Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Mini-Goals

After the previous long winded posts I had a couple discussions and realized I've been rambling not just in the blog but in life as well. So it's time to refocus on my goals. I call them mini-goals if they are going to take 6 months to a year. Having too many can make me lose focus, but I want to call out both the inherent goals and special effort goals.
  1. Do good/great engineering and art

    • It feels weird to say I want to be a great engineer for some reason, but I want to be good at my job and I need to make that a priority. For now, this is keeping the line running well and doing my projects on or ahead of time and delivering a little more than expected, but not so much more that they think I wasted my time on flourishes. (So far so good.)
    • Keep glassblowing. Sell enough ornaments and pumpkins to be able to fund some studio time that doesn't need to be used for saleable items and work on my exercise line of vases. Get my website and contact info to the people who will enable the website and business cards.

  2. Improve my heath
    This is multi-faceted.
    • Take up running again so I can do a 10K on the summer solstice.
    • Get at least 6-7 of hours of sleep on weeknights. In a row.
    • Find an acupuncturist that can help me with the previous 2 items.

  3. Get comfortable in my space
    • Rearrange my living room per the new space plan.
    • Pick a wall color and paint the LR.
    • Kitchen remodel - Design and start ordering stuff before the new year, start the demo in january, watch for appliance sales.
    • Declutter the paper files of old stuff I don't need and file the new stuff.
    • Get Geek Squad or a friend equivalent to make my computer setup work for me, not against me.

  4. Make new friends, Keep the old
    • Ditto the Geek Squad thing so I can keep blogging and emailing while not at work.
    • Make an effort to call people on the phone more.
    • Send out congrats cards for the new babies.
    • Visit friends and family as I am able (up to 1 distance visit per month)
    • Attend a Suz Brockmann fan event if there is one.
    • Fulfill my SWE role as secretary
    • Find a boyfriend
    • Find a local exercise partner

  5. Money management
    • Pay the bills. Trickier than one would expect - I need to set up a new bank account and an whatnot. I also need to rearrange some existing debt.
    • Try not to overspend - stay within my remodel budget, don't buy things that aren't in the plan. The closet overhaul will probably have to wait until next year, so no more clothes/shoes unless they are replacements.
    • Control food money. I've almost completely stopped eating out for dinner except for take out that I can use for 2+ meals. I've streamlined my farmer's market purchases. I'm not going to worry about it too much beyond this.


I'm going to try to assess opportunities that come up against this list. If it doesn't accomplish something on this list, the answer is no - not going, not spending, not buying it, not doing it. If I can't think of what to do some day, I should come look at this list. At some point, I'll turn this into a better list of achievable tasks rather than nebulous ideas. (Run 3X/week, place order for cabinets, etc...) which also helps.

So far, I'm so far off this wagon I can scarcely see it, except for visiting friends, keeping up the blog, and doing good engineering. Now that I write this out, it seems that I have an awful lot on my plate. And I need to work on the energy levels and sleep so I can do this. I also love reading, so I'll keep doing that but I don't know what category that goes in. Maybe that and glass go in a "hobby" category, but I need to get to bed, not reformat this blog. But mostly, I think if I do this stuff, and get the one-time items on this list accomplished in the next few months, I'll feel happier and more settled, and less tired. I could use a good hug too.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

{{{{{Hugs}}}}}

S

Anonymous said...

feeling a little hormone hostage-y? Make sure to go out and get some lovely vitamin D and oxygen and tackle a tiny project like cleaning a closet so you get that feeling of accomplishment instead of feeling overwhelmed. What might make you feel even better is if you come over and clean MY closet, activity + altruism = happiness.

How about combining some of your goals? Maybe put out a personal ad looking for an excercise buddy? If they are a computer geek you've got yourself a trifecta!

xoxxo QL

Alaskan Hellcat said...

I like what Quiche suggested... sometimes getting one goal helps with others. Like finding an exercise partner can lead to running again which can lead to finding an acupuncturist can lead to feeling healthier can lead to finding new friends... etc. etc.
SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT SOLSTICE 10 K!!! :)

Angel Junior, Orion and Sammy said...

That is a great list! Mewom really needs to do one of these for slightly longer term goals. Right now just keeping food in the cupboard and all the utilities on are the key thing.

On the "could use a hug" statement. A couple of weeks ago Meowm was having serious issues with her neck, so she went to her chiropractor. The pain in her neck (no pun intended) combined with the stress of everyday things had Meowm in tears. One of the adjustments the chiropractor does on Meowms shoulders makes him end up giving her a bit of a hug while standing behind her. It was at this point that she realized this was the closest she had come to a hug from a man in a long time, which made the tears fall a bit harder.

Anyway, her neck got better and she cheered up and life goes on.

For what it is worth, Meowm and I both send you a hug (although maybe I better not hug you since you are allergic to us felines).

CrankyOtter said...

Thanks for the hugs! I can handle cyber-kitty hugs, just not real-kitty hugs. Although I think I might schedule a massage with one of the coupons I got.

I got a lot of sleep this weekend and am really feeling better today. So hopefully I'll keep going to bed on time and can get on with my exercise scheme this coming week.

And junior? Tell Meowm that writing down long term goals is good even if you're just working on holding it together. It gives the holding it togther more of a feeling of movement toward something. Also having goals *written down* allows better contemplation of when/why money gets spent. I'm going to try to use the library for anything but keeper books for the next few months to cut down on clutter and expense.