Beyond Avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)
What should I have done this year? That's far easier than it should be. I need to create something that looks like a budget and start living on it. Fall got messy financially, mostly because of poor planning on my part and some months of weak clinical revenue. I have this "avoidance" relationship with money, in that I tend to assume it's there (sometimes I even check!) and I prefer not to think about it at any level of detail. So....2011....I'll be rehiring my financial planner from 2 years ago (he really did help!) and I'll acquiesce to his wish for me to have a (gasp!) budget. This could be interesting.
One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?
Adventure. It wasn't what I intended for my word for the year, really, but that's what the year turned into. Some of these were literal adventures, like traveling on my own in Turkey and taking on Paris again (and New York, for that matter, which intimidates me more than Paris!). There was the spiritual/ personal adventure of the 3-day in Seattle. There has been the professional/ boundary stretching adventure of directing a curriculum unit and being in the classroom for the first time in 20 years. I've had to be out on the edge quite a bit, and I've had to overcome fear in a variety of ways. The growth in the adventures hasn't always been easy, but reflecting on it reminds me that it has ultimately been fun.
If you were to ask me in a year? I hope my word will be the one I had selected for 2010- Shine. I've mentioned before that I learned a lot this year about working from a place of love instead of fear, and how much more effective that is. I consider that the heart-space equivalent of shining, and it's something I want to be at the center of me and my life in 2011.
Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
This is a no-brainer. Internet goof-off time. When I put tight restrictions on it, or when I set my "writing timer", I'm far more productive.
I don't intend to eliminate it all together (I'm a bit afraid of what would happen if I did!). I do plan to have structured writing time when I black out email and internet for 30 minutes to an hour daily (workdays only).
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