Monday, August 11, 2008

Setting Goals, Take 2

After a month of creative conferences, one on writing and one on metal clay, I've come home to get back to work on jewelry. I'm enjoying experimenting with the new bronze clay (pix to come later this week).

I'm also looking at my goals again. I've found a couple of good websites on goal setting: http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html and http://www.topachievement.com/goalsetting.html
I'm rethinking the main areas in which I'll set goals. Each of the above sites has slightly different breakdowns, but they helped me focus my own thinking. So far I've come up with Personal (Health and Spirit); Career; Relationships (Friends and Family); Home/Environment (by this I mean personal surroundings, not improving the world's environment--that falls elsewhere); Financial; Pleasure; Public Service. What areas are other people choosing to set goals in?

Everywhere I look, experts on creativity, organization and even health are emphasizing the first two hours of the day. My nutritionist says everyone should eat breakfast within an hour of waking. The creativity guru at the writing conference, Eric Maisel, made a compelling case for doing your creative work right after you get up, while you're still in almost a dream-like state. Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way says you should do your Morning Pages first thing. FlyLady wants you to get dressed to the shoes and do some housecleaning priorities. I found myself stressing about what I should do first, and stumbling around trying to do it all. For now, I think that going to water aerobics is going to win at least 3 mornings a week simply because that's when they offer it. I'm going to use some combination of rituals (like listening to music or lighting a candle), practice (sketching or a Morning Pages-inspired Brain Dump), and BIC (butt in chair) for getting into my creative work.

What are you working on in your life? How are you setting priorities?

No comments: