The Very First Post of 2009 Is All About Attainable Goals.

It's going to take some serious retraining of the fingers to be able to type 2-0-0-9 rather than 2-0-0-8. I'm still writing 2007 on things for goodness sake! Ah well, by the time this new year is over, I'll have gotten 2007 out of my system and will have begun banishing 2008, as well. I hope 2009 turns out to be a good year. To that end, I have set up for myself 3 attainable goals. Call them "Resolutions" if you must, but I'm not sure I want to use that word this year. If I refer to them as "Attainable Goals" I will remember that they are, in fact, attainable, and not pipe dreams. Attainable Goal #1: Lose 30-40 lbs. No, really - I neeeeed to do this. I can do this. If being able to lose 14 lbs since the beginning of October is saying anything, I know that I can do this. Granted, I will need to give myself some slack if I, say, gorge myself on chocolate cake or cookies every now and then, but... Also, I am going to call this a "Lifestyle Change" rather than a "Diet." D-I-E-T is a four-letter word, after all. I got the idea of calling it a "Lifestyle Change" from Nora Roberts' character Quinn in Blood Brothers. I think Quinn definitely has the right idea! Way to go, Nora! Attainable Goal #2: Keep my desk at work clean. I can do this, too. My desk is a complete disaster - which really isn't saying much because my house is a complete disaster, too. I'm hoping that if I can school myself enough to pick up the desk every night before I leave, it might carry over into my home life, too. This shouldn't be too hard...I hope. Attainable Goal #3: Use my Franklin Covey Planner. I got one earlier in 2008 (there...you can't tell, but I just had trouble writing 2008!) and have used it sporadically. When I do use it, and use it properly, I find myself to be more productive and organized. When I don't use it, well...everything falls apart. This should also help in reaching Attainable Goal #2. I'd like to set Attainable Goals for my kids, too. I'm honestly not sure how that would work out, though. I think it's more reasonable to expect some cooperation from Kiddo than from Little Bit. He, at least, is old enough to understand what we're asking him to do. I had tried, sometime after Little Bit was born, to give Kiddo some daily/weekly chores to do. (If you follow this blog regularly, then you'll probably remember - but if not CLICK HERE.) Now, I think that if I give him only 1 or 2 chores (maybe 3), he'll probably respond much better than he did when we tried this the last time. Kiddo's Attainable Goal #1: Feed the dog every night. Kiddo's Attainable Goal #2: Put your toys away every night. Other AGs I'm thinking about for Kiddo include: putting his laundry in the hamper, eating all his dinner, not fighting with his sister, learning how to tie his shoes...I could go on and on. So here's to 2009 Attainable Goals. I feel like I've already over-used those words but I don't care. Attainable Goals, Attainable Goals, Attainable Goals. Welcome 2009 and Happy New Year to my loyal fans. All 3 of you! :) TTFN JMS