1 Thing in 2010
The grass is greener on my side by ParadaCreations
OK, I might have procrastinated on writing yesterday’s post, but this one is even MORE procrastination – really putting pen to paper to establish my goals & intentions & dreams & ponies & rainbows. Part of me wants to recognize What Didn’t Work, but I’m taking my own advice & only accent-you-ate-ing the positive! And because I’m super mean, I want to make others suffer with their celebration & good intentions, so I’m making this into a meme! That basically means that I’m going to tag 10 other bloggers (for 2010 – get it?) to do the same thing so we can all revel in our accomplishments & support each other this year with our intentions. I’m so bossy.
1. If you were only allowed to have 1 Intention for 2010, what would it be & why? I disclosed yesterday that my word will be “simplicity”, since I basically make everything so goddamn complicated for no reason. Whether I’m setting up a budget or making a To Do List or managing my time, I tend to make things super convoluted. The kicker is that I usually spend a super duper amount of time on something, only to abandon it a few days or weeks or months later, as it’s too time-consuming to keep up with! My life coach is smart & thinks there must be something of value for me to keep working this way, & I do agree. I know I’m A Planner & those details are key for me to get my thoughts down & clarify them. But now – now! – I’m paying attention to how detailed I need to get. For example, I have a million different ideas for my business that I’d love to do for 2010. Normally I’d try to plan out exactly when in 2010 I’m going to do everything, down to the exact day, & all the steps it would take for me to do it. Then, if I wasn’t able to follow through, I’d feel like a loser & would would grumble & pout when I had to keep pushing each step back to a later & later date. So, this year, I created 4 Tiers & assigned each task to it’s own tier. Tier 1 contains the most important tasks that I want to start or continue to work on (blogging, my newsletter, Twitter, group coaching, relaunching my website, etc) while Tier 2 is the next Stuff I Want to Start (teleseminars, in-person coaching, etc) & on until Tier 4. So I’m not even thinking of Tier 2 until I’m done with Tier 1! And if I don’t get to Tier 3 or 4 this year, then I won’t. It’s OK. Simplicity. I’m liking it.
2. If you were only allowed to have 1 Goal for 2010, what would it be & how can you achieve it? My one goal for 2010 is to leave my day job & coach full-time. I’ll definitely talk more about it after it happens, but I’ve had a plan in place since mid-2007 & the finish line is in view! That’s really my 1 & Only Goal for 2010. Once it happens, my goal will be to actually support myself with coaching full-time!
3. If you had to do 1 New Thing in 2010, what would it be? Will you commit to it now? I so want to take musical improv at The Magnet Theater in 2010, but first I’ll have to take the first two levels. But even first I’m going to take the free Into to Musical Improv class there the next time they offer it. I can so commit to that.
4. If you had to get rid of 1 Thing in 2010, what would it be & why? This is a tough one! Part of me wants to commit to not picking at my nails, but that seems so tough &, I hate to say it, fairly impossible. The other part of me wants to take it “easier” & commit to really cleaning out my closet once I’m working for myself. Anything I don’t like but that’s “good for the office” has to go! I have a feeling that’s going to happen anyway, so I’ll commit to The Scary One. If anyone has any tips (please note that I don’t bite my nails – I pick at ‘em, so the stuff that tastes bad won’t work!) please please share!
5. What have you achieved in 2009? List it all! So many exciting things!: got my life coaching certificate after 22 months of classes; bought an apartment with my hubby & used our own two hands to make it our sanctuary (building a soundproof wall, anyone?); starting Spring (yay! I love Spring!) & got a kick-ass welcoming from the blogosphere; grew my business & worked with almost two dozen clients this year; started & completed my first group coaching session, which was extended by a month by the group’s request!; put together my new website, got a kick-ass designer, & wrote all the copy myself; started my newsletter & sent out 13 issues (wow!); widened my circle of friends, supporters, & creative souls by way of my blog, Facebook, Twitter & following a crapload of other blogs!; signed up for & completed the Blogging Your Way ecourse, led by Holly Becker of decor8 & allowing me to connect with even more fabulous creative souls (& fall in love with even more blogs!); celebrated my 1 year blogiversary & 1 year wedding anniversary(!); & instilled Me Time in my schedule & am actually following it! I’m sure there’s more, but that’s what I can think of now! How amazing is it all? I’m a braggert & it’s all super awesome.
