new directions

It's been a while since I've posted here. Some of it was frustration at having so many things I wanted to do fall through. Some of it was business at work and at home. Some of it was pure laziness. And some of it was time spent working on a new plan. The good news is, with the possible exception of laziness, all of the other excuses have been resolved. Sometimes you need the rug pulled out from under you in order to get a new perspective. Thanks to that and some very synchronistic events, I am finally in the process of completely remaking my life, at least for the short term. Here's the plan:

- Take 6 months off work (leave of absence approved)
- Put possessions in storage, purge what I can
- Move to Santa Fe (I've got a great 6-month house/pet-sitting gig lined up)
- Attend Natalie Goldberg's year-long writing intensive (part one just finished)
- Write (do daily writing practice, finish my november novel and get to work on my next project)
- Get healthy (cook, exercise, sleep, breathe clean air, stay away from coyotes and centipedes)
- Reinvigorate my creativity (365 project, sewing, painting, etc.)
- Read good books
- Figure out what I want to do next with my life and where I might want to do it

I'm currently working out new daily routines to be put in place once I reach my destination (some time in late March) and will post that and more soon. Until then, enjoy a little taste of my soon-to-be sanctuary.

week five: meaningful work

for the past several years i have noticed an increasing disconnect between my work (job) and my values. not that the companies i have worked for are lacking in any way, just that what i want to do with my life and the way i want to live it are no longer aligned with the reality of an 8:30-5:30 job in technology or ecommerce. that gives me two choices: a) find a way to make it work, or b) find something else. which brings us to week five: meaningful work.

values: define "meaningful"
interests: document the things i am passionate about (both activities and causes)
experience: assess what i already know how to do, what i'm good at and whether it interests me and aligns with my values
options: take a close look at everything listed above and come up with a list of options (keeping in mind that not every goal has to be fulfilled by my job)
plan: outline my goals and the steps i need to take to reach them 

food challenge: cauliflower
declutter challenge: office

related reading:
your heart's desire
the creative entrepreneur
the business startup checklist and planning guide
u-turn

week three: financial security

welcome to week three, the week of financial security. you may have noticed that this is a late addition to my original line-up, but it seemed important enough to slot in early (bumping personal style to week six).

getting your financial ducks in a row can not only help you reach your goals, but it can also reveal a lot about your values and how well your actions align with what you say you value. i am definitely expecting another eye opening week. let's break it down... (note that this week's list is more goal based than resolution based)

spending
- determine where my money is really going
- review all spending including places where i don't spend but should
- note times when i decide to save not spend (passing on a smoothie or a pair of shoes)
- think about home ownership

income
- identify and review all income sources
- identify additional potential sources
- think about barter

savings
- review savings including 401k
- implement plan to save 30% of income per month
- deposit "saved" or refunded money into dedicated savings account

management / prioritization
- create and implement a realistic budget (current and ideal)
- set up and use online bill-pay
-  identify and implement simple savings opportunities (downgrading cable for example)

declutter challenge: files (including digital) and in-apartment storage

food challenge: black beans

i also wanted to note that i have a number of nagging tasks associated with money management at least a few of which i hope to tackle this week:
- 401k rollovers
- fix sprint data plan
- fix computers (dell and lenovo -- before the warranty runs out and it costs a whole lot more)
- will

related reading
your money or your life
the courage to be rich
personal finance for dummies
suze orman's 2009 action plan
how to survive without a salary
we the savers blog

to quote zyzzyva editor howard junker:* onward!

* howard junker is well known in literary circles for personally reading every submission to the zyzzyva slush pile. his rejection form letter is always the same with the above encouragement scrawled in his own hand across the top.

week two: stronger relationships

welcome to week two. this week's plan -- to find ways to strengthen the most important relationships in my life. for me, when things get busy, relationships always seem to take a back seat to work. partly because they don't have deadlines, partly because the consequences of missing work deliverables have the potential for dire financial consequences, and partly because the people who love you understand. the thing is, without a good support system, managing the stresses that come up in life is that much harder. in fact, for me, strong relationships are second only to good health when it comes to leading a happy, healthy, balanced life (hence its position in my list). to that end, here's this week's plan.

