Daily Archives: January 4, 2011

I kicked off the New Year by deciding that I am going to cultivate more happiness in my life this year – and blog about it.  You can read the first post Snowfall and a change in perspective.

My first steps were to identify the good, bad and ugly and come up with a set of goals for the year.  With my goals selected, it’s time to give each one a little bit of attention.  I wanted to share a little background on why I think these are so important.  Maybe you can relate.

Goal #1 – Be a better friend and strengthen important relationships

I realized I have some pretty amazing people in my life.  But through various excuses I’ve managed to keep almost all of those relationships at bay.  What I’m left with is a few close-ish friends and a lot of people I really like but hardly know.

Goal #2 – Get a handle on my finances

The sad truth of things is that a start-up business, student loans and medical bills are not the key to financial freedom.  Our finances have been a major source of stress and feelings of inadequacy for a long time and I’m ready to take a good hard look and the situation and get on the road to recovery.

Goal #3 – Be more active and social (i.e., get out of the office)

I used to be involved in a lot of things: sustainability councils, design committees, social networking groups.  In fact, there was a time when I rarely got a night at home.  The I got burnt out, stressed out, and that was the end of it.  I quit everything.  And while I think it was good to learn to say no, I’ve made it far too easy to never go anywhere.

Goal #4 – Grow the business as a self-sustaining entity

I am a slave to my business and I’ve come to accept it as a consequence of starting a company.  But I’ve recently realized a few things – namely that the amount of time you spend working does not directly match your productivity.  In fact, it’s the opposite.  We chose an online business for the sake of flexibility (in time and location) but I have made it so that the business is completely dependent on me being available at any given point in the day (or night).  To grow our company we need to establish more elements that can manage themselves and create elements that can be taught to our future employees.

Goal #5 – Nurture (the activities that bring joy) and eliminate (wherever possible, the elements that cause anxiety)

I think most people can relate to this one.  The funny thing I’ve noticed is that the more anxiety-causing elements I have in my life the more I neglect to nurture myself.  The reason is, I don’t exactly ‘handle’ the crappy stuff (like calling the bank to try and get a fee reversed) so I feel guilty and won’t allow myself the good things either.

Goal #6 – Actively cultivate positivity over negativity

I don’t feel like I’m a negative person.  Most of the time I see things in a hopeful way and I make an effort to put a positive spin on the way that  I talk.  But sometimes you have those out-of-body experiences where you hear yourself speak (or sometimes just my inner voice) and think “whoa, that’s harsh”  I’m referring mostly to my judgmental, cynical and whiny sides.  When, for a brief moment, I see myself as someone else and think that I don’t really want to be around that person.

So that’s it in a nutshell.  I’m excited about some of them and dreading others, but already I feel hopeful that every aspect of this is attainable and not nearly as energy consuming as ignoring problems.  So each post in this series is going to be focused on a specific goal.  I’ll be jumping from goal to goal, writing as I make a decision or take action, and I’m hoping to have lots of great info to share along the way.

Thanks for reading.  I’d love to have your comments or hear about your goals for the year.