2010 – THE LIST: Monthly Missions

In contemplating what my list would be like for 2010 I tried to remember my list from 2009.  How much had I accomplished?

I actually read more than the three books outside of book club and was even approached to do reviews for some.  I tackled the half bath but not the main bath as planned.  The painting in the kitchen ended up being only a touchup job and redoing the countertop… does that count?  And I didn’t keep up with playing board games with the kiddos every week; just once in a while.  But I did start writing my book and I ended up buying my son’s laptop when he started high school.

Over the last few days I finished a book I won from www.Mothersclick.com: Up For Renewal by Cathy Alter.  The book was funny and interesting with it’s tongue in cheek approach to life lessons and self improvement tactics through advice she found in the latest popular magazines.  It was truly humorous and an enjoyable read.  She has quite the whimsy voice in her writing and a witty way of sharing her developing love story. 

She made a pact for 12 months (each devoted to one focus of her self-improvement agenda) that she would rely on magazines to offer her advice in each of the focuses for her life and personal development.  The first month after she began she devoted to ‘diet’ and the rest ranged from bettering her relationships to bettering herself and her sex-life.*

I loved the way she talks about what leads up to her year summation of turning her life over to magazines, through witty and comical reactions that I could see myself doing in some instances.  Finally she summarizes she was not only subscribing her life to magazines but was also subscribing to change and working through the transitions it required for her to get out of a bad relationship and even a rotten job… Cute, cute story – that gets you thinking about changes you might want to work on in your own life.

So after reading the book, even though I was entertained by her humor and her approach to personal development, it also got me thinking… for my list this coming new year I want to focus on just 12 to-do items and have one assigned to each month of the year: my monthly missions.  Now I won’t be listing improving my sex-life (since I don’t have a sex life, by choice while I am still single) nor will I be consulting the latest popular magazines for advice in accomplishing these missions; instead I may seek advice from close friends/mentors, my pastor, or my counselor.  I will also focus on researching for info from blogging communities and other website resources.  (If it’s on the web it has to be true and good advice, right? Just kidding.) 

In fact breaking this down into monthly missions may help me keep up with the list and actually fulfill the goals each month further serving as a measuring rod for accomplishing what I want to set out for myself as attainable in 2010, what do you think?

So here is what I came up with:

Personal Improvements List for 2010

January – Improve my financial discipline by reevaluating my budget, expenses, and other means of possible income.

February – Improve my one year relationship with Mr. M.  Plans are to work on this through counseling and self-awareness techniques.

March – Improve my personal appearance through nutrition and other beauty regimens. (I chose this for this month because it’s my birthday month and … it’s a big one this year!)

April – Improve my spiritual walk.  I want to focus on establishing a more disciplined daily personal devotions time.  And I still plan to read the devotional book, Love Dare (this serves two purposes).

May – Improve my relationship with my kiddos by finding ways to make our time together more qualitative through playing games and interacting more in conversation.

June – Increase my knowledge in an area of my choosing.  I may take a summer class or a seminar.

July – Improve my physical fitness.  I already have some ideas of what I need to put together for a routine and may start this before July but this will be the focus month.

August – Improve one room in the house through home improvement projects.  Plans are still to tackle that main bathroom. 

September – Improve my writing and blogging skills as well as networking.

October – Improve my skills on the job and proficiency in the office through administration.

November – Improve entertaining friends and family by planning early for the holidays and up and coming birthdays that are around the corner.

December – Improve my time management. (This is the most hectic time of the year for me personally, it seems.)

That’s my list for 2010. 

What all do you have on your list for 2010?

Find yourself… keeping it real.

*Let me just share my disclaimer here in the fact that even though I enjoyed the book, I don’t condone her choices in the level of intimacy she talks about in the book with her relationships.  I simply have learned that when I disagree with specific things in a book, I can still take away from the experience with other things that are appreciated and filter the rest.  So overall – it was a good read.

Photo Credit: http://gorx9395.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/mission.jpg

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