I’m sitting here in the bedroom and for the first time in forever, I am watching my television (on the channel I want and not cartoons), I am in my jammies (nothing really new there), the kids are all playing, peacefully, quietly, and without frustration or irritation with each other.
What? Did you read that right? Yes, you did.
But this post isn’t about the kids, or my jammies. You can read my new affection for the Day After Christmas since the day after seems to be turning into the week after Christmas.
Nope. Right now I’m taking the time to soak the peacefulness all in.
The other day, I had a rare few moments in the car alone. I don’t get them often and when I do, I like to crank up the music and pretend I’m not driving a minivan, there aren’t toys on the floor of my vehicle and I’m no one’s mom. In those stolen moments I get, I pretend I’m a fast track career driven woman making my next cut throat move to success.
Stop laughing. This is my dream and you’re not about to ruin it.
Anyway, back to my peaceful drive… I was thinking about the resolutions I made this year and what sort of goals I should be setting for myself now that 2009 is here.
Over at our Babyspot Blog I did outline some personal goals but I feel like if you’re going to make goals or resolutions, you really need to have a happy medium of personal and professional. If you don’t, how will you ever stop growing and changing? Life will become stagnant and boring. You’ll never learn anything new, you’ll never take a leap of faith or develop your dreams. You. Will. Just. Be.
And that’s OK for some people, but after this last year, I’ve had a taste of making fantastic things happen and I’m not about to stop now.
Here’s a short list of what I want to accomplish professionally in 2009:
See New Places. I’m already starting this with a business trip next week and that has me pumped. Hopefully I’ll meet a client of mine as well as Babyspot’s Marketing Officer, Erika. Her and I never conference call. We conference visit and it’s wonderful.
Strengthen My Connections. I’m a social network user. I love my Facebook and LinkedIn and I’m crazy about Twitter (since it’s partially how I landed being the Chief Mom at Babyspot.com) but I need to learn how to strengthen those connections and use them properly. What’s the point of having all these amazing connections if I don’t feed them and use them correctly?
Publish an Online Magazine. I love reading magazines. I’m a magazine junkie but anymore I get my news and information online. This wasn’t a fly by night thought though. The truth is that I’ve been thinking, dreaming, and really wanting this for almost a year now. I finally feel like I’m in the position to make it happen. I’ve got a niche and I know what I want in it. The next step is to put it together and make it happen. Who’s with me? {crickets chirping}.
Repay the Kindness. Specifically in terms of commenting more on the blogs I read, linking back, and being a nicer blogger. I want to stumble more. I read many good posts and articles throughout the day and it’s not right of me to not share it with others. Too many times I read something last year that really resonated with me but I didn’t let the person who wrote it know. Publicly or privately. I love it when people appreciate something I’ve written and take the time to tweet it, link it or comment so I need to practice sending that back out into the world.
There are other things sprinkled throughout these goals. I’m not “resolving”. I’m goal setting and reaching out to make 2009′s dreams come true. What will you be doing to improve or obtain your professional dreams this year?