures
- Meet Kate Nesi, finally! :)
- Obtain copies of our parents’ wedding portraits, frame them, and hang them in our home
- Participate in another triathlon
Participate in the creation of a style-shoot for a blog or magazine- Read one book per month for 3 months to better my business
- Refine workflow to have wedding galleries online within 2 weeks of the event
- Return to Nepal (with Tommy?)
Run a Holiday Giveaway Series on my blog- Run in 2 races > 5k
See Third Day in concertTravel to the West Coast- Simplify my internet presence
Spend a day hikingSpend more time outsideSubmit a wedding for publication in a magazineTake a cruise with Tommy- Take a dance class (at least 6 weeks)
Take a trip on a train- Try 5 foods I have never tried before
- Visit New England in the fall/winter
- Watch 5 I’ve-always-wanted-to-see-but-just-never-got-around-to-it-movies
- Write a Will
Make the switch from PC to MacMake my office as mobile as possible so that I can travel often without it interrupting my work- Learn how to make sushi at home
- Attend a (at least 2-day) photography workshop
- Run another half-marathon
- Earn a PR in the Smithfield Sprint triathlon
- Earn a new PR in the 5k distance (so far my best time was 36 mins in 2007)
- Run in a trail race
- Have my work featured on at least 3 different blogs
- Submit images and apply for WPJA
Work on lowering carb and sugar intake- Make the switch from coffee to tea in the morning
- Swap our chemical cleaners for home made cleaners
- Simplify our medicine cabinet by purging a lot of medicines and replacing them with herbs and essential oils
- Learn how to heal our bodies naturally (and save money in the process!)
- Travel to Florida to visit my grandmother
- Travel to Colorado to visit my sister
- Go on an anniversary trip with Tommy
- Spend more time finding inspiration through online photo sites
Write something every day for a monthCreate a social media marketing plan and follow itHire an internTransfer business status from Sole-Proprietor to an S-Corp- Repaint my kitchen walls
- Incorporate the use of an ipad into my business workflow
Enhance Sincerely, Liz client experiences by adding gifts and surprises into my workflow- Redesign Sincerely, Liz website and combine all of my online sites into one
Rebrand Lynchburg Snapshot Studio- Create a marketing plan for Lynchburg Snapshot Studio
- Develop and begin a preschool curriculum for Sunday (even if that means toddler school for now)
- Make running a regular part of my weekly routine
- Make 5 Pinterest recipes
- Complete 3 Pinterest DIY projects
- Create a "Sunday's First Year" book/album
- Go to the Farmer's Market once a month in the spring/summer.
Buy and consume more fresh foods. Go geocaching with my nieces- Shoot a photo session in an ice skating rink
- Simplify our magazine subscription list
- Make a photo album of our wedding pictures
- Swap out my beauty care products for natural, less expensive versions
- Go to a dinner theater with Tommy
Have new head shots taken annuallyStart an annual head shot mini session day in late winter- Go on a camping trip with Tommy while in Colorado
- Sell my landscape and art prints online
- Print and frame images for a collage of "life" in our hallway
Take a weekend and "unplug" from all things digital- Do a "day in the life" blog post
Send a bouquet of flowers to someone "just because"- Get a bold haircut
- Create the habit of making a weekly meal plan
- Find 3 healthy dessert recipes and make them often enough to no longer need to look at the recipe
- Host a party in our home
- Change most (if not all) the lightbulbs in our house to energy efficient bulbs
- Print at least two landscape canvas prints and hang them in our home
Purchase some plants for our home and keep them alive- Simplify my wardrobe by making smart accessory purchases and blog about the experience
- Move the Sincerely, Liz office into the basement from the current office space
I hope to blog about the goals as I reach them. I am very excited about this journey and also excited to be documenting it! Here's to 2011... and 2012... and 2013. :)
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.