My Plan for 2011

Last year I realized that the frantic life I was leading wasn't working for me and I needed a way to get it back in order.  So, I asked friends on line and in "real" life if they would like to join me.  A group of us set goals and connected on Twitter and in the blogosphere to try to support each other and share our experiences.  As the year progressed it became harder to post the updates, but I know that several of the people in the group, like myself, kept their goals in mind throughout the year.

2010 was hectic and crazy, but I can't say that I feel as stressed out as I did at this time last year.  Looking back at my goals, I see that some of them weren't accomplished at all, some were, and the others just didn't matter as much as I thought they would.  I am going to do this again and try to keep up with the updates since it helped to keep me honest even if no one else read them.

Here is how it works:
You come up with goals, ideas, suggestions for yourself and write them down.  Some people make lists, some put them into categories, like Health or Work.  You post your goals on your own blog, The Plan blog, or both.  Every month or so you update on how you are doing and feeling, what has happened as it relates to the goals.  These aren't resolutions and no one is going to point and laugh if they don' happen.  You can even change them as your circumstances may change.  The only person yo are accountable to is yourself.  In addition to The Plan blog, there is a recipe blog where we share recipes and meal ideas.  It has some really good stuff and you will be able to post there, as well.

We are all busy and this might seem like a daunting task, but if you feel like you could use a push, some encouragement, or a community that supports you day and night, I hope you will join.  We're all just trying to make things little easier and more enjoyable for ourselves and the people in our lives.  Some of us have kids, some don't. We are all in different places emotionally, financially, politically, and that's what I loved about it.  If you are interested leave a comment or let me know on Twitter (button is on the right) and let's connect.

So, to serve as an example, here are my goals for 2011:

Health
 - Take vitamins and keep taking them!
 - Lose 10 lbs and keep it off
 - Be more active
 - Yoga, yoga, yoga and include the kids
 - Eat less processed food
 - Go to the dentist

Family Life
- Find new meals for meal planning
- Stick to the grocery list
- Put more money into savings
- Feed my family less processed foods
- Do more Montessori activities with the kids
- Watch less daytime TV on the weekends
- Unpack the last of the boxes
- Put some art on the walls
- Have at least one garage sale
- Get rid of more stuff

Personal
- Be more patient with people, especially M and the kids
- Be more forgiving of myself and others
- Read more non-school books
- Plan out weekends so that every one's needs are met and no one gets upset
- Communicate what kind of help I need (time, housework, etc..) more clearly to M
- Post on my Tumblr blog more often

One more thing that I am excited about is my 365 blog. I thought it would be a really cool thing to take a photo of the kids every day and post it.  At the end of the year, I can make it into a book.  I am usually taking photos of them, anyway, so this seemed like a good way put the photos to good use.

You can check it out here.

So, if you were already thinking about making some changes, join us!   2011 is going to be a great year.