Goooooooooooooal!

What sort of things do I need to do to get me to where I want to be in a year? Better yet, where do I want to be? Never being one to ask for help, I have never read a self-help book or seen a therapist. I don't even watch Dr. Phil. I don't know if what I am planning to do is the "right" thing, but it's the thing that makes sense to me. Thinking about what I want to accomplish, I realized that there are small tasks, large tasks, and what I am calling habits.

Small tasks are things I can do in an afternoon, such as paying bills, taking down the Christmas decorations, or putting photos in an album. These seemingly simple tasks, when not tackled, weigh on my mind and clutter my life. Large tasks take more time, but are still discrete tasks such as spring cleaning or losing five pounds.

Finally there are habits. These are the biggies. I am a task-oriented person. I love the little thrill I get by crossing off items on a list. It is my hope that by breaking these habits down into smaller tasks, they will become less intimidating. The potential downfall will be that I will be even more overwhelmed by everything I have set out before me. Time will tell. In thinking about my life, and what I want to change, the following seven areas (in alphabetical order) have come to mind.

1. Attitude
2. Drink
3. Exercise
4. Food
5. Money Management
6. Personal Presentation
7. Project Completion

Over the next seven weeks leading up to my birthday I will examine each area in depth. I want to see how each one impacts my life, what my goals are, and what needs to be done to achieve those goals.

I can tell you already that one item that will fall under number seven is this very blog. I am committing to finishing this project. I cannot guarantee that I will meet all of my goals (I have to leave something to work on for my thrity-first birthday!). But for this to have any semblance of validity, I have to at least be able, one year and 365 days (it is a leap year, after all) from now, to say that I did everything I could to make myself happy, fabulous and successful as I venture into my fourth decade of life.