Ooh, that feels so good! I think this actually really reinforced my 1 word by picking 1 Thing to Give Up, 1 Thing to Achieve, & 1 Thing to Eliminate – not to mention listing all of my wins! That list is pretty damn friggin’ spectacular if I do say so myself, & really helps me celebrate all The Good Stuff that came through for me in 2009.
OK, now it’s your turn! I love memes & can’t wait to get these answers out of all of these lovely bloggers:
- Jess LC of Makeunder Your Life
- Jess of Pecanoot
- Carolyn of A Beautiful Ripple Effect
- Maggie of Magchunk
- Emma of Emma Alvarez Gibson
- Aimee of artsyville
- Carmen of Carmen Torbus
- Jamie of Jamie Ridler Studios
- Laura of More in You
- Laura of Lolalina
If you’re not in the list above, don’t let that stop you! Post your answers to the questions in the comment section, or write it on your own blog & post the link in the comment section! I’d love love love to hear your wins & your 1 Thing!
Bring it on, 2010! I’m ready for ya.
Related posts:
December 31st, 2009 at 7:52 am
Okay…I sort of can’t believe I’m going to attempt this at 7:30 a.m., but here we go! Ha!
1. If you were only allowed to have 1 Intention for 2010, what would it be & why?
Saying yes. As I mentioned yesterday, yes is going to be my ‘word’ for 2010 because I feel that I need to incorporate more positivity into my life. I also feel that I can be more open to the world, and saying yes more often will help me achieve this and open me to more opportunities in 2010.
2. If you were only allowed to have 1 Goal for 2010, what would it be & how can you achieve it?
To get my jewelry company, urbanite jewelry, even further off the ground to where it is generating enough income for me to live off of. I have 3 main sub-goals outlined to achieve this, and each of these goals has specific, actionable steps. However, after pondering this right now, I realize that it’s really important for me to establish a specific goal (number, level) in order to measure when I achieve this.
3. If you had to do 1 New Thing in 2010, what would it be? Will you commit to it now?
I think I am going to go back to school. Crazy, I know, because I just graduated from my Master’s literally days ago. However, I believe taking a graduate certificate in Public Management & Governance will help me in a lot of ways. 1. It will allow me to build on my political career. 2. It will get me more integrated into the Canadian political system. 3. The management knowledge it provides has the potential to also help my business. 4. It gives me the opportunity to really launch urbanite and see if I can get it off the ground even more! 5. Most importantly, it will allow me to stay in Canada long term (and legally!), and give my boyfriend and I a chance to spend more time living together (kind of our test-period)!
4. If you had to get rid of 1 Thing in 2010, what would it be & why?
This one is a bit harder for me. I believe the best thing for me to get rid of is my tendency to worry and think negatively. This is directly related to my 2010 intention of ’saying yes’, as sometimes I think I get too caught up in limitations and negativity. I don’t want to be a negative person, and I want to instill more positivity into my life.
5. What have you achieved in 2009? List it all!
+ I graduated from the University of Manchester (UK) with my Master’s degree. + Received honors marks on my Master’s thesis. + I lived in 3 countries (on 2 different continents), traveled to 4 additional countries. + I lived outside of the U.S. (my home country) for 3/4 of the year. + I moved in with my boyfriend, marking the first time we have lived in the same country! (!!!) + I launched my creative business, Urbanite Jewelry! + I sold 150 pieces of jewelry in the first 10 months of Urbanite’s existence (while this wasn’t as much as I planned, it’s still damn good). + did my first craft show and my jewelry received an incredible reception & I sold a ton! + I lost 20 lbs.! + I devised and began planning two BIG HUGE new local creative projects that will take off in 2010. + Turned 24. + Celebrated our two-year anniversary with the boyfriend. + Spent 6 holidays with the boyfriend (up until this year, we hadn’t been able to spend ANY holidays together! I made it a goal!). I’m really proud of myself.
