I try to keep my goals for the year as simple as possible. Last year I wanted to begin each day with a prayer of gratitude and practice discipline. I did OK but not great on the first goal but not well at all on the second.
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| ah well. |
First the success. My mantra has been "it's ALL good!" Even when I'm crazy I remind myself that the things making me crazy are all GOOD things. I'm very blessed to have a wonderful family, stable finances, and to have art in my life!
I still procrastinate then get completely stressed out over every deadline. I still fritter away my art-making time - usually by getting sidetracked on the computer. I'm doing important things - but not the MOST important things.
When I analyze my shortcoming (notice I didn't say "when I beat myself up about failures") I think the "practice discipline" thing is too big, too nebulous.
This year I'm going to keep the same simple goals but I'm going to rephrase it into something that will help me with the practical application - both of being grateful and of learning to practice discipline.
It boils down to one word.
Wake up each morning and do what is most important FIRST!
For me that means:
- getting the kids off to school.
- spiritual practice (reading, prayer, meditation)
- exercise (gym or running 3 days minimum)
- MAKE ART (1 hour minimum)
Before I answer email. Before I write blog posts or articles. Before I ship stuff out. One hour to make art. If I put the most important things first the rest will certainly take care of itself.
I played around on http://www.wordle.net/ to make a pretty word-cloud of my priorities.
I'm going to print one of these and post it on my bathroom mirror to remind myself. I'll probably need to post other reminders all over the whole house. New habits can be difficult to implement for me so I need all the help I can get.What are your goals?
What is your word?