2005 Priorities and Resolutions

One of the things we do on my team at work when we’re setting goals for a time period is to determine what our areas of focus (or “pillars”) for that period are; in other words, what overarching categories of activities take priority. In my personal life, the pillars for 2005 are pretty much the same as they were in 2004:

Improve my nutrition. In 2005, I think this means making it a priority to buy and prepare produce with more regularity; cook with beans more often (I love beans!); eat more raw veggies; snack on celery sticks and carrots instead of pretzel sticks; drink a little more water and a little less coffee and hot cocoa and beer.
Improve my fitness. I’d hoped that 2005 would be the year to run my first marathon, but, sadly, my lingering hip pain says I won’t be running anytime soon. So instead, this probably entails a continuing focus on non-impact cardio, resistance training, and yoga/pilates/dance.
Improve my finances. In 2005, this probably entails either buying and renovating a house (for long-term financial gain), or starting a business (whether it’s a consultancy or a restaurant or whatever) and trying to make money while watching our spending.
Improve and advance my songwriting. In 2005, this means making time to write more often, finishing more songs, setting money aside for demos, and pitching songs to people who have the ability to get them cut.

In general, it seems like most resolutions fall into two major categories: tasks or projects to accomplish, and behaviors to change. Here are four of each.

Tasks or Projects to Accomplish

Pitch at least one song to at least one publisher/producer/songplugger. It may sound like I’ve set the bar too low on this one, but I’m just trying to make this as attainable as I can. Implicit in that statement are quite a few prerequisite tasks: get a recent song demo’ed, make a bunch of phone calls until we get an appointment with someone, etc.

Research viability of opening a pizzeria/restaurant with . Even if we don’t decide to take it any further than talking about it, I want to be sure we’ve considered what it would take and how we might do it.

Bulk up my “scrap-files.” I don’t keep a scrapbook; I keep a file cabinet with a hanging folder for each year and filing folders for different memorable events or periods. I’d love to find some time to go back and write some memoirs and file them with the photos and other mementos. I also want to organize some of it into pages. Someday there may be a series of scrapbooks, but for 2005, my goal is just to add some depth to the files.

Visit my parents for short trips every few weeks or months. This year looks like it’s going to be tough for them with my dad’s cancer and neurological condition (whatever it is determined to be); I need to be there as often as I can to offer help and support.

Behaviors to Change

Spend less time on personal email and LiveJournal. At work, I obviously have other things that need doing, and I’m not interested in being a slacker. At home, I should be using at least some of that time to write songs or read or clean or organize or hang out with Karsten and the kitties.

Use LiveJournal for more productive purposes. If I’m going to use it so much, I might as well be using it to stir some creative thought or organize myself, even if those are private entries.

Listen and pay attention for song ideas. They’re everywhere, and sometimes I’m in the place where I can hear them around me. I need to be in that place all the time.

Load and unload the dishwasher more often. It may sound like a trivial thing, but I leave it up to Karsten 99% of the time, and I know he despises being in the kitchen. I love being in the kitchen, and I usually don’t mind doing the dishes. He does plenty of other household chores; I should pick this one up.

And of course, like any goals, these are subject to change.

Happy new year, everybody.