Here’s to 2010 & building on the amazing momentum of 2009!
December 31st, 2009 at 12:47 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by AMYCHAMP [...]
December 31st, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I love this one intention idea. Mine this year is caring for my soul. And all the specifics are pretty fuzzy at the moment.
December 31st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
It’s so wonderful to see bloggers setting their intentions. I hope yours go well. I know what you mean with the nail picking thing I did it as well the keys for me were keeping my nails short and neat and also sparkly purple nail polish. I loved how they looked when they were all polished up and wanted to keep the that way. That being said I do have occasional relapses. Hope that helps.
December 31st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
@Krista – Your answers have gotten me so excited! Reading about your wins for the year, as well as all the reasons you have to go back to school, were so inspiring! I can tell how committed you are to making 2010 a kick-ass year. I also wanted to give you a heads-up that I’ll have a downloadable PDF available on Spring next week entitled The Goal Game, which might help you set your goal for Urbanite Jewelry. I have a number in my head, too, that I wanna make coaching next year, & it really helped me break it down so I know how many clients I need to work with daily in order to meet that number. It made the number not feel so unattainable, & that was awesome. Thanks for your comment, Krista -& so early in the morning! I was still in bed
@Beth – Ooh, I love the intention of “caring for the soul”, & I have to say that what I’ve learned about intentions is that they shouldn’t be specific! Just checking in with yourself before you commit to something or start a task & saying, “Does this care for my soul?” might be enough for you. As a life coach, though, I would be excited to have a Caring For My Soul list, full of things that you feel encompass that. Then, when your soul needs some caring, you whip out the list & do something on it. Such a nice way to care for yourself! It makes me think of my Me Time, which I actually schedule into my calendar so I know I have the time carved out for it each week. Ooh, there are so many things you can do with this, including nothing at all! Ain’t that nice?
@Allyssa – Thanks for the nail picking tip! I absolutely know what you mean by keeping your nails pretty so you don’t want to touch them. The only time I don’t pick is a day or two after I get a manicure! Once the polish starts chipping, though, I’m screwed. I think I need to just suck it up & realize I need to set time aside to paint my nails every other day or so. I found these great quick dry nail pens that I love, so hopefully that won’t be too annoying. I’m also going to buy stock in cuticle oil, so that there’s nothing to pick at!
December 31st, 2009 at 1:47 pm
OK here we go!
1. My one intention (this is still tentative) would be to “finish”. This actually works on multiple levels, but the main being finishing projects. I start millions of things and a slim margin of things ever get completed. This probably also includes being more realistic about how much I can take on.
2. My goal is very similar to your own goal. Although there will be a transition job inbetween now and blogging/writing full time. So my goal is to find that and set my timeline for the ultimate goal: being a paid writer (amongst other talents)
3. One new thing: I’m not 100% ready to commit to this yet, but I’m in the midst of researching going back to school for interior design. Likely I would start in fall 2010 just taking one evening or online class. However, I can commit to doing the FAFSA just in case, since that needs to happen like next week!
4. One thing to get rid of: I had to laugh at your nail picking because I have a serious cuticle picking problem (mostly thumbs). Ryan has developed a sixth sense about when I’m doing it and gives me a LOOK. I think I need to get some cuticle oil too, cause it’s the dry scratchies that I’m drawn to pick at. In a related sense, I’d like to get rid of stress (which is a picking contributer). I’ve been ridiculously stressed lately and it’s exhausting! So I don’t know how yet, but au revoir, stress!
