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2012 Goals

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I don’t like to make the traditional New Years’ resolutions, but it’s really hard to ignore that clean slate feeling. S I usually wind up taking a look at my personal goals around this time of year.

Following are just a couple of the fun personal goals that I’ve set for myself this year.

First, I’m going to really try to stick with Project 365 this year – except, I guess it’s Project 366 this year since it’s Leap Year. Either that or I get one freebie day that I can miss. Um, yeah, because I’m sure I’ll only miss one day considering how well I stuck with it last year.

In keeping with my plan to set specific goals, I decided that one thing I really want to do with P365 this year is, rather than just taking random photos all the time, I’d like to work on learning more about my camera and all the nifty, but rarely used settings.

On Sunday, Day 1, I decided that since I’ve had my camera for over a year now, it’s high time I learned to use the self-timer feature.

Day 1 - P365[6]

P365 – Day 1

Not only does that mean you get to see this {ahem} lovely photo of me, but you also get to see my awesome new “warm fuzzy” pants that replaced my beloved warm fuzzy pants from my obese days. I do not miss being obese, but I sure did miss those pants.

My second goal came from thinking about a post from Tina Reale on having a theme for the year. After reflecting and praying on it a bit, I decided that I want my theme for the year to be “outward-focused.”

See, I tend to have a serious self-centeredness issue. Things tend to be about me a lot and anything that might inconvenience me or make me uncomfortable tends to go undone. I really want to focus on other people this year and shift to a Christ-centered mindset, rather than such a self-centered one.

Again, in keeping with the whole specific goals idea, I wanted to come up with a plan that would help me shift my focus each day. I came up with the not-new idea of performing a random act of kindness each day.

Day 2 - P365[4]

P365 – Day 2

I figured that if I wake up each day with the idea that I’m going to be on the lookout for some way that I can bless someone else each day, that’s going to go a long way toward taking the focus off me.

It doesn’t have to be a major thing, just some act of kindness toward someone else. For example, Sunday, I noticed that Josh was out of Kool-Aid, his drink of choice, and the girls were out of tea. Usually, I’d remind them that they needed to make their Kool-Aid or tea. Sunday, I did it for them, start to finish, early enough that the drinks would be cold in time for dinner.

It was a simple thing and I didn’t know – or care – if they would even notice, but I knew that I took time out of what I was doing to do something for them.

I’ve made myself a sticky note to put on my laptop – where I’m sure to see it every day – to remind myself about P365 and my ROAK (random act of kindness) until I get into the habit of doing them every day.

What about you? Have you set any goals for 2012?

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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10 Comments

  1. I'm still wording my goals, but they're around the themes of putting the Lord first and letting His wisdom guide my actions and attitudes.  Lots of lifestyle, educational and personal goals will be based on this.

    I like your P365 Day 2 picture … is that a particular art book?  It looks like fun to me!  Paint AND a spiral, great combination.

    Happy New Year, I hope it's a great one for you!
    Vanessa

  2. I understand where you are coming from!  After talking to our priest one Sunday, this has been a daily reflection of mine:  "Jesus first, others second, me third."  

  3. I love this!  I have been really thinking that I need to learn how to use my camera better.  Right now all I use is Easy mode!  And I've also been thinking a lot about being more outwardly focused.  I tend to be "in my head" all the time.  Meaning, I focus on what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, how something affects ME.  In other words, I tend to be pretty selfish.  I hadn't gotten as far as making an action play to change it, so I think I'll steal yours!  : )  Thanks for posting!

  4. I also tend to be inwardly focused, and have really been thinking about that a lot lately.  I haven't actually gotten as far as making an action plan, so I think I'll steal yours! : )  Thanks for posting!

  5. Kudos to you on your weight loss!!! I am working on that now. My goal this year is to be more disciplined and focused in all areas of my life. I am hosting a project 365 on my blog and would love it if you joined us. Support really helps! We will have a theme each week but it doesn't have to be only pictures of that as long as 1 or 2 of them are. I am doing my best to do all of my photo's with the theme odviously since I am in charge of the link up. LOL! Anyway here is the link and this week's theme is NEW. 🙂 
    https://mycaptivatingimages.blogspot.com/2011/12/project-365-week-1.html

  6. Steal away! Wouldn't the world be an incredible place if we could all develop that mindset? The funny thing is, I haven't told my husband any of this and he doesn't read my blog, yet yesterday he laid out a clean, dry towel for me since he had used both of the ones that were in the bathroom and he pulled all the empty hangers out of his closet and put them where I could get to them easily. (I *hate* digging hangers out of his closet when it's time to do laundry.) And, today, he took the trash out before he left for work. Sometimes it's the little things that really make a person feel loved and appreciated.

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