Making 2007 Your Best Year Yet: Part 2 of 4
This article is the second in a four part
series devoted to making 2007 the best year yet.
If you missed the first article, please click here to read.
Last week I challenged you to create "crazy lists" for each of your major life roles, an exercise that I completed early on in 2006. I challenged you to make these lists without knowing their purpose. So if you have your lists, keep reading. If not, take a moment to click the link above and read last week's article and instructions to get the most from this exercise.
Where are you going?
Last week we also explored the sense of "purpose," trying to figure out exactly where we want to go in 2007. Women often tell me that they have many areas vying for their attention. Part of creating a successful goal plan, and thus the first steps of a successful year, is to hone in on the areas that bring the most good to others, ourselves, and our core values. When we choose goals that align with our core values we are more apt to see them through. When we choose goals that conflict or don't encourage our core values 99% of the time we will abandon the goal.
So how do we figure out what we really want when we seem to need so much or have so much that needs us (or both)? That is where your Crazy Lists come in.
If you followed the instructions last week, you now have multiple lists that were written without any goal in mind. (If you are reading this before reading the last article, it won't have the same affect but you can still derive some benefit. Or stop now and go back to the last article before reading further to gain full benefit.)
Last week you were challenged to create a list without limits, boundaries, or rules--just a list of seemingly crazy passions or callings. You were encouraged to make each list as long as possible. Now this week, we need to go back and look at these lists like a detective hunting down clues. As random as your lists may seem, there will be parallels among some of the items. These parallels are what we are hunting for.
My original "Crazy Lists" contained about 30 items per list and I had 6 of them. The items were very scattered. I didn't make these lists with any goal in mind I just did it as a personal challenge. Then a few week's later I began to realize the value in them.
As women, we often have a hard time expressing what we want, often because we aren't even sure ourselves. What I saw when I evaluated my list of "Crazy Things" was a pattern of what I needed in my life underlying these seemingly haphazard, crazy lists.
Middle Sponsor Ad ... Turn Challenge into Opportunity
What if you could turn every challenge into an opportunity for personal growth? What if you could easily learn to open the door to success? And to create the life you desire? Visit www.thegoddessnetwork.net/specialoffer
for a very special offer from Charlene M. Proctor, Ph.D., founder of The Goddess Network and author of The Women's Book of Empowerment.
To advertise in this space click here
For example on one of my lists for "wife" was to get a pilot's license--something I never have really thought much about but in the back my mind thought would be interesting. My husband has his, so I thought this would be something we do together-although I am not sure if we will ever get around to it. But keep in mind whether we do these things or not isn't important, these aren't to-do lists. On a personal list of things I wanted to do was to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve in Times Square. On a parenting list I had listed some places I would like to take my daughter to visit. When I re-read my lists and began looking for "connections" it was apparent that travel/adventure was something that I was really craving. 2005 had been a very busy travel year for me, where I spent as many nights out of the house as I spent in the house. 2006 had been a slow travel year, and busy at the office. I learned that I needed to maintain some sense of travel/adventure, even in just solo day trips if I am not traveling regularly.
Another connection I found was in creativity. Many of my items included artistic endeavors, not just with words, but with visual--paint, drawing, etc. While I have always known I need to be writing regularly as an outlet and have made a life out of doing so, I probably wouldn't have discovered this visual need without this exercise. It is an area where I enter as a "newbie" without any idea of where one starts in growing that process. Yet there it was, clearly interwoven to so many of the ideas on my lists.
Had I just sat down and said what is important to me and what do I want? I likely wouldn't have put these items on my list. Or if I did, I would have later removed them, thinking other things should take priority. (There is that dangerous word -- "should".) Yet by doing this exercise with my whole heart (not just slapping down some words and ideas) I was able to uncover the pieces that I needed to make my life "fit" in 2006.
Your Weekly Challenge:
Take a look at your list. What threads can you find? Next week we will look at fleshing out these ideas and how to weave them into your plan for 2007.
As for me, I was able to create our first wall calendar for 2007 as a result of 2006 revelation. (See sidebar at left). I was also able to add some adventure/travel to my life with my daughter and even crossed off an item as "done' and no longer "as crazy." I share those pictures below taken in Times Square on 12/31/2006.
Pink hat, purple leather coat and Starbucks cup = me
Orange coat = my current Nanny, Emily
Polka dot hat = my daughter Samantha
Far right = my good friend and Sam's former nanny, Char
Below: a picture of the Times Square crowd. Note the neat signs they had out in the city: REFLECT 2007
My daughter's hand reaching up to catch confetti at midnight
Ready to take the Challenge?
Visit www.changeyourlifechallenge.com
Comments