So now that I have my introspective, auto-psychoanalysis out of the way, let’s talk fun stuff: Resolutions 2012!  It’s great to throw some goals on the board before the year has even started.  That way, you don’t even get to sleep in on New Year’s Day because you will be so excited to get started on all those shiny new goals.  My goals this year are an extension of the goals I set in 2011.  I know I wasn’t blogging yet, but the whole awakening process began at the beginning of 2011, and my main goals were:

My Goals for 2011

1. Getting back into a regular exercise routine: I did great on this because I have always been athletic and having no regular exercise just felt gross.  I play tennis twice a week, surf irregularly, and workout or run another 1-3 days a week.  But I can still do more.
2. Eating healthier and making more food at home: I started bringing my lunch to work a lot more often, and now almost never buy lunch.  At home, we make dinner maybe 2 nights a week.  We can definitely make more food at home, and since I got two awesome cookbooks for Christmas, I have no excuses.
3. Paying off debt: I started January 2011 with $41,152 in debt.  As of December 31, I will have somewhere around $34,500 in debt (exact number will come in the debt update in January).  Not too shabby!  And that was with a LOT of trips, fun stuff, and blow money being spent.  2012 will include some belt-tightening to pay off more debt.
4. Developing my professional skills:  I got my LEED Green Associate credential and I’m taking the LEED AP test the first week of January.  I took UCLA extension courses and I want to read more and listen to a lot of free recordings on Energy Star and iTunesU about energy management, sustainability and energy efficiency.  I really like what I do so I need to become the best at it.  I don’t talk much about my work here but it is really nice to have a job in a field you are interested in.  I need to continue expanding my skills and knowledge and start figuring out what graduate work I need to do.  On the side businesses, I developed a small passive income stream and I am going to work more on that as well. 
5. Improving my relationships:  As you may have figured out from my previous post, I have both amazing people and difficult people in my life.  They are both necessary and there is no doubt I have been influenced by both types.  More importantly, we determine the tone of our relationships, not just the other party.  I tried in 2011 to improve my relationships by being more considerate as well as mindful of my own needs.  I didn’t relax and not worry as much as I could have.  I am going to focus on that next year.

Those goals pretty much are going to carry over to 2012.  But since I will still be blogging in December 2012 (if the world doesn’t end), I want to make the goals for 2012 a lot more specific.  Cue the singing parrots:

Goals and Resolutions for 2012

1. Develop my relationships and spend time with the people I love.  
2. Reduce waste: Energy, water, food, consumer items and paper goods.
3. Get to know more people in LA and elsewhere.  
4. Pay off $20,000 in debt to bring my debt total to under $15,000.
5. Wake up 1 hour before I have to get ready for work, Monday through Thursday and write, do errands or work out.
6. Exercise 6 days a week.  
7. Successfully complete the Yakezie challenge.  I need to be in the top 200,000 websites by June 5, 2012.
8. Develop American Debt Project and my two other online properties into income-generating websites.
9. Buy my first place.  Ambitious, I know.  But you have to have reach goals.
10. Contribute 10% of everything I make to savings.
11. Start an herb garden in the patio!
12. Become a better photographer.  
13. Writing goals: Submit to Thought Catalog, brainstorm/start book ideas.
14. Make at least $5,000 in writing/freelance income.  This would pay for my elusive camera, an iPhone in April plus a data plan for 12 months, a trip to Virginia in April for my friend’s wedding and a trip to New Jersey next Christmas (so we can spend Christmas with my boyfriend’s family, which we haven’t done since our first year together) and have about $2,300 left over for savings and debt paydown.  I want to make MUCH more than $5,000, but let’s see how I do in January and reassess then.
15. Create monthly goals for each month, which I will announce on my blog.  Let’s start with January 2011: End the month with $300 in savings.