As I promised yesterday, I’m sharing my revised 2013 goals with you…just in time for February! I realize that my personal goals for 2013 aren’t necessarily riveting reading, but in the spirit of accountability, I want to put them out there publicly! I am going to keep things somewhat general (there is a detailed task list associated with almost all of these goals), but that could get pretty dense (and quite boring!)!
So without further ado (or procrastination) (or excuses)…
Health
- Eat organically grown, healthy food: have 75% of food come from the farmer’s market, CSA share, my garden, or a local farm via the grocery store; no factory farmed animal products; all organic
- Yoga: attend a Freeport Yoga class (any class!) 1-3x per week; develop personal daily home practice
- Running: run 3x per week minimum; stay injury-free; possibly (?) begin training for a 2014 marathon (subject to staying injury free)
- Keep up with exercise even when things get busy- make it a priority and remember that I’m more focused, happy, and productive when I’ve exercised!
Friends & Family
- Get organized- remember birthdays, anniversaries, etc and send cards/gifts ON TIME! Gifts should be meaningful and personal and well thought out.
- Initiate spending time together- reach out and make dates to meet for coffee/etc without agenda, just to catch up and spend time
- Call & write handwritten letters…regularly! Show the people in my life that I love them!
- Take time away from my work to eat dinner with Justin every night
- Prioritize my marriage- when I don’t have shoots/weddings scheduled, take the weekends off to spend time doing FUN things with Justin and building memories and shared experiences together
- Focus on making “down time” = quality down time…TV is fine, but spending that time engaged in conversation or reading with Justin or doing something purposefully stimulating/relaxing rather than a veg-out default more often
- Organize & put together family photos & home videos- share a copy with each family member
Learning/ Growth
- Develop a creative outlet separate from (but complimentary to) photography- take an art class of some sort (Maine College of Art?)
- Continue to learn sewing skills- work on a more advanced project with an instructor
- Languages- complete Rosetta Stone for French in its entirety this year + read 1 novel in French (dictionary allowed)
- Writing- complete The Making of a Story textbook in its entirety
- Photography- take a photography workshop not related to wedding/portrait photography…work on new perspectives & fresh skills; read 1 photography related book per month
- Finish online herbal remedies class
Spiritual
- embrace ritual- get in the habit of taking a moment of reflection and gratitude as well as seek out ritual that furthers a sense of connection
- Meditation: find a method of mindfulness meditation that works; take at least 5 min per day to practice
- embrace the mental and spiritual aspects of health and healing…visualization, etc
Service/ Financial Giving
- Cuppa- continue CancerCare donations; establish Dempsey Center/ Dempsey Challenge program
- Explore and develop an action plan for using photography to tell the story of (a) a non-profit; (b) a person/group of people in need of assistance or public awareness; (c) fundraise for a worthy cause or causes
- Reach out to non-profits with which I’m interested in working and establish how to become more involved in a sustainable way
- Create product for the families in El Salvador that we worked with {framed images for the new homes, community book , etc?}
Writing
- Write. Something. Every. Day.
- Outline project ideas
- Join a writing group?
Travel
- create and expand my travel photography portfolio
- learn to manage travel time in a productive and satisfying way {ie- use flights to do more than catch up on magazines!}
- El Salvador- set some photographic goals for Feb trip
- Ireland- create some beautiful travel photographs; capture the story of Justin & my trip; take time to sketch & write & absorb new experiences; go for a run on Dingle; fly by the seat of our pants and have adventures
- Reach out to a non-profit/NGO/etc and offer services- go somewhere, anywhere with purpose of photography & expanding my aid photography work
- Make better use of the interesting places in our immediate area: visit at least 6 New England historic sites & camp/backpack in a new park
Home/Garden
- Review last year’s garden journal and apply lessons in planning our 2013 garden
- Maximize small space- talk with Corie at Shift and Martha at Wealden Farm about how to better utilize our vertical garden space so that it’s more productive
- Apply knowledge from online herbal remedies class- grow/ dry/ preserve/ use herbal teas/infusions/etc {begin with chamomile, mint, and maybe lemon balm + wild gather medicinal barks, etc}
- Put up more seasonal food…buy pressure canner?
- Complete stairwell frame walls: remove popcorn ceiling & replace with beadboard; replace light fixture; paint; hang frames and art
- Build a new coffee table
- De-clutter: systematically begin with attic and go room by room down to basement and ruthlessly sell/donate/trash everything non-essential
- Evaluate office space and consider re-organizing or re-decorating to better maximize space
- Thoroughly map out major kitchen renovation project {to happen 2015?}
Business
- Revise and redesign all client materials {Pricing & product guides, etc}
- Streamline workflow and nail down any inefficiencies
- Improve user experience on website {have a custom site designed?}
- Do a styled shoot
- Establish quarterly newsletter
- Seek publication of every wedding + have at least one real wedding feature in a high quality print magazine
- Embrace social media in a more meaningful way and utilize some form of it daily to create a better connection to my clients’ lives
- Blog at least 3x per week
- Set monthly skill goals
- Get materials to bookkeeper on time every month
- Create job description for assistant to hire 2014
- Look into expanding into stock/editorial photography (?)
Phew. It’s a lot. And it’s random. And it’s likely that by the end of 2013 I will have modified almost everything to some extent to reflect new opportunities and experiences. But there it is in a nutshell…a revised look at what I intend to do with my 2013!
Love everything about this!! Yay for putting it out there!
Here’s to an AMAZING 2013!!!
Hey what happened to the other one you told me about!!!:)