requisite crappy-quality new year's eve photo
Hope you're enjoying 2012 so far! I know the new year's resolution blog post is kind of ubiquitous at this time of year, but as someone who almost never commits these things to paper, I thought maybe it was about time for me to make myself a little more accountable. Or that's how I'm spinning it, anyway.
I've been notoriously vague about my resolutions in the past, probably because I worry about not only failure, but my own tendency to go overboard on things once I do commit myself (Virgo here, hello).
I have a tendency to make general guidelines like "eat better", "exercise more", "keep in better touch". Which, when you don't eat very well, exercies at all, or keep in touch much, are all easy to "succeed" in doing. In an attempt to be less cop-out-escape-route-vague, I'm going to commit to paper (and the internet) some more specific goals. Trying to leave some leeway (and not giving you every single detail here) so as not to get too crazy-Virgo-uptight.
I spent much of 2011 feeling off balance & behind on EVERYTHING-- work AND life-- so my focus for 2012 is on BALANCE. Balancing life/work, me/not me, fun/serious.
This means:
Taking better care of myself (& my family) all the time so that I will physically feel more able to handle the crazed, sleep-deprived production phases, travel, and whatever else is thrown my way.
Which I translate into:
Eating better, exercising regularly, sleeping better.
Resulting resolutions:
More fruit & vegetables, less soda.
Planned exercise sessions, plus choosing to walk when I can.
Regular sleep schedule.
Also:
Developing better everyday habits so I get what I need to get done each day, while still having at least a little time every day to do the things that I WANT to do. Especially: not getting behind/so overzealous on working that I get burnt out and then need to take several days off to do nothing, resulting in additional burnout. (See hyperbole and a half's excellent and hilarious illustration of an example of this vicious cycle of imbalance.)
Which I translate into:
Being more disciplined, better organized & planning further ahead.
Resulting Resolutions:
Regular work schedule(s).
Less unplanned time on the internet; less time on the internet in general.
Planned time for reading BOOKS, watching movies, and crafting just for fun.
More scheduled plans: with friends, or for classes, biz-related meet-ups, etc; i.e. things that force me to stick to my schedule!
and finally:
Better following the priorities & ideals that I have established (consciously or subconsciously) for my life, my family & my business.
Which I translate into:
Making better decisions for me & my business, even if those decisions are not so easy to make.
Resulting Resolutions:
Culling my work & personal life of things that are dragging me down (this includes, people, commitments, shops, events, requests, and more).
Revisiting & revising my long-term business plan.
Developing a more consistent brand & vision for my business & my work.
Being more consistent with life & networking & business & silly updates (blog, twitter, shop, studio, food, etc.)
On that last note, I've quietly launched two personal little side projects for me to keep better note of the progress I'm making/projects I'm working on this year.
The first is make.365. Here I'm aiming to document something I make or am making (whether it's for work or for fun) every day. Below is the first photo of the year. I'll be posting these to flickr; the set is here.
The second is not going to be as regular, but I'll be trying to document my recent nail polish obsession. The nail polish/nail art thing seems to be going around, and there are tons of nail polish blogs & forums out there. I'm not trying to do that. I just want to capture a little more of what I'm spending my time (and hard-earned $) on!
True fact: this is actually the second time I've caught the nail polish influenza; the first time was when I was in college, and I changed my nail polish every day for a month. I don't think my nails ever forgave me, and I don't have a single photo to document that time.
Anyway, this manicure below is the one that really fanned this little fire (I think it might easily be called a five-alarm blaze by now). The flickr set is here. Eventually I'll make little buttons for these two projects in the sidebar.
Thanks for reading! I know this post was very self-indulgent. Do you have any (vague or very specific) resolutions to share? I'd love to read your own blog posts if you have them!
