Holy Fast Moving Weekend Batman

Is it just me? OR are the weekends getting shorter?

I decided to take this weekend off and re-group a little.  I wanted to check my goals for 2011 and start really thinking about goals for 2012 - and more importantly putting together a plan to achieve them. See all too often I think people forget that part.  Its one thing to have a goal - like say lose weight - its another to actually figure out how you're going to get there, what you need to succeed and what are your little goals along the way. (Don't worry lose weight is a constant goal...one which I haven't figured out yet.)

So, looking at my goals for 2011 I did pretty well.  Some don't even apply anymore - like find a job after the 100 day break. When I wrote that goal I had no idea I'd be asked back to this job. Therefore I scratched that one off as completed.

Getting all caught up on scrapbooking. While this goal was achieved for 3.5 weeks, I think it's safe to say I need to be more specific in this goal.  For example, maybe my goal is to not let new photos sit longer than a month or two before having them scrapbooked. Or be caught up every quarter.  Of course it's a hard goal to keep when you don't know some of the constraints you may have like - how many trips/photos you may have or IF you'll have the time or the worse constraint every...creative block.

Out of debt! I'm proud to say I got out of debt (minus the car), stayed out of debt for a very good chuck of time. Then spilled tea into my camera and got back into debt briefly.  I'm happy to say, made my last payment to that and am now out of debt again (minus the car). My financial plan for the next year is to max out my 401K (because I have one now) and start purchasing some Roth IRAs or something of the sort. All the while, I plan on saving $$ to buy the place I'm in for my birthday next year - maybe. That last one is a bit scary to me.

Take lots of photos.  Admittedly not a good goal. It doesn't allow me anything to grow with. To just "take lots of photos" check. Done. But I think what I was thinking is "work on your photography skills." Which is a better goal, but still not quite the depth I think I need. This next year I'm going to focus (pardon the pun) on very specific parts of photography.  Fellow PhotoGod - The Yank - has mentioned flash work for some of our outtings. I have this great flash and no idea what it does or how to really use it. Why not learn it?  Composition ... that's another place I'd like to really work on and start to hone in my skills on thinking about how to compose a shot.

Reach out to those you've missed.  I have a list of friends I've been meaning to reach out to and get back in touch with on a regular basis. I didn't do so well with this one. There's only a couple off the list I actually succeed with. And when looking at why that was, I realized that I'm only half the equation. A good friend said to me recently, "The phone lines go both ways." So while I may have made an effort, I'm not going to feel like I failed at this one because those few others didn't get back to me. At a certain point, you've got to let go.

Great segway ... letting go.  This one is hard to quantify and even harder to talk about.  And someday it may be a blog in and of itself. But the idea with this one is to let go of all the little, insignificant things that bog you down.  Whether it be my own judgement of something, or drama in a relationship, or even something as large as letting go a grudge or two. If I've learn nothing in the past year it's that life it too short to let little things fester and eat away at you.  I see it every day in friends, family, people I know... they really let small things bog them down.  Trying to recognize the small things, and then let them be is often challenging. But once accomplished it's liberating.

So next year...next year I'm not 100% sure of my goals. I have a few ideas peculating, but nothing seems to be really determined.  Some of last years will carry over to this year...they always do, but I'll define them more.

I've been asked recently about how I do my goals. Each person is different. Some don't have to actually write them down. They're just driven to accomplish them. Some, like me, need a lot more help. Plus I'm a project manager so I have to document and plan. But I start with this concept and twist and turn it to make it work for me.