Taking Stock

The last time I took stock was January 3rd, 2007. On my blog that day I looked at my 2006 goals and decided I had accomplished about 50% of what I set out to do, then I set new goals for 2007. Now, it's that time again, time to take stock. Here's what I wrote:

The areas I will focus on in 2007 are:

1. Health
2. Work

And that is all.

Or more specifically:

HEALTH

1) Diet
a. Drink lots of water
b. Eat breakfast
c. Control portions
d. Nutrition & balance

2) Fitness
a. Walk everywhere, every day
b. Strength exercise consistently
c. Find an activity (or activities) that you enjoy and participate regularly (dancing, swimming, tennis, ?)

3) Mental
a. Yoga
b. Meditation
c. Sleep

WORK

1) Get organized & stay organized
2) Declutter and maintain
3) Plan and follow through
4) Focus and maintain focus
5) Get ahead of the workload and stay out in front
6) Develop time-saving and productive work habits

Now let's break it down. I think I accomplished more this year with regard to the work part of the goals than on the health side. I feel like I slipped on the health side of things.

I do feel more organized, uncluttered, planned and focused on the work front than ever before. If you were to check my inbox right now you'd only find 40 emails there, everything else has been filed in the right spot. This is major! A year ago you would have found hundreds, perhaps thousands. I'm getting better at dealing with email as they arrive whether to file or delete or reply or whatever action is needed.

This year I also had another hard drive blow up on me, which was relatively painless as far as my work went because everything was backed up and filed where it was supposed to be. Systems are getting better. I'm getting better. Writing the novella Sammy story changed everything with regard to my ability to maintain focus and follow a plan.

I have developed some really good work habits this year. Some strong habits. Including actually using my day planner to make a plan and then following that plan. I've not been really good at maintaining that sort of organization and focus ever before. Yes, there are still a goodly number of pages left blank as I finish off the book for 2007, but I've done well, much better than any other year. And I'm exceling at using a wall calendar, having touched every day, even if just to mark its passing. I feel I've grown more conscious of my time and in doing so have become better aware of how to more productively manage it.

I feel like I improved about 80% on the work front this year. I feel strong heading into 2008, ready to overcome more obstacles, only grow better and take things to the next level. I haven't gotten ahead of the work load yet. I'm still chasing the work. But it feels like that is the next piece to fall into place.

But health is another matter. Moving to Miramichi seemed to majorly impact my success level. There have been a lot of weeks spent in high stress and anxiety this year, many more than the year previous, all related to me moving back to Miramichi. Not that I regret the move in any way, it's just like anything else, there's been a period of adjustment.

Yes, I had months of absolute brilliance but I also had way more months of absolute crap than I'd had years previous. On the healthy balanced diet front, I think if we put my good days on one side of a scale and my bad on the other, they would not balance but the bad would weigh the thing down. I lost nutrition ground this year. I stopped eating the way I had been consistently eating in Sackville. Overall, I'd say I probably did at least 50% worse on diet this year than I did last year, quite possibly more. I need to work hard just to get back to the level I was once at.

As poorly as I did on the nutrition front, I did even worse on the fitness front. Yes, I had brilliant moments of stepping. Yes, I purchased a pedometer. But overall the year was crap as far as fitness. I walked less than the year before in Sackville. In Sackville I walked consistently. Here, I've been beyond patchy. If I lost 50% ground on nutrition, I'd have to say I've lost a good 75% ground on fitness.

As my one year anniversary of moving approaches in February, I'm feeling more calm, more settled, more stable, and better able to make up the ground I've lost and continue the journey forward.

The only physical fitness aspect where I feel I've gained any ground at all is under the sleep component. Consistently I am getting better rest here than I was in Sackville. Consistently I am getting up earlier. Rising anytime after 8 really has become a sleep in, whereas my natural rising time in Sackville was consistently after 10am and anything before 8 seemed very damn early. Yes, I still stay up late a lot of the time, but I am able to go to bed before 10pm without thinking it's too early. I'm able to function better on less hours than I used to before. This seems to be a major benefit of the move and having more natural light in my life.

I came into this exercise of taking stock really feeling as if overall 2007 was a bit of a lost year for me, a wash out, but now I'm not so sure. I have grown. And while I did lose ground in one area, I really came ahead in another. So maybe like other years before this I was actually 50% successful at what I set out to do. And accomplishing 50% is not too bad to my way of thinking.

Later I will post my goals for 2008. This year they will be wellness goals in keeping with the new year being one of wellness and accountability. Let's give the buddy system a whirl and see if it increases our success ratio.

Mood: contemplative
Drinking: instant coffee
Listening To: just me typing
Hair: uncombed, unwashed, unrazored, unkempt