Make 2009 My Best Year Yet

Three months left in 2009 and I want to finish strong.

It’s been quite a year already, with our wedding and move to San Francisco.

Goal 1: Get my driving licence

Goal 2: Sorting, process and file all the random paper in my home office. Set up a system so it doesn’t get out of hand again.

Goal 3: Write the first 20,000 words of the second draft of my novel.

Goal 4: Get a bike and use it at least once a week.

Goal 5: Write and submit three travel articles.

Goal 6: Fit into the dresses I had taken in right before the wedding.

Goal 7: Find a job or grow my freelance business enough to compensate.

G3: I am trying to regain my motivation, using my pending move to San Francisco as a deadline. I have written about this in more detail here.

G4: I have cleared my plate of major projects. I am going to keep the workload pretty light over the next few weeks and concentrate on the move and contemplation of my longer term plans.

G5: I need to sort out my tax – complicated because I don’t want to end up paying tax twice, once in the UK and once in the US.

G6: I haven’t done much writing. I need to be more disciplined about this.

G1 (wedding): Done.
G2 (honeymoon): Done.
G3 (weight): About 2-3kg left to lose (unsurprisingly I gained a bit on the honeymoon).
G4 (work): I have a few projects to complete and I need to give some thought to my longer term plans.
G5 (debt): I need to chase a client for payment – it’s a big job so it will make a difference to my finances.
G6 (novel): I would like to try to cultivate a daily writing discipline.

At some point in the next month I’m keen to do the BYY process and choose goals for the rest of the year.

G1 (wedding): Making progress.
G2 (honeymoon): Done.
G3 (weight): Reached a BMI of 24.9 but would like to lose a bit more.
G4 (work): Tough climate but I’m surviving.
G5 (debt): Tax overpaid, waiting for refund. The wedding is expensive.
G6 (novel): Will write a new chapter before next writers group meeting on 14 March.

G1 (wedding): Making progress.
G2 (honeymoon): Done.
G3 (weight): Making progress.
G4 (work): Tough climate but I’ve had a bit of work in January so I’m surviving, if not thriving.
G5 (debt): Dealing with tax right now, will know financial situation soon.
G6 (novel): Would like to do more but the other things are priorities right now.

My goals until April are pretty simple and pretty much wrote themselves. This is what I’m going to focus on for the next three to four months and I’m going to do the BYY process after my honeymoon.

G1: Organise my wedding

G2: Organise my honeymoon

G3: Reach my goal weight

G4: Survive and thrive in the economic downturn

G5: Halve my personal debt

G6: Make continuous progress on my novel

I would like to go through the Best Year Yet process again. Snowleopard, do you want to get together in the pub again this month or early January?

However, rather than choosing my top 10 goals, I think I will choose my top 5 goals and really commit to them. I need to do less in order to achieve more – perhaps that will be my defining paradigm for the year.

My biggest problem is that I want to do everything. I can do anything but maybe not everything – at least not all at once! I have to choose and focus and do less in order to do more. Sometimes you need to focus on the task at hand.

I have written more about this on my personal blog and would appreciate feedback either here or there: http://www.niltiac.net/2008/12/blogging-to-a-definable-end/