After a generally rough 2008, I’m setting out some goals for 2009
- Make more of an effort with friends and family – I’m known to be quite slack and unbalanced when it comes to staying in touch with friends. Through 2009 I aim to go through a process of reconnecting and refreshing my relationships.
- Create a new habit of regular meditation – I’ve been saying this to myself for years but for some reason I have a lot of resistance, mainly because I know it will take a lot of discipline. However, I know that this is important for my own health and development. I suffer alot of work related stress and sometimes simply don’t know when to “switch off”. Its almost like an addiction to work. Sounds funny but its true. Meditation will help me to create the spaces in my life in which I can feel peace and heal, helping to create balance.
- Bank £50,000 – OK, thats a rough figure that I may modify through the year but basically, I want to bank a nice lump sum this year. I nearly achieved this late last year when I almost sold one of my businesses. For one reason and another, that didn’t happen, but I hope to be creative enough to make it happen this year, whilst also retaining all the equity in my businesses.
- Spend at least 6 months outside the UK – The nature of my business means that I can work remotely with relatively few issues. I aim to get myself out into the world a bit more in 2009, perhaps spend a little while working abroad somewhere. My short list of countries to spend some time in this year includes China, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
- Attend more industry trade shows and networking events – I’ve been on the lookout for a while for some new oportunities or some refreshing new challenges. I’ll list what I plan to attend when I’ve done some research but suffice to say, I need to get myself “out there”. If anyone knows of any interesting events, please add them to the comments.
- Simplify my projects – I’ve already started this process but again, I am finding resistance. I think this may be due to a problem with “letting go”. I feel attachment to my projects (and my own belongings), causing a tendency to build clutter. Rather than taking on more and more (and more) through 2009, I aim to end the year, having offloaded or outsourced a large number of my commitments.
I plan to revisit this post periodically and provide an update on my progress with the points above.
I’d love to see your comments or hear what you have planned for 2009!