We just passed the half way mark of 2010, and it was time for Mark and I to check in on our goals for the year. In my book Year Ahead/Year in Review, I recommend couples get together quarterly to talk about their goals and progress and to make any adjustments if needed. I also recommend bringing the meeting off-site, not only to give their undivided attention top the process, but to celebrate any projects or goals that they have accomplished or exceeded.
Since this is my blog, I’ll just comment on my personal goals and the progress I’ve made so far.
Our Year Ahead/Year in Review categories for goal setting are:
Financial (us) – It’s been a challenging year for many but we have kept our heads down and have worked hard and kept the spending down. We haven’t traveled as much as we planned on at the beginning of the year – partly because we moved and are enjoying our new home and partly because we’ve been so busy with work. But as a result, we are above goal right now.
Personal (me) – see below
Personal (Mark) (all I’ll say is that that bike in the garage still has two flat tires… )
Business (me) – Sales for my book Year Ahead/Year in Review are slow but steady. I’ve spent the majority of my time, working on Mark’s biz, Spiritus Financial, learning new software and researching social media options. I found a great graphic designer, Nikki Ward of Morrison Alley Design who is super professional, pleasant to work with and doesn’t seem to mind my last minute requests.
Business (Mark) – Together, we researched and then hired an inbound marketing company to help with website optimization and learning more about how to implement social media strategies.
So on to my personal goals.
“Sort, toss and organize stuff in garage and closets.”
One of my inspirations is Everett Bouge whose blog is called Far Beyond the Stars and book is called The Art of Being Minimalist. In a recent blogpost, Everett says how he has pared down to owing just 57 things. Now I’m never to going to get down to 57 things, and I don’t even want to, but the idea of having so few things is appealing to me. I moved a couple of weeks ago and I dare say (I deliberately didn’t want to count them) I probably had 57 boxes filled with stuff. So organizing and tossing stuff was my goal for 2010, I’m going to ramp it up even more and commit to donating, tossing or selling 57 things starting today. I’ve already donated more than that already, but I’m going to re-set the clock and do it again. Lightening the load feels good.
And ultimately having less stuff saves time by not having to pack, label, move, search through, unpack, clean contents of, organize contents, and finally store or display contents of said boxes.
Another personal goal was to “limit my socializing” in order to stay focused on my projects and get more things done.
I love my friends, but I can sure waste (sorry guys) a huge amount of time talking and drinking tea. Here are 6 ways I’ve saved time with socializing:
1) This year I’ve combined exercise with visiting friends. I walk regularly with a few friends and we have plenty of time to talk while we walk.
2) They often go for coffee afterwards, I excuse myself and get back to work.
3) I live in an area with great trails close to my house, so I also ask my non-working friends to come where I live so I don’t spend time driving.
4) The last thing I do is to remind my friends that I work. I have some semi-retired friends who think because I work from home – I’m free anytime. I gently remind them that although I do control my schedule, I still have to work
5) I combine visits. A neighbor invited us to their 4th of July party and I was having out of town guests that weekend. So I asked if I could bring my friends to the party. I brought a little more food to contribute and I got to keep both social commitments and visit with everyone.
6) For long distance friends, I place a time limit on phone calls. In the past, I’ve spent hours on the phone – now it’s 30 minutes tops.
One more personal goal was to, “ wake up earlier – seven hours of sleep is more than enough”
I always believed that getting 8-9 hours of sleep a night was my key to good health. Now I believe it’s the quality and not the quantity of the sleep I do get.
It’s a much longer day when you get 6 or 7 hours of sleep so now, 1) I get more accomplished during the day, and 2) I feel better on less sleep. I’m not about to do the calculation – but I know I’ll be saving loads of time by getting my butt out of bed earlier than usual.
I have six more things on my personal goals list – but I chose the ones above because of the time saving theme. Everett talks a lot about wasting time, and how we all do in many and various ways. He’s pretty smart for a young guy. He know that time is our most valuable asset. We only have a certain amount of life energy available to us and we should use it wisely.
I’m going to be 55 this year and I don’t want to waste a minute more by sleeping too much, listening to someone complain about the same thing year after year or to move boxes of stuff around filled with things that I don’t need. I’d love to save even more time – do you have any time-saving tips you’d like to share?
