Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2015. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

On Goals

I love goals.  I love making new goals at the beginning of each year and creating an action plan.   I prefer goals to resolutions.  Resolutions, to me, are lofty aspirations.  Goals are more pragmatic, with a specific action plan.

I've found a few tips that help me achieve goals:

1. Make a small number of goals at one time, and if they are connected in some way, that seems to help.

2. Break goals down into specific steps.

3. Plan the week ahead on Sunday night, and always look at goals to make sure they have a place on the upcoming week's schedule.

I especially have loved daily goals.  Last year I read the Bible in a year with the Youversion app.  This app (for computer, phone, or tablet) breaks the reading down into daily segments.

In 2010 I set the goal to write a poem each day.  I was just coming off a period of writer's block and thought this would shake some cobwebs loose.  I loved writing a daily poem so much that I have kept it up.  Some of the poems are ones that I would send out, while many others are little exercises in mindful living.  But I love the process of writing them, and the way I look at the world differently when I write poetry.

This year I have four goals:

1. Get all my eBay work done on Mondays (writing and scheduling listings, creating new collections, and scheduling tweets).  Spend the rest of the week getting my vintage items up at: Bonanza, eCrater, Etsy, Amazon, Alibris, Biblio.  I love my eBay store, but sales have slowed there for me the past couple of years.  I really feel this is something I need to prioritize now.

2. Spend a few minutes each morning doing work related social media:  Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and possibly Instagram, Stumbleupon, and Google+ as well.

3. Blog regularly!  Make blogging a bigger part of my life.

4. Go back to work on my not-quite-ready-to-discuss-it-yet writing project, and also start sending writing out again.  When I was in college and grad school I published regularly in literary journals.  I've fallen out of the habit of doing this, and I find I miss it.

So there you have it - my 2015 goals.  I'll touch base during the year and talk about some of these goals more here.

What are YOUR goals for the upcoming year?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments section, below.




Saturday, January 3, 2015

15 Fun Facts About Me for 2015



1.  My favorite color is lime green.

2.  My favorite album is The Beatles Hey Jude

3.  My all time favorite song is "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants.  It inspired my store name!

4.  I love any vegetarian food that involves curry, salsa, or tomato sauce.

5.  I studied cake decorating.  I can still make sugar roses.

6.  My favorite books for children are the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. 

7.  My favorite grown-up book is The Great Gatsby.

8.  I stop watches when I wear them.  My grandfather and uncle did this as well.

9.  I was a singing telegram messenger in college.  My character was Bessie Mae Mucho.

10.  I sometimes listen to old time radio shows when I cannot sleep.

11.  I lived on an island as a little girl.

12.  I am a tea lover, although I also like coffee.

13.  I played a nurse in a theater production of South Pacific.

14.  Paul McCartney is my all-time celebrity crush.

15.  I love otters.

I could go on, but I won't!  I would love to hear YOUR 15 fun facts, too.