Dreams with Deadlines

I don't do make resolutions. They are easily broken and says failure to me. I make goals, if you have difficulty reaching a goal it is considered a minor setback, a stumbling block, not a failure.
I've divided my goals into 3 categories: personal, craft, and professional. I am also trying to keep in mind that I need a deadline on these because:

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.”

— Napoleon Hill             

Personal: 

• Spend time each day reading my Bible. I spend the last moments of each day reading a bit in the Bible hoping God's Word will be the focus of my dreams and coasting thoughts (coasting is that period between fully awake and fully asleep). It's not study and I don't think isn't adequate but it's a start.

• Live as simply and clutter free as possible. I am continuing to sell, donate or dump stuff I don't use. My house has too many stamp sets, craft supplies and vintage crochet and knitting patterns I don't have space for. I HATE throwing anything remotely useful away so I am selling crafty stuff on Etsy. I plan on posting a lot more sets and patterns to my shop this week but this time I am putting a time limit on their sale.  If they are not sold by the end of February they will be trashed or donated. If you know of a charity that could use these items I would love to hear about it. 

• Keep the whole house (fairly) clean. I am doing a pretty good job of tackling an area a day on the clean goal and tomorrow will be an all out attack on clutter and dirt. Then my goal is to put together a cleaning schedule making the job more daily maintenance than cleaning time suck. Of course as Erma Bombeck said, Cleaning the house while the children are growing is like shoveling snow while it's still snowing.

• Take the risk and meet new people. My house is becoming like a hermitage and that is never good. So I need to get out of the here more often and introduce myself to at least 2 people a week.

Craft:

• Finish the umpteen projects that I have started. I've identified the unfinished projects that haunt me most: the scrapbook pages that have no journaling or just Post-it notes with ideas scrawled on them and the card sets that are a card or two from completion. I would like to get these done by the end of January. The motto for craft this year, "Just get on with it." Remember the word for the year is COMPLETE.

• Don't start a new project if I have 3 or more unfinished projects waiting to be worked on. Some projects require drying or curing time and it would be silly to stop creating, especially if the mood hits, while waiting on something else. But I do need to journal when I'm working on a page not days, weeks, months or years later.

• Submit projects to publication and designs to manufacturers. I am working on the research into which publications & manufacturers are the best fit for my work.

• Increase followers on this blog. This blog is networked on Facebook and I can't see an of the analytics until I reach 20 followers so I would like to have 20 blog followers via FB by June. I guess if a goal is something you can do yourself then this one is really more of a wish. I will try and share more projects and useful information to make following worthwhile. Tomorrow I plan on beginning a series called Silhouette Sunday where you can get my designs and a few tips I have figured out. I need a few bits of information before I can post but if not this weekend then next weekend for sure.

Professional:

• Become proficient in more Adobe programs. I start classes on Web Design and Animation in February and am quite excited to be a student again. I love learning stuff.

•  Become employed (preferably in a job that I can also do from home if my kid gets sick). I'd love a job the feeds the soul and crafty spirit but I need one that feeds the belly and provides shelter from the elements.
  

Happy Crafting,

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