family
the good news is, most of my family is nearby and we are all pretty close. but that doesn't mean there aren't things i can do to make our relationships even stronger. the first one should be easy, but it's always the easiest thing to forget.
- be more appreciative of everything they do for and mean to me
- schedule time to see my grandma at least once per month (she turns 100 this month, so must make time)
- spend more time with my nephews and niece when she is in town (they grow up too fast)
- communicate with my brother more (he only lives two states up, but i rarely talk to him because it makes me miss him more)
- (and this will be the hardest of all) find a way to forgive my uncle (honestly, i don't even know what for, but even though just thinking about this stresses me out, i'm tired of carrying it around)

friends
i actually have a good number of friends but i rarely talk to any of them (except one) and see them even less, and while i would like to see more of all of my friends in general, there are probably five or six that i really miss, and keeping up with them on facebook, livejournal and their blogs, just isn't enough. i also have one lost friend who i would really like to reconnect with.
- reach out to the five or six
- make time to see them (already have a day scheduled with one)
- try and track down christine (so far no luck online, but may have more info buried in my storage space which would be a longer-term project)

partner
- assume the best intentions
- be nicer / make the extra effort
- talk more about the things that matter
- be more available

self
- schedule a day (or at least a few hours) of self-pampering this week
- regularly schedule dates with myself (that involve doing fun things, not vegging in front of the TV)
- stop with the pressure
- journal about this topic in morning pages

declutter challenge: the bedroom, of course
food challenge: tofu (no good reason, just sounds yummy)

interestingly, in the last couple of weeks since i started thinking about this project, i've already started to work on several of these things and others have just happened randomly, like an impromptu chat session initiated by my favorite uncle in new york. but the big goal is for all of this to become second nature. it probably won't happen in a week, but at least i can get the ball rolling.

related reading:
the highly sensitive person in love
getting to commitment
be the person you want to find

week one: better health

okay, so i'll admit it. i cheated a little bit. to get ready for week one i did a few things ahead of time so i could hit the ground running. you already know i joined a gym. i also met with a nutritionist to get some advice on how to tackle the diet part of the program. i even started meditating. but enough about prep-work. here's the plan:

exercise
- stretch every morning
- gym 3x/week
- take the stairs
- walk (yes, mall-walking counts)

diet
- eat breakfast every morning (sitting down)
- take vitamins
- eat 5-6 small meals a day; include protein in each
- weekly food challenge: cook selected food three new ways

emotional balance
- sleep 7+ hours/night (or at least in bed by 11)
- create and implement daily routines
- write morning pages
- meditate
- begin mindfulness work

environment
- 15 minute pick-up every day
- weekly declutter challenge: purge one room per week

it looks like a lot on paper, but each one is really a pretty small change, so it should all be completely doable. i guess we'll know soon enough. (check my joesgoals banner to watch my progress.)

this week's book and website reference list:

Grow Younger, Live Longer
The Self-Healing Cookbook
The Schwarzbein Principle
The Wheat-Free Cook
8 Minute Meditation
A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook
The Power of Now
The Highly Sensitive Person
How Did I Get So Busy?
You Can Find More Time for Yourself Every Day
Let Go of Clutter
Unclutter Your Life in One Week
Rightsizing Your Life
FlyLady.com

some i've read, some i plan to read, others i'll probably just flip through and pull out whatever sounds interesting, but i will post reviews when i have them.

the plan

okay, so a couple of days i hinted at a plan. here it is in a nutshell:

5 weeks, 5 goals

week one: better health
week two: stronger relationships
week three: personal style
week 4: joie de vivre
week 5: meaningful work

each goal will contain a number of smaller resolutions and actions, some of them already in motion, others to be added on as i go along. each week i will not only work on the goals for that week, i will also try to maintain everthing from the previous weeks as well. i've even set up a joesgoals account to help keep me on-track (and give you all a chance to check up on me). you can see the overview in the right column. want more detail? just click.

week one starts monday. between now and then i'll be posting more details for each goal.

every project needs a plan

so now that i've figured out what fabulous means to me, it's time to figure out just how to take my life from drab back to fab.

the first step is deceptively simple. all you have to do is figure out which parts of your life need work. of course the short answer for me is all of them, but that's not at all helpful (not to mention completely overwhelming). so i decided to break it down into more manageable chunks. for me it boils down to five basic goals:

- good health
- strong relationships
- meaningful work
- personal style
- joie de vivre

of course, these are all still pretty broad, but at least it's place to start. and since, for me, good health is the foundation for being able to accomplish anything else, that's where it truly begins.