5. What I achieved in 2009: I too took the Blogging Your Way class! I also started my blog in late 2008 with my fingers crossed that I would actually post regularly and I did that! I celebrated my one-year blogoversary. I moved, which was a goal in itself, and I moved in with Ryan specifically, which was my ultimate goal. I also moved into the neighborhood that I’d dreamed of living in. I got my much coveted Parsons Desk from West Elm. I’ve been more intentional about being social and open to new relationships. I’m about to celebrate my four-year anniversary with Ryan (in January).
Very excited for 2010! Can’t wait to start accomplishing! Happy New Year!
December 31st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Excellent post. I will consider doing this as well but gosh, I don’t know if I want to think that hard and actually commit to the questions. Those darn questions.
For the nail picking thing. Let me know what you find out and what works. I go in spurts and after getting a manicure I’m good for about a week. I get lots of complements and love having nice nails. I’ve found that putting clear nail polish on consistently helps.
Louise Hay says to bless the bad habit, thank it, tell it you shower it with love and tell it you no longer need it. It hasn’t worked for me yet.
December 31st, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Okay, I am taking you up on this Michelle, but I have think about it a little over the weekend okay. I’ll be posting it on my blog. Happy New Year!
December 31st, 2009 at 8:57 pm
I’m all over this! Thanks for including me in your list. I’m going to take some time with it and answer on my blog.
January 2nd, 2010 at 7:05 pm
I’ll see your challenge and raise you a response!
Here are my answers: http://is.gd/5J5EF
Thanks, Michele, and I have NO DOUBT that 2010 is going to be incredible for you! Woohoooo!
xoxo,
L.
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:35 pm
@Magchunk – Yay, thanks for your answers! I had to laugh when I read “finish” – I can’t tell you how many times that comes up as a roadblock for creatives! I had to push you, though, & ask you to ask yourself WHY you’re starting something to begin with, & IF you can commit to finishing. If there’s hesitation there, ask yourself why & see where it’s coming from. I know that creatives can beat themselves up for not finishing a project, but sometimes they don’t necessarily feel like they want to do it but that they “should”. Ew, I hate that dirty word! And YAY for getting rid of stress! Do you have a de-stress list, and/or a calming list? If not, take note of when you feel stressed & all the ways you can alleviate it, as well as what you do that is entirely unstressful for you. Whether it’s yoga or reading a book or taking a bath or whatever, make sure you do it at least once a week! Ooh, I’m so bossy! You don’t hafta listen to me at all – I just got so worked up about your goals – so exciting! And we will conquer the cuticle picking in 2010 (I do that, too!)
@Christina – I am so meaner than I look, aren’t I? And I’m with ya on the manicure thing. I’m focusing on using Eucerin on my nails when I go to bed & every time I have a dry cuticle I want to pick, & am painting my nails nightly with Sally Hansen Quick Dry pens. They’re awesome. I’m gonna get there, goshdarnit! And Louise Hay can shoce it. I don’t want to shower my nail picking with love – I want to kick it in it’s face & tell it to not come around here no mo’! But I appreciate her sentiment
@Melissa – Can’t wait to read your future blog post! Send over/comment with the link when it’s up!
@Carmen – Ditto Melissa’s response
Yay hooray!
@Laura – So psyched! Going there now!
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:32 pm
[...] Thing in 2010 January 3, 2010 9:32 pm Goals Was reading this post over at the When I Grow Up blog and found it a very cool idea. Just one thing, one intention for the new year. So I decided I would [...]
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Posted my answers over on my blog… http://www.stacykathryn.com/wp/2010/01/03/1-thing-in-2010/
January 4th, 2010 at 1:08 am
Hi Michelle,
Well, I finished with my list of 1 Thing for 2010. Here is the link,
http://mydesigndelights.blogspot.com/2010/01/one-thing-in-2010.html
Thanks for the challenge. I pretty happy with my goals this year. I feel they are something that can be attained.
