resolved!

[coraa]

I'm pretty happy with how my resolutions went last year, so that's good. But I don't think the yearlong goals is a paradigm that works all that well for me. For instance—my reading through the year lead me to the conclusion that one environmental place that I can make a difference is to reduce the nonsustainable seafood I eat, and replace it with sustainable seafood. But that wasn't in my resolutions; my resolutions focused more on the ethics of terrestrial meat products. Similarly, one of my resolutions was to finish several short stories and submit them to markets; instead, I wrote a YA novel. Which isn't a failure, just a misapprehension of what would be good for me to do.

So. Instead, this year, I'm making the following singular resolution:

Every week, I will make a list of sixteen personal things, small or large, domestic or artistic, that I want to accomplish that week. I will also make a list of sixteen work-related things that I want to accomplish during work hours. And then I will accomplish at least twelve of them. (Why sixteen and twelve? I like those numbers, and they're attainable. That's all.)

I may also make sixteen (total, not personal and work) goals per month, of a larger scope than the weekly goals.

This gives me a bit more scope than simply making daily to-do lists, but also gives me the flexibility to change from week to week and month to month.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

16 and 12 are both good numbers; I'm partial to 12 because it's divisible by both 3 and 4 and is calendrical and a (fairly) commonly used base system--but 16 is very balanced and crystalline in a nice way.


... also, did you get my e-mail about the Tu auction? I won't keep hassling you about this, but I just wanted to check one more time.

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

But I don't think the yearlong goals is a paradigm that works all that well for me.

That's interesting, because that's exactly the conclusion I came to yesterday while looking at my last year's goals. I don't think I did horribly on them, but I did have a terrible time tracking them and essentially gave up around April. It seems good to have shorter-term goals and be more flexible, really.

So this week I made a short list of goals and am just tracking it daily, which seems to be working so far (y'know, after one whole day of doing it). I do have some monthly goals in mind, but I haven't decided how to work that in yet.

(Twelve is an excellent, highly divisible number.)

[shelleycat.livejournal.com]

I've had this same type of thing on my "back burner." I'm thinking it would be nice to do a weekly list of new things to do, and whatever I don't get done on the weekly list after four weeks or so gets moved to a monthly or quarterly list with a due date. That would ensure completion rather than just recycling. I tend to keep the same things on my get-done lists from week to week until I have at least 3 to 5 errands that end up at the same place. I hate a 1 to 1 ratio on my store stops. Grrr. Cuts into writing time too much.