New Year’s Resolutions are famously futile for most people… exercise, lose weight, drink more tea and so on regularly fall by the wayside before January departs. Fitness centers all suffer from JAMuary – waiting your turn on the treadmills, progressing to a handful of regulars the rest of the year.
That does not make it a bad idea to reflect on the year gone by and think about what you will wish you did by the end of the new one. Just make sure the goals are attractive, achievable and can be handled in bite-sized pieces.
The list above isn’t mine, but I think it is a good one to look over and pick a few for yourself.
Over the last month or two I have been working at putting fewer projects on the stove until I have completed those already there. In some cases it is a matter of reducing my quality requirements so I can move on. Others just get shoved into a dark place to await a more propitious time. (That brings to mind a goal of shedding a storage unit early this year)
I temper that with the profound joy of doing a job well, enjoying the process and taking pleasure in high quality creation.
I will not only get the sally port finished with insulation, shelving, tool storage and cabinets, I will enjoy the process and be proud of the results.
I will probably only get the insulation and shelves up before I divert my attention to the other big project for the first half of the year:
I will get a radio console built for The Beast and have it be a valuable mobile communications center.
Then the cabinet doors will go up in the sally port and finishing touches will be applied.
I will get more planting done this spring. I may be limited in personal yard space, but I could do a lot more with it and I have huge amounts of space not too far away that have been offered to me. I fully intend to take advantage of both this year.
I will practice shooting more this year. I have been doing less and I think my skill level shows it. It is an important area to be competent in, can be social, and is fun. What more motivation do I need?
I am sure I will come up with more Big Picture goals, but that is my start.
What’s yours?