Why avoid it though?  Maybe because if I actually say it out loud, I will finally have to follow through and hold myself accountable?  That’s a tough one, you see I tend to talk big and fail to follow through.  I want this to stop and that is why I am sucking it up, taking a deep breath and writing it all down for the world to see and hold me accountable for.

This is going to get a little lengthy and I apologize for that ahead of time.  You can stop reading now if you want because this post is really for me anyway.

A few notes before I get into the nitty gritty.  The goals on this list are intended to be year long goals not to be implemented immediately but taken one step at a time and built upon as the year progresses.  This is a year of change and forward movement for me though and I fully intend on working on each and every one of the items on this list.

This really isn’t a post about my new year’s resolution as much as laying out my goals for this year, but if I had to sum it up into one resolution, I would say that it is to not get overwhelmed and paralyzed by the enormity of it all.  I think I tend to look at the big picture too much and it just freaks me out and keeps me from being effective at the step by step, day by day stuff.  So, my goal is to get organized, get motivated and tackle one thing at a time.

Ok, so here we go.

In my old book club, I had the pleasure of knowing a well known hypnotherapist and a really great woman Diane Sewell. A few weeks ago, she sent out an email (I assume to her mailing list) that really inspired me to take this year’s goal setting seriously.  Here is her list of 10 things you can do to be successful and get off on the right foot in 2009.

1. How You Think is Everything:  Always be positive.  Think success and not failure.   Also beware of negative environments.
2. Decide Upon Your True Dreams and Goals:  Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.
3. Take Action:   Goals are nothing without action.  Don’t be afraid to get started.  Just do it.
4. Never Stop Learning:   Go back to school or read books.  Get training and acquire skills.
5. Be Persistent and Work Hard:   Success is a marathon, not a sprint.  Never give up.
6. Learn to Analyze Details:   Get all the facts, all the input.  Learn from your mistakes.
7. Focus Your Time and Money:   Don’t let other people or things distract you.
8. Don’t be Afraid to Innovate; Be Different:   Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.
9. Deal and Communicate with People Effectively:   No person is an island.  Learn to understand and motivate others.
10. Be Honest and Dependable; Take Responsibility:   Otherwise, #’s 1-9 don’t matter.

- Diane Sewell, Master Hypnotist and Weight Loss Expert

In the past year I have struggled and worked very hard to improve my mental and emotional states as well as remove the negative environments that were contributing to my depression and life paralysis.  Now, I look at my future as a clean slate, a place to start and it is time for me to take control, set goals and direct my own future.

I have an affirmation that I say all the time.  I say it when I am feeling overwhelmed or sad or stressed, during Savasana, before I go to sleep – really any time that it seems appropriate to do so.  It calms and focuses me.    It goes something like this.

I am whole, I am happy, I am healthy, I am beautiful

With all this in mind, I have laid out this years goals into those four categories and listed them out below.  Some of the items are pretty simple and straight forward, but many will required detailed plans to accomplish.  Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting these plans as well and will link to them from the appropriate items below.

These lists are not in any particular order.  Just as they came to me.

I Am Whole

Things that are healing and contribute to my overall mental health and fulfillment

I Am Happy

Things that are simply for my and my family’s pleasure.  The things that just make life more fun.

• Have one great family adventure every month.
• Take time for fun just for me – book club, girls nights etc.
• Find a babysitter
• Have more sex
• Kiss my husband passionately every day
• Give myself a break sometimes
• Laugh out loud with my kids every day

I Am Healthy 

Things to improve both my body and mind

• Achieve a slim, fit and healthy body – this means to me…  Look and feel great naked and goal weight of 135.
• Experiment and incorporate more healthy foods into diet
• Sleep better
• Walk the dog more
• Garden and landscaping projects
• Generally by more active and productive – just get up and do it, when you think about doing it.
• Reduce TV watching by 1 hour per day
• Be reasonable with the puzzles and online games – have a picture and a crossword puzzle printed out to work on during downtime.  Online games only during designated relax time.  Get a grip.
• Complete PHP certification

I Am Beautiful

This is as much mental as physical for me.  I want to feel beautiful in my own personal and distinct way.

I am terrible at  forming good habits and have neglected much of the womanly maintenance over the years.  As many moms can probably relate – I have let myself go a little.

Now, I am not really into a lot of the girly stuff and looking perfect all the time doesn’t even reach my radar, but it is important that I begin to feel good about myself again and keeping up with some physical improvements will generally lead to that I think.  You’ll notice, this is pretty basic stuff here.

• Wash my face every night
• Shave my legs once a week (I have very blond fine hair so this is all I need to do), even in the winter.
• buy some quality makeup
• Get a haircut regularly
• Lotion all over, every day
• Figure out my own personal style
• Buy new clothes that fit well and make me feel good about myself.  Don’t just buy what’s cheapest.
• Look in the mirror and say you are beautiful inside and out, every day

Want More? Check out these stories too!

• Self Inventory #16 – How Much Will I Gain
• Self Inventory #21 – What’s in the Mail?
• Dr. Laura on Larry King
• I Will Love to Exercise if it Kills Me

Why would I do this you ask? Basically so that I can play a quick puzzle when I need to clear my head a little and since I am usually working on this site or another in some way, it seemed like an easy way to go about it.

I also hope that you may have some fun with them as well.

Check it out Now!

Want More? Check out these stories too!

• Interactive Online Logic Puzzles
• Super Mario Bros. – My latest obsession
• I’m Addicted
• Site updates coming!

I ran accross a site called Conceptis Puzzles who provides several different logic puzzle choices which you can do online or off. They appear to be a large publisher of sudoku and other puzzles for newspapers and magazines.

Registration is free and you can play many puzzles online or print them out to play offline. They also provide these great little widgets with smaller puzzles, updated often so there is always something for a quick fix.

I put this page together mostly for my own easy access but you can bookmark it and come back here for frequently updated online logic puzzles that you can play quickly and easily whenever you want.

Want More? Check out these stories too!

• New Logic Puzzles Page
• Site updates coming!
• My Favorite Quote
• The Redesigned Mom on Facebook

Anyway, I digress. What am I addicted to, you ask? Puzzles. Specifically number picture puzzles. They are called hanjie, picture sodoku, paint-doku, crosspix etc. Whatever you want to call them, I am addicted. I can’t help myself. I find myself doing them either on paper or online, whenever I get the chance. It keeps my mind working, but is sometimes a distraction.

I play at griddlers.net. They have thousands of puzzles with a ton of variety, from simple to extremely challenging. One of my favorite things is that they have color puzzles. These are way more fun to solve and make really pretty pictures. As a premium member, you can upload your own images and convert them to puzzles. All of these are then available to all of the free members as well, so there is a constant supply of new puzzles.

My only gripes are that it only works in IE and sometimes the server is a little slow. They have introduced a new applet that you can get for $5 a month or you can play on the regular server for free. Seems fair to me.

More of a paper and pencil person? Check out these books.

Want More? Check out these stories too!

• The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
• Kids Book Review: The Pink Refrigerator
• New Logic Puzzles Page
• The Intricacies of Turning Pages