The Power of Writing Down Goals...

I've been sitting here thinking about last year's scrappy goals and how this year will compare. What I am about to write is not meant to be boastful, but to hopefully inspire you to set/reach for your goals. When I set them last year I really didn't think they'd all happen (afterall, I can't control other people's decisions) but I was hopeful. For the first time ever, I decided to write them down and I think that really made all the difference.  Writing them down and keeping them in plain sight here at my scrappy desk really helped me navigate and focus on what I wanted to accomplish.  I never really set goals like this before but now I can see how important it can really be.

My 2011 Goals:

• Make a manufacturer design team - thank you Imaginisce & Lori Allred. For the record, there were teams I tried for and did not make as well.
• Design for a kit club - have you seen the kits from Scrapbook Circle and Birds of a Feather?
• Become a Sketchy Thursdays design team member - I have loved getting to know the team and players this past year!
• Get published in an online magazine - Thank you ScrapStreet.com & Scrapbook News & Review
• I didn't write this one down, thinking I'd save it 'til 2012 but it was in the back of my head - High aspiration goal to get published in a print magazine - See page 14 of Creating Keepsakes January 2012, picked up mid-2011. 
• I even accomplished a few things that weren't on my list - other great challenge blog design teams like The Studio and a guest designer spot for a new manufacturer, Simple Stories, etc.
• Make new scrappy friends and grow bonds with my "old" friends - see my blog roll to the left.

 
So here I sit pondering this year's scrappy goals. I don't have them all ironed out yet but I'll share a few:

• Make a new manu design team and/or secure guest spots; submit projects to be "spotted" 
• Participate in more online challenges
• Take a photography class to get off auto mode; maybe a scrappy one too
• Get published in at least two leading print publications - must remember that I have to actually submit my work in order to meet this goal!
• Take a photo a day - Project 365
• Q&A sessions with each member of the family
• Participate in Project Life or Project 12
• Hoard less, giveaway more...
• Do more, faster so I can have more time to make memories with my family! This is the most important of all - more time with the family!

What are some of your goals? Leave me a comment or link me to your blog so I can read about your plans for 2012. As I clean out my scraproom I might just find some scrapilicious goodies for a RAK.

Before you go, I meant to post my "Best of 2011" projects on New Year's Day but better late than never, right? Here's a few of my FAVES in no particular order. Click to Enlarge.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Don't forget to share your 2012 plans in my comments! I'm going to sit down with my family and do this exercise as well. I think it will be a great learning experience for us all. When doing it with the kids, I add some short term goals in with a long term goal because I think we all know 1 year is a long time to the kiddos.