It is still January, and not too late to set your goals. Every year it seems like I am just using the previous year's list. I just cross out the old year & rewrite the new year in, and Voila - I'm done.
However, this year I thought.... If I actually was achieving my goals, shouldn't I have be setting different goals every year? Here's some advice (excerpts from Meridian Magazine) that I stumbled upon for actually getting organized and some more useful goals this year:
1. Organize. Dejunk.excerpts from: Susan Law Corpany
... I decided to “hire” myself as an organizational consultant. (My organizational consultant is like my alter-ego no-nonsense cleaning woman, who works hard but likes to be paid in cash under the table so she can go to the mall. I created her because she works much harder than that scatter-brained woman who is usually here who starts five things and finishes two and is always daydreaming about books she is going to write instead of concentrating on the tasks at hand.)
So far my organizational guru has me starting outside. She gives me a goal for the week and then comes back to check on how I've done. Since last Monday I've gone to the dump twice and the thrift store once, and I am well on my way to meeting my first goal. I think we'll be able to work together. I fear she is going to be harsh with me about some of the things I need to dispose of, but that's probably what I need.
2. Take Control of My Life
The control will likely improve as I dejunk. There will be less to organize and less clutter to get me off track. I would truly like, at least once before I die, to look around and be able to say “There! I made it! I'm organized.”
3. Take Control of My Time
I am actually starting to improve at being on time for things. Perhaps, however, this is an illusion brought about by living in Hawaii where nobody is ever on time for anything. I am likely just as slothful as I ever was but look better by comparison.
4. Take Control of Our Finances
This year we are going to start living on a budget, something we have not found necessary until recent economic woes have forced us all to be more cognizant of where our money is going. This requires a certain level of organization, but then many goals are inter-related, which brings me to my next one.
5. Stop Procrastinating
I am probably not the only one out there who does what they want to do when they should be doing what they need to do. I don't know the cure for this one except for good old-fashioned self-discipline. Anybody got any suggestions?
6. Be a Better Person
This is one of those all-inclusive ones. Be a better daughter/mother/stepmother/grandmother. Be a better friend. Give service. Be kind. Be a more loving and supportive wife. Be more grateful and less whiny. Study the scriptures more. Pray better. Go to the temple. Do all the things I'm reminded of when I go to the temple.
7. Listen more. Talk less.
This one probably speaks for itself. I'm not just a writer. I'm a talker. I like to make people laugh. Being a talker doesn't mean you aren't a good listener, but I need to make a better effort to listen more and talk less.