January 4th, 2010 at 11:54 am
Melissa, your 1 Things post is awesome! Just keep that Motivation Vampire banned & you’ll be good to go
January 4th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I am going to be very thoughtful about answering these questions for myself. I knew right away what my one word was going to be and it’s discipline. I am determined to foster more self-discipline this year in many areas of my life. Thank you for such thought-provoking posts!
January 4th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Ooh, “discipline” – it sounds so serious, Jessica! That’ll whip ya right into shape
If you end up making this into a post (I heart your blog), then make sure you come back & comment with the link!
January 4th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Happy New Year, and great job on all of your accomplishments! Great year for you, Michelle
1. If you were only allowed to have 1 Intention for 2010, what would it be & why? Invest in myself!!! Dress in clothes I feel good in and so I feel professional at work. I don’t want to save all of my money and not enjoy some of it now. I’d like to find a nice balance.
2. If you were only allowed to have 1 Goal for 2010, what would it be & how can you achieve it? Start an interior design blog with my friend, E. We set it up, I can make it look nice, and just start posting already.
3. If you had to do 1 New Thing in 2010, what would it be? Will you commit to it now? Sell one drawing on Etsy, not a commission.
4. If you had to get rid of 1 Thing in 2010, what would it be & why? Self consciousness wearing strapless dresses due to a stupid scar on my left shoulder, which was due to a very fun afternoon and should be a good reminder! Screw it! I’m wearing a strapless dress to my wedding in July and don’t want to worry about it. Who cares?!
5. What have you achieved in 2009? List it all! Started doing some freelance interior design work to build up my portfolio, built up my emergency savings fund, baked bread, sold some illustrations for a publication (technically one of my life goals
, became a Godmother to my best friend’s little boy, finally bought a new bed, found a green design group to volunteer with, and took my cousin on a trip to Key West (another life goal). Can’t wait to see what this year holds!
January 4th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Mariss – Whadda great year you’ve had! And getting married in 2010 – how exciting! I love the word Invest for your intention, too. It just sums up so much! And when (not if!) you set up your interior design blog, please send the link my way. We have a new apartment & need all the help that we can get!
January 4th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Whew! I finally finished…
Blogged: One Thing: Spirit
Thank you Michelle!
January 4th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Just wanted to say, I’m working on it! I’ll be posting my answers on my blog (I’ll come back & comment when it’s done)…but it is SO tough to narrow these answers down to 1 Thing! But I know it will be worth it, because I tend to go way overboard on resolutions – time to try something new!
January 4th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
@Carmen – Eek, can’t wait to see! I’m going there in 2 minutes.
@Laura – Don’t rush! But yes, I am mean & the questions aren’t as easy as they look. It looks like a quick process, but I have to wade through the enormity that is My Goals & To Dos to find my 1 Thing, too! Can’t wait to see what you decide on!
January 5th, 2010 at 11:25 am
@Stacy – Your comment went to my Spam folder! How lame-o is that? Anyway, I’m glad I rescued it from the trash & got it up here for the InterwebWorld to see. Love your 1 Things post!
January 5th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Ok so I know I’m late to the party but I just posted my One Things post on my blog!! Enjoy my darling! : )
January 5th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Okay, I’m done! Here’s the link:
http://www.lolalina.com/2010/01/05/1-thing-in-2010-and-news/
And I just wanted to give you major props for all you have accomplished in 2009, Michelle!! And I know you are going to ROCK as a full-time life coach!!!
January 5th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Yay, two more 1 Thing posts to read! I’m heading over now, Laura & Sara!
January 5th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Hi Michelle – Loved reading your list and all the comments too! Was inspired to answer the questions myself – it was a really cathartic and energizing exercise, just what I needed to prepare for 2010.
I posted my answers on my blog: http://notquitevintage.typepad.com/not_quite_vintage/2010/01/one-word-and-1-thing-in-2010.html
January 6th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Oh, so excited to see your post, Colleen! I’m heading over there now!