MMXII - MaXIMIze for 2012

I enjoy those daily calendars very much, and this year I have one called the MENSA Puzzle Calendar. The entry for today, 2 January 2012, stated that 2012 equals MMXII in Roman numerals. It then asked the reader to think of a common eight-letter word containing those letters. The word is MaXIMIze - a good theme for this year!

So I hereby dub the year 2012 as the year to MaXIMIze your self and MaXIMIze your life!

Rather than making New Year's resolutions, I prefer to develop goals and objectives to work towards for. This year, I will be working towards goals that bring more of what I want to see in my life to me - love, laughter, happiness, joy. I will also be working towards goals which help myself others become and/or continue to be/grow as healthy, happy, responsible human beings.

So, let's start with some food for thought, shall we?

What DO you want to see more of in your life?

Set out at least three things you want to maximize this year - describe how these things will manifest in your life - look, feel, taste, smell, sound. And remember, feel is both physical and emotional.

Now, think about what you can do to bring these things - the maximizing of these things - to fruition.

Set smaller goals (sometimes called objectives in "work" speak) - monthly, weekly, daily. Write them down and keep them where you can see them and reflect on them constantly. I use a white board for this purpose.

Most important of all - follow through! Don't beat yourself up because you missed a goal for a specific time (day, week, etc.). Reset yourself instead - analyze why you missed the goal and figure out how to attain that goal (if the goal is truly something you want to maximize!).

Some of the things I want to see more of in my life in concrete form are:

Writing Daily Pages (from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way)

Going on an Artist Date - enjoying and nurturing my inner child, seeing the world through those eyes instead of these old "adult" eyes all the time (again from Julia Cameron)

Exercise - I enjoy riding my bike, hiking, bird walks, and so many other things.

Yoga and/or meditation - I know I feel better and more at peace when I practice yoga, so why don' t I have more of it in my life?

These are the things I will be working on (as well as some others) during the course of this MaXIMIzing year! What will you be working on?