Goals Part 2: All In My Head

As I said in my Monday post, I had set out this year with various Physical, Mental, Emotional/Social, and Spiritual goals in mind. Today I'll talk about living a balanced life by cultivating my mental/intellectual/creative side. Have you ever heard the saying, "use it or lose it"? Exercising my brain is important too. Studies have shown that mentally stimulating activities can stave off Alzheimer's disease. So, with that in mind (pun intended, heh heh), I set some goals for this year.

• Read at least one book a month
• Blog 2X per week (this was before I joined Project 365)
• Scrap 150 pages
• Scrap more events as they happen that week
• Learn new skills and knowledge
• Listen to new music
• Ask for varied work assignments at work
• Spend money with purpose

Some of these are pretty basic and easy. The hardest part is actually making time for these activities. I think I've been skewed too much towards scrapping and there's been not enough balance into the other areas of mental activity, such as reading books. I am trying to make adjustments in my daily schedule to change that. I think by getting off the computer earlier each night, and getting ready for bed earlier, I make more time for reading. I love reading, it's something I've gotten from both my parents, especially my mother. I had been sad that I haven't gotten to do it as much in the last year or so. Right now I am reading "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult and next will be "Love The One You're With" by Emily Giffen. On the scrapping side, I am not on track to make 150 pages. I thought that was a reasonable goal because I scrapped 271 pages last year. However, I have made it a goal this year to make more pages that are meaningful to me, which means journaling more and not just slap some photos on there with no explanation or thoughts. So I think I'm okay with it if I end up with less than 150 pages. I'd much rather have those pages be meaningful to me and my family/friends. And I'd much rather live a more balanced life. Learning new skills/knowledge really pumps me up. I love the internet for that reason. If I think of something I want to know about, I just find it. I also love to browse magazines like Photoshop Creative to learn new skills and implement them. In the past I've taken classes in order to cultivate some new skills. Classes from UCSD like pencil/charcoal drawing. Or knitting. {I gave this to my friend Sally for her birthday in 2005.) I would love to take another class in something that interests me. Maybe sewing would be fun for me! As for new music, I have discovered several new-to-me artists this year, such as Joshua Radin and Lenka. I like to download the free music every week from Amazon and listen to them, even if they don't end up being my favorites. At work, I made the brave suggestion to my boss in my annual review that I'd like some new and varied assignments during the middle of the month, when I'm not crazy busy. He has given me a couple of new things so far, and they've been interesting. I've learned some new things about the direction of the organization. The problem with some of the assignments is, they don't produce something concrete. It's more like, "what if we did this? model this out and see what happens". I like concrete answers, so this type of work bothers me sometimes. But I asked for it, so I'm happy to contribute the best I can. Lastly, spending money with purpose. I don't want any mental cognitive dissonance about what I support and what types of things/experiences I value, so I try to put my money where my mouth is. I try to spend money on experiences, rather than things. Our biggest purchase by far this year was our kitchen and bath remodel. But it is a 20 year investment and it totally changed the experience of cooking and entertaining friends, and it will for years to come. The evaluation of where to spend money happens every day. Obviously I don't have the answers for everyone, but these were my goals for myself this year in the cognitive/intellectual/creative category. It is not a destination, but a continual evaluation and adjustment to be the person I want to be. My photo today. I had a really nice lunch with some work friends and enjoyed the conversations very much. Which brings me to my topic for tomorrow, which is my emotional/social goals for this year. Stayed tuned for that!