Goals vs Resolutions

I'm not the biggest fan of New Year's Resolutions. I think that sitting down in December to create a list of things you want to accomplish, learn, or do better in the New Year implies that you either weren't setting goals throughout the year or failed to accomplish the goals you were setting. Plus, New Year's Resolutions are like the heaviest form of a to-do list. While I love to-do lists, I never put anything on a to-do list that I might not be able to do. I hate failing.

Despite my feelings on creating a formal list of resolutions, I do, like most people, find myself reflecting on the past year and entering 2011 with abundant energy, ideas, and a desire to improve myself. Cameron and I have a dry-erase board in our entryway and we like to jot down our goals - big and small. I know you're probably intrigued and would like to know what's up there, but listing them out on my blog would make them feel like New Year's Resolutions, and then I'd start feeling pressure to accomplish everything I listed and it would take all of the fun out of it. As a bit of a compromise, I promise that I will let my blog readers know when a particular blog post or random thought has to do with one of the goals I wrote on our dry-erase, starting now.

My most immediate goal that I'd like to accomplish is to get back to blogging at least twice a week. I know I mentioned it in my last blog, but returning to North Carolina after being away for nearly two weeks has severely knocked my routine off track. Taste Carolina has big plans for 2011 and we hit the ground running. Working from home is wonderful, but without a routine, it's easy to spend every waking minute working (or thinking about work). Don't get me wrong, I cannot complain about my job. Last week work meant spending a sunny afternoon with Cameron in Raleigh and enjoying dinner at Dos Taquitos Centro downtown. The problem is that holiday hangover, coupled with Cameron still being on winter break, means that when I do pull myself and my thoughts away from work, I'm spending time with Cam or just being lazy alongside him.

There's a reason that I'm blogging about goals on a Monday. I believe that accomplishing goals is not just about setting goals that are achievable, but also involves creating a game-plan and time-line for reaching that goal. Type A, remember? Blogging twice a week is a somewhat easy one and I have some tools that should help me stay on track. Over the next couple of weeks you'll see what they are. Stay tuned.