I have spent some time looking back at 2012 to see what worked and what didn’t. I’ve also given myself a few gifts: the gift of routine, the gift of fun and fitness, and the gift of forgiveness and do-overs, which I wrote about in Putting on My Oxygen Mask—Gifts for Myself in the New Year. Now it is time to take a deep breath and figure out my 2013 resolutions, which overlap heavily with the last year of my 50-by-50 project.
Last year, I determined six categories around which to build my resolutions, and these six categories are still valid foundations on which to build my 2013 resolutions. This means I really did figure out a way to focus my life. I thought about combining them somehow, or whittling them down a bit, which I could do…but I decided not to mess with success. Instead, I will tweak the specific actions I want to take within the same framework. The six things, in no particular order, are:
- Relationships
- Health
- Wealth
- Charity
- Career
- Writing
Continuing the tradition, I have come up with SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) goals:
Relationships
- Help my older daughter through her college selection process and her transition from high school to college.
- Support my younger daughter’s insatiable appetite for activities. Attend her sporting events, plays, and Girl Scout ceremonies with a heart full of joy and appreciation for her youthful enthusiasm.
- Help my son through his own special issues by providing just the right balance of support, advice, parenting, and freedom.
- Spend time with my friends, old and new, and cultivate positive relationships.
Health
- Continue along the path I’ve chosen to be more physically active. Achieve a 30 minute 5k. Build up to running a 5k. Take a fencing lessons with my younger daughter and really work on my skills.
- Maintain a spiritual practice by regularly attending church services and leaving time for quiet reflection at least once a week.
- Read books of a variety of genres and achieve my goal of 50 books from the start of this project to my 50th birthday.
- Listen to music I love, whenever and wherever I can.
Wealth
- Work with a financial planner to get an honest look at my financial situation and work on creating a realistic plan to get my kids through college, pay off my house, and retire comfortably.
- Continue my priority to live within my means and not accumulate debt.
Charity
- Use both corporate-sponsored volunteer days at work, choosing and planning one for my work group this year.
- Continue on as a member of the finance committee of my favorite charity, having term-limited off of the board of directors and my Treasurer position.
- Figure out my new role with my favorite charity as a contributing committee member to its expansion committee
- Create a budget for charitable contributions based on family and personal values
Career
- Put together SMART objectives for my work group by the end of January and cascade it to my direct reports.
- Nail those objectives!
Writing
- Continue to publish Laura’s 50 by 50 every other day
- Finish my novel
- Write outlines for the two sequels to my novel
Somehow, woven into all of these categories is another goal…one that is at once specific and incredibly ambiguous. I wrote about it, recently, in Time to Lighten my Load. I need to de-clutter every aspect of my life, from possessions to relationships to my physical body. As one of my Facebook friends recently messaged me, “Life is a consistent journey of learning and becoming more of spirit than of body…”
Find the Joy in the Journey… and embrace the growth of your spirit!
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Laura's Adventures After 50! 