So it’s 2011 – what next?

Lots of the blogs I read have posts showing all sorts of interesting things those bloggers did, said and took photos of in 2010.  Others are making New Year’s Resolutions and some really prolific motivated people are even doing both!  So what I am doing?  Well instead of a 2010 wrap –up or highlights/ lowlights post or a New Years Resolution Post I’m stealing Pink Patent Mary Jane’s idea of a New Year plan with goals.

While I really like PPMJ’s goals, I figure I should really choose my own.  After all I’m not going to be in Paris!

So here are my 10 goals for 2011:

1. To not sweat the small stuff.  Now despite the book sayingit’s all small stuff,  I don’t actually believe that. I think I let too much get to me  way too often.  Hopefully then I will not be stressed / worried / distressed as much as I have been in the past.
2.  Get more organised aka Procrastinate less. Seriously, this is something I want to work on.  Last night (yes, on NYE) I doing work because I needed to have stuff done by 1 January.  It was stuff that I could have done at anytime in the last week but no, I left it right to the last minute!  Okay, not literally but fairly close and it was a real wake up call.  I need to get my head in the game and then the rest will follow.
3. Spend more quality time with people I care about. Whether it’s a coffee with a friend or a board game with the children, I want the people I care about to know that I care about them.  Even if that quality time is just a 10 minute phone call, I want to do more with people I care about. 
4. Get some health and  fitness mojo.Start with 5 or 10 minutes and work up to at least 30 minutes 4 times a week hopefully more. I got a zumba game for Christmas so I plan on using that for a start. Now Boy Child is eating more normally we can eat more meals as a family. Healthier meals, too. Also with Mr E'’s recent medical issues he may actually get on board with a healthier lifestyle.  He even blogged about it so it must be concerning him and that’s a huge thing for him to admit.
5. Reducing my barriers. The BIG brick wall I have around me is not something that I think should be there anymore.  It has had it’s uses but now it’s more of a hindrance than anything.  Or maybe it’s more just something I am used to that I’m now finding annoying.  Anyhow it’s time to work on taking some bricks down.  That may mean some extra deep and meaningful or perhaps so very sharing posts on here.  Of course it may not too.  I might just work on this in real life. 
6. Work on friendships. This is different to the quality time one as this is more along the lines of cultivating and keeping friends. I think Number 5 will help with this one.
7. Catch up with my family more often. Instead of the usual Christmas and a couple of other trips to visit my extended family a year I'm going make an effort to see them more frequently.  I want my children to have strong bonds with their extended family as we have no family here.  I want to visit them more especially as my grandmother is getting older and has more health issues. This is not to say that I’m not going to spend quality time with my extended family just more time will lead to greater opportunity for quality time.
8. More culture. I have this in parts on my Day Zero list but I feel the need for more culture in my life.  Whether that is the theatre, the art gallery or whatever, I want to be more open to cultural experiences.  To go back to broadening my horizons as I used to once upon a time.
9. Greater time for me. You would think that as someone who works at home I would have lots of me time.  Which is true I do have a lot of time for me (or in reality alone). But in this context I mean time for me to do things for me.  To go and get a haircut more than once every 3 or more months. To take a book and go and sit by a river and just enjoy. So I am going to plan to just do stuff for me.  Only occasionally but often enough to know that I have something just for me.  I think that will help me to be a better wife, mother and friend.
10. Do my best at everything. Or as PPMJ wrote “Aim for excellence…. why do it if you don't do it as well as humanly possible?” We(that’s MR E. and I) always stress to our children that they just need to do their best at whatever it is they are doing.  I think I need to take that and run with it.  I need to do my best. Mr E has a T-shirt which says:

$DO || ! $DO ; try
try: command not found

• For non geeks like me it is basically  "Do or do not. There is no try."  I think that is important.  If you are choosing to do something then choose to do it to the best of your ability.

So that’s my list.  What are you planning to do in 2011?  Have you made some resolutions or goals? I hope 1/1/11 was a great start to a great year for you all.