It seems that the first of January is the most common time to set goals. At least that gets people thinking about their goals once a year, if only that rarely.
I’m in the minority who thinks about goals often, but I still use the first day of the year as a trigger to re-evaluate my goals and my progress.
When setting goals it’s important that they are SMART goals – Stretching, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and with a Timeline.
This year I’ve looked at different aspects of my life and where I’d like to move forward. Where I see opportunities and where I’d like to be spending more time and energy.
One thing I learned last year is that to make time for things you want to do you need to drop some activities that are not fulfilling.
Basically, I looked at where I was spending my time, evaluating my enjoyment of each activity one by one. I also ranked them in order of enjoyment to see which would be the first to drop if I cancelled them. This included activities like watching television, sleeping, family time, time with friends etc., not just scheduled entertainment.
One major change for me was dropping ten-pin bowling from my schedule… every Monday night from 6:30pm to 9:30pm for 33 weeks. When the new season began in September, I decided to replace it with group meditation sessions on Monday nights instead.
It was at the same time that I decided that I no longer wanted to watch television, and so we cancelled our full cable subscription to go back to basic, eliminating the temptation to watch garbage. I decided that I’d rather sleep than watch garbage on TV. Television viewing actually ranked as my lowest priority activity, although it wasn’t the activity I spent the least time on.
Which brings me to this year’s resolutions. Again I’m looking improve my health and fitness. I admit to having a chocolate problem, and I’ve decided to track my Chocolate Free Days (CFDs), with the aim of having 23 
per month. I’m also tracking my gym visits which should be ten per month. As I get older I realise the importance of keeping the body in peak physical condition. It’s the only one we have so we should treat it with the utmost respect.
I’ve also set goals for writing my book. It will be done and published this year, even if I have to publish it myself. I have set dates for when each part of it will be done, and they are all achievable.
I also want to sell my paintings, so I will make a larger effort to market myself and my art to galleries, cafes and other places people can see my work.
From a growth point of view I want to read two books a month, and continue with my spiritual growth through mediation and and other exercises to increase my intuition.
2007 promises to be a big year for me. I feel I’m on track with my goals and I feel like they can be achieved. I’ve decided that it’s a priority and so I’ll keep at it.
