Nate and Ineed this little guy. It drives me crazy that Nate loses focus...especially this time of year and so i teased him about finding the "mini-focusizer" for him...Talking Cereal is serious business. Then it hit me with a THUD...I too am not good at staying focused. I have all kinds of plans, ideas, thoughts...and for the most part they are GREAT...but I have a hard time staying focused on the big picture. Hmmmmmmmm...so what bugs me about my son, is the same problem I have... Have I always been this way? I have always had tons of ideas in my head at all times...big plans...BUT as a kid and a student I think I was very focused. So when did this all start for me? AND why can't I multitask very well anymore?
So I tried to guard against this focus problem, for me, this year by setting GOALS that I would work on for four months at a time...and then move on to new goals (while continuing to MAINTAIN the original goals). And how have I done? Well, I believe I have been more successful than I have in the past...but not as successful as I hoped for. This is what I wrote in a post on January 7, 2009:
"Okay...so New Years Goals...this is how I see it folks. There are three very specific times in the year that I find myself setting goals...resetting goals...recommitting to Goals...etc. Those times are January...when everyone does. May/June when the the weather is getting warmer...the sun cheers me on...and the kids will be out of school for the summer soon. And September...change in air and the kids are going back to school. So I have chosen to set Goals three times throughout the year instead of proclaiming them all now and then forgetting them in a month. I am truly hoping this will make more sense to me.
So for the next few months my Goals include HEALTH and HOME. Now, in thinking about these goals I realized they are two biggies and they are not goals for a few months...they truly need to be LIFELONG goals for me. I am a professed clutter-bug...and to get that under control I am going to need to make some changes and work with those changes forever...or I will be back to professed clutter-bug in a blink of my eye. I also know that at 45...my health is nothing to mess with and lifestyle changes need to be made. The biggie is the weight...and I will again need to "deal' with this my entire life...but I think I am okay with that. I want to live a long life, and to do that Ineed to be healthy. Now, don't you worry...this food-lover is not going to embark on a plan that whittles me into a size 0 and makes me preach the virtues of lettuce...Ipromise (course those who know me know this won't happen). But along with the health I have some other things I need to do...blood test, cholesterol screening, dentist, eye dr... and these things apply to the kids and hopefully Scott too.
I understand that my goals need to be measurable and specific...so this is what I am working on:
Health January-May
Cholesterol and blood sugar testing
Dentist appointment (all of us)
yearly physical (all of us) Nate still needs one...and Scott won't get one:(
eye doctor (Lauren and I)
I am going to work on weight loss...continuing to go to Weight Watchers on Thursday's. The last three weeks I haven't gone cuz Scott has been unemployed...BUT i will get back to it.
Keep my food journal
walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes 3x per week
Do I have a pound loss goal? I really need to lose 40 pounds (I could lose a little more but 40 would be great)...but I am going to break it down in increments of 5 pounds...I am in hopes of losing 5 pounds a month from January-May...that's 25 pounds. Now honestly...I am hoping to lose 40 pounds by tomorrow morning when I weigh in...but it ain't gonna happen so there it is!
HOME GOALS: January-May
As we know I spent a good deal of my winter last year (until March) working on decluttering rooms in my house. Remember how beautiful my ARTstudio looked? Well what I have discovered is if you don't maintain things...they don't continue to look that way. I also know that several of the systems I put in to place last winter actually work, when I use them. BUT I truly want to get out from underneath the STUFF...so I can enjoy the things that I love...for instance I have several things that have belonged to grandparents etc, that I would like to display, that I just don't because there is no room.
AND here is the other thing...and this is a BIGGIE! I do not want to be decluttering my house for the entire 2009 calendar year. I want to get it done...and then maintain it.
***I will clean out every cupboard, closet, nook and cranny of the INSIDE of my house during the months of January-May. I WILL commit to 1 hour a day- 5 days a week (more if I want to...but if I set it too high I won't do it at all) that is spent ONLY on the purpose of clearing out the junk. Now this hour a day does not include regular house cleaning, etc. And as you probably noticed it says INSIDE the house...that garage is a goal for later in the year.
***I will drop off items to Goodwill on Thursday mornings when running my regular errands."
So...How have I done? It is almost the end of May and time to start focusing on other Goals. Under the health Goals i have crossed out what has been accomplished.
I have been doing pretty good making trips to Goodwill on a regular basis so things are not piling up while I declutter.
The Kitchen is decluttered...
The dining room is decluttered.
The masterbath is decluttered ALMOST.
The master bedroom is decluttered except for Scott's stuff and MY summer clothes.
The Living room is in progress.
The hallways is decluttered.
Lauren's room is done except for her closet.
NOW this is not to say my house is clean...cuz I have a real mess going on right now! EBAY bins everywhere. Tax stuff to shred... papercrap...but it is getting there and when I get it all back together it will be great:)
So really I am not in as bad a shape as I first thought...it's just that the house is a disaster while I am "pulling it together". In another week I will share my GOALS for the next few months.
Do YOU have new goals for this time of year? PLEASE share them with us. I can not tell you how wonderful it is to have a blog and find out that I have inspired someone...or that they respond with some ideas of their own.
Good night...
Denise