Did you make any New Year's resolutions this year? I've never been a resolution-kind-of-gal. Instead, I'm an avid goal setter. In late 2009, I read Leo Babauta's The Power of Less and his book helped me refine my goal-setting process. An interest in cognitive behavioural therapy further enriched my approach. Here's what I've learned: Think about the big picture, but make your goals based on specific incremental behaviours, not the desired end result. For example, if you intend to read that book that has been forever on your goals/resolutions list-- set a goal of just reading one page per day. That's it. It may take a year, but you'll be able to say that you read it. Last year I read some hefty art history tomes this way and I kept a reading log as a bookmark to chart my progress. I did the same with my yoga practice: Since Lent 2011, I have been practicing yoga for a minimum of 15 minutes per day and by the end of the year I had logged 107 hours and 35 minutes on the mat (yes, I also have a yoga log).
Yesterday I spent 5 minutes reacquainting myself with Adobe Illustrator, a program that I am learning from a book. This 5 minutes fuelled the rest of my day – I felt like I had climbed Mount Everest. This year my goal is to spend 5 minutes a day, 5 days a week teaching myself Adobe Illustrator.
Karen's goal-setting in a nutshell: Think BIG, plan small daily behaviours, log or chart your results.
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