Not a Revolution or Resolution
I may or may not have commented on my beliefs of New Year's Resolutions and the clout they hold. Of course, it is a fine endeavor to create resolutions and do your best to follow through with them. Many gain or learn from them, and any positive connotation for your life is a good one. (Our dear friend kden had weight loss as hers some time ago...and was successful at it.) I also feel it is not a life or death matter to set them, no matter what society's push to have them is. I feel goal achievement should be attempted at any time of year and not rehearsed for others at this new time. Maybe my sourpuss attitude is a long history of failed attempts by myself, or observation of friends' failed attempts which end up hindering their mood and mentality. So, in retrospect, I can't really decide if they are worth making or not. I am undecided.
Long before New Year's was knocking at my door, I had the mind set to go to local libraries and check out audio books or tapes to enhance my commute and vary my listening choices from my favorite radio programs and Cd's. I have done that recently and one I checked out was called, "The Power of Less," by Leo Babauta. Never heard of it or the author but I have enjoyed listening to the 4 Cd set. I will probably listen to them again before I return them to the library, 2 miles from work. The topic; "the fine art of limiting yourself to the essential...in business and in life." Of course, he explains different methods of limiting your time exposed to reading and replying to dozens of unimportant emails, learning how to pick and choose your commitments to work and others, or even social gatherings and volunteering. He explains how to d-clutter your desk, your life and promotes time commitment to your hobbies that make you feel good. I found this interesting...not because many methods were new to me, rather, my actions of choosing or limiting my commitments this past year were already catching momentum.
One example...through my Toastmasters club, a fellow member, Jane, decided to become Area Governor. When she was appointed this position from the district leaders, she instantly had started texting or emailing me requests to join her committees and help with certain projects. I turned them all down because I had my own commitments I wanted to keep and did not want to bite off more than I could chew. One being the new job stresses and duties. Eventually, as I accepted the responsibility as the District Public Relations Officer, I did agree to attend the fall speech contest and snap pictures for her, our club and the district Facebook page. I felt good about the help I provided, including helping her with a few, "set up the room" tasks. I forced myself to not feel bad or guilty about my limited help from her other requests. My friend KP said, "I'm glad you said no, otherwise you'd be doing all of the work."
I have already learned to pick and choose where my volunteer time is spent. I am learning to decipher what is the most valuable to others, myself, and what puts a smile on my face. This is precisely why I chose to be the PR person for the district. It is helpful all around and I enjoy it. I am learning new things about websites, promotions and marketing, and I did my first Google Hang Out Meeting with other officers in the district. The reputation I am earning, (through all fault of my own and without my noticing,) has been good. I was asked to be a presenter at the upcoming District Leaders Training in Tacoma. It usually houses 35-70 audience members and I will have a 20-30 minute spot on stage. I have a partner named Clint, who is a young man from a neighboring club helping to create a power point presentation...revolving around my speech! I am learning so much and feel honored that I was asked to present. He & I still have some fine tuning to complete before the presentation on 1/4/14, and I am getting nervous, but look at what this experience will teach me! I have done one other presentation a year ago, but to a smaller audience.
Hand in hand with my goals and efforts with Toastmasters, my bosses have acknowledged this and are looking to me more and more to do marketing for the agency. They are trying to gear me away from many mundane supervisor tasks in order to free up my time to network in the community. Whew hew! I love it! They have already asked if I could help update the website at some point. Guess what? They gave me a $2k a year raise effective next paycheck. It may not be a ton, but it basically pays for my commute gas. That's something anyway...right?
So, I know there has always been a revolution to make resolutions, but I am not sure I am going to do this. I am going to at least write down some tasks and goals to pay heed to...eventually...just not for tomorrow.
Happy New Year my friends. I hope this is a prosperous, healthy & happy year for you all. Are you ready to write 2014? Can you believe we'll be writing 2014, starting tomorrow?
Long before New Year's was knocking at my door, I had the mind set to go to local libraries and check out audio books or tapes to enhance my commute and vary my listening choices from my favorite radio programs and Cd's. I have done that recently and one I checked out was called, "The Power of Less," by Leo Babauta. Never heard of it or the author but I have enjoyed listening to the 4 Cd set. I will probably listen to them again before I return them to the library, 2 miles from work. The topic; "the fine art of limiting yourself to the essential...in business and in life." Of course, he explains different methods of limiting your time exposed to reading and replying to dozens of unimportant emails, learning how to pick and choose your commitments to work and others, or even social gatherings and volunteering. He explains how to d-clutter your desk, your life and promotes time commitment to your hobbies that make you feel good. I found this interesting...not because many methods were new to me, rather, my actions of choosing or limiting my commitments this past year were already catching momentum.
One example...through my Toastmasters club, a fellow member, Jane, decided to become Area Governor. When she was appointed this position from the district leaders, she instantly had started texting or emailing me requests to join her committees and help with certain projects. I turned them all down because I had my own commitments I wanted to keep and did not want to bite off more than I could chew. One being the new job stresses and duties. Eventually, as I accepted the responsibility as the District Public Relations Officer, I did agree to attend the fall speech contest and snap pictures for her, our club and the district Facebook page. I felt good about the help I provided, including helping her with a few, "set up the room" tasks. I forced myself to not feel bad or guilty about my limited help from her other requests. My friend KP said, "I'm glad you said no, otherwise you'd be doing all of the work."
I have already learned to pick and choose where my volunteer time is spent. I am learning to decipher what is the most valuable to others, myself, and what puts a smile on my face. This is precisely why I chose to be the PR person for the district. It is helpful all around and I enjoy it. I am learning new things about websites, promotions and marketing, and I did my first Google Hang Out Meeting with other officers in the district. The reputation I am earning, (through all fault of my own and without my noticing,) has been good. I was asked to be a presenter at the upcoming District Leaders Training in Tacoma. It usually houses 35-70 audience members and I will have a 20-30 minute spot on stage. I have a partner named Clint, who is a young man from a neighboring club helping to create a power point presentation...revolving around my speech! I am learning so much and feel honored that I was asked to present. He & I still have some fine tuning to complete before the presentation on 1/4/14, and I am getting nervous, but look at what this experience will teach me! I have done one other presentation a year ago, but to a smaller audience.
Hand in hand with my goals and efforts with Toastmasters, my bosses have acknowledged this and are looking to me more and more to do marketing for the agency. They are trying to gear me away from many mundane supervisor tasks in order to free up my time to network in the community. Whew hew! I love it! They have already asked if I could help update the website at some point. Guess what? They gave me a $2k a year raise effective next paycheck. It may not be a ton, but it basically pays for my commute gas. That's something anyway...right?
So, I know there has always been a revolution to make resolutions, but I am not sure I am going to do this. I am going to at least write down some tasks and goals to pay heed to...eventually...just not for tomorrow.
Happy New Year my friends. I hope this is a prosperous, healthy & happy year for you all. Are you ready to write 2014? Can you believe we'll be writing 2014, starting tomorrow?
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