If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

Well....I'm NOT perfect. Far from it. But this New Years I'm not looking at it as RESOLUTIONS but more as GOALS.

I mean,  if I just ramble off my usual list of things they will probably be forgotten by the end of the week. I just went back to my New Years post of last year to see what I had written. Ahhhh, well I don't think ANY of them materialized. So this year I need to be more pro-active. I need to write them down.

So, I started writing EVERYTHING down and now I'm overwhelmed! How on Earth can I accomplish all that I want to do in such little time?

"Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up."
-Thomas Edison

 

"Results! Why, man I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work."
-Thomas Edison

OK, so I have to accept the fact that's it's OK to try something and have it not work out. It doesn't mean that it nor I, am a failure. (My booth) I need to sit down and make a plan and become more focused. What is it that I really want?
So as scary as it is to put in down in black and white....
Here are some goals in a very broad sense. I realize that each one needs to be broken down into smaller manageable segments. I need to become very organized so that I can achieve these goals.
So....
#1 Be organized
#2 Simplify
#3 Be Healthy
#4 Be Active
#5 Be Happy
#6 Be Focused
#7 Complete a task before another
#8 Be Frugal
#9 Pamper Myself
#10 Train my Dogs
#11 Create
#12 Write a book.

12 Goals...but actually each will be broken down into sub-goals.
I won't do that here but an example: #1 Be organized. I have my "stuff" every place. I need to organize even the basic things such as "tools". Do you think that I can find the screwdriver when I need it? Why do I sometimes resort to using a kitchen knife when I know that I have many different sizes of screwdrivers...in drawers, in boxes in the basement, in my "art" room. I need to organize like my Dad always did. He could tell you when a tool was missing from his work area (of course he had lines drawn on his pegboard like the chalk lines of dead bodies at crime scenes) but yes, I need to be organized and #2 Simplify. After I find all those duplicate tools, I need to only keep what I truly need and donate the rest.
Skip ahead to #7 Complete a task before another. I need to finish remodeling one room before starting another. Example: I have several in half-finished state. #9 Pamper myself. I think nothing of buying something cute or fun for my dogs. But I don't buy myself some earrings that I love at a Craft Show because I don't REALLY need them. I skip haircuts but make sure my dogs are groomed. I just have to make an effort to spoil myself sometimes. #3 plus #9= Join Weight Watchers. I really need to get this extra weight off.  #10 Train my Dogs. I mean have them do what I say. Sit, Come, Stay. The only one that really listens to me is Blue and he can't even hear. Another sub-goal off of #10 would be Agility classes...at least for Ralphie

and where he goes, so does Jimmy
#6 Be focused. That includes learning all I can about what I love. #6 plus #11= possible a new direction, a new career, but something that involves animals. #12 Write a book, The scariest. But the one I want to achieve most. My knowledge of the English language and grammar has clouded in my brain, but I can study and learn it again. When I was young I was accepted into college but met with strong disapproval and no support from my family, so I went to Community College and majored in English and minored in Art and dropped out a short time later. It's hard to be confident and brave when you are young. When people laugh when you want to be a writer. But I want to try. I just want to write a book.
So there ya go. Just a few plans of mine.
OOPS! I forgot #13 Step out of my Comfort Zone
My sister gave me that quote in a little frame for Christmas -

She said to hang it where I can see it.
She also said that my comfort zone is the size of a Tic Tac.