2010...Really?? Where are all the robots?

Goodbye 2009!! You've been amazing, you've been okay, and at times I've had better, but for better or for worse 2009 is over and a new decade begins!! Always always always with a new year comes talks of new years resolutions, big plans in the making, goal setting, and reflection on the year that has passed. Everyone needs a new start sometimes, and what a better time to do it than January 1 with a brand new empty calender that's waiting to be marked up.

In the past I was never one to write any of my goals down. I always had and still have so many things that I want to accomplish, but I kind of just did my thing from day to day and waited to see which things I got around to accomplishing. Of course there were certain goals like finishing school, getting a job, etc., that I pretty much had to attack head on, but only because things like that stare you in the face everyday. I had daily classes and if I didn't go there were consequences. And if I didn't get a job there would definitely be daily reminders including starvation, no home, on the streets begging for money. Maybe not to that extreme but I'd for sure be getting daily phone calls from my parents telling me to GET A JOB!

Anyways, after graduating college I realized that I no longer had a set path in front of me. I was totally on my own. I didn't have counselors telling me what classes I needed to take next semester, no teachers telling me I had to come to class, I didn't have parents telling me what I needed to do - I had my own job and my own money and I was absolutely free to do what I wanted. Now it was totally up to me to decide what I wanted out of life, what goals to make and decide how actively I would pursue them and how I would pursue them. It was then that I realized that if I wanted my life to truly be fulfilling, I needed to A) make some goals B) write them down, and 3) work everyday to accomplish them if necessary. I haven't accomplished every one of my goals, but that's ok! (see previous blog Get in the Arena...) Regardless of what things I have succeeded or failed in doing, I feel pretty good about the progress I've made and the progress I intend to make. So with all that said (wow I tend to ramble) it's time to make goals for the next year! Because I feel that so much of our progression requires daily effort and dedication, I like to make daily goals and then also some overall goals and accomplishments for the year or even longer term. I'm gonna post a few of mine so that I have them somewhere I can see them whenever I need to, it will also help me be more accountable for them now that I'm telling other people what I plan to accomplish!

Daily
-Read more books. Even if it's just a couple paragraphs a day.
-Read scriptures/church material for 1/2 hour everyday. My friend recently told me about ReadTheScriptures.com so we started a study group. Check it out, it's a really cool website and let me know if you want to be in the study group - it's all online!
-Smile more, laugh more and help people around me to do the same
-Be more patient with friends, strangers, and other things like traffic!
-Get out of bed without hitting the snooze on my alarm in the morning (so hard!)
-Exercise - my exercise goal is weekly rather than daily, but my goal is to run 10-15 miles per week...uhhh


Overall
- Become a CPA (3 out of 4 tests completed baby!)
- Run a half marathon (May 2nd!)
- Travel more
- Start learning Spanish
- Start courses to get my RE Appraisers license

The great thing about goals is that they provide us with direction. Sometimes as you start working towards a particular goal, you might realize it's not actually what you want. That's okay to chart out a new course as long as you are consistently working towards achieving something. Because if you're not working towards something or putting effort into a particular direction then the only place you can end up is nowhere.

I remember my dad preparing for a talk in church a long time ago and he used the quote from Alice in Wonderland by the Cheshire Cat. As Alice is wondering through her Wonderland she approaches a fork in the road. She sees the cat and pleads him to tell her which way to go. The cat responds that the right way to go entirely depends on where she wants to end up. Alice tells the cat that she doesn't know where she wants to end up to which the cat replies, well if you don't know where you want to end up then either way will get you there.

The fat cat is right, we need to know where we ultimately are trying to get in order to make the necessary daily decisions. And in turn, it is our daily decisions that will get us to where we ultimately want to be so make em good!