Goals for 2012

So, you may have noticed that I didn't call this post "Resolutions for 2012."  It seems like in the past, I'd make resolutions on January 1st, and then have completely and totally forgotten them by the end of February, if I even made it that long!  Last year I decided to set goals.  Before you jump in to tell me that goals and resolutions are the same thing, let me assure you that I know that.  I am, after all, a writer with a decent vocabulary ;)  But for some unknown reason, the world goal seems to place much less pressure on me than the word resolution does.

In any case, I set three goals for myself last year.  I think that overall, I did well with achieving them.  I promised myself that I'd volunteer less and therefore make more time for myself.  My sentence (errr, term) with the local SPCA ended in May, and I chose not to remain on the Board of Directors at that time.  That freed up a significant amount of time.  I didn't add any more commitments to my plate, so I'd say I volunteered less and made more time for me.

My second goal was to make new friends, which I did.  Most of my new friends are online friends, but I don't feel that there's anything wrong with that.  I have some very close friends that started out as online friends.

My final goal for 2011 was to continue to advance my photography skills as well as to advance my photo editing skills.  I took the most advanced photography class that the local community college offered, and I spent as much time as I could snapping pictures.  I have no doubt that both sets of skills have improved, through sheer numbers if nothing else.

So on to 2012.  How can I follow up such success?  It's a bit scary, sitting here with almost an entire year ahead of me, so full of promise, excitement and unknown.  But the idea is to set goals despite not knowing what's coming.  I think it helps me feel like I might just have some small amount of control over my destiny.  So here goes . . .

Goal #1 - Learn to do more with Photoshop.  I want to learn how to build simple ads for myself, and how to do more effective editing for my photography clients.

Goal #2 - I want to do twice as many client shoots in 2012 as I did in 2011.  It shouldn't be hard - I just did five client shoots in 2011, and I plan to do more advertising to really get my name out there this year.

Goal #3 - Spend special one-on-one time with Farley every day.  Let's face it, the Old Dog is 12.  He's not going to live forever, no matter how much I bargain with the Gods or plead with him to never die.  It's going to happen, and I don't want my final memories of our time together to be negative.  So every day will include special cuddling, me telling him I love him (I don't care that he can't hear me), and me giving him a bit of what he wants.

Goal #4 - Earn Grace's RAE (Rally Advanced Excellent) title, and earn Jack Jack's RA (Rally Advanced), RE (Rally Excellent) and PCD (Pre-CD) titles.

So, as lofty as those may sound (and some are rather un-quantifiable), they are my goals for 2012.  I hope to have as much success this year as I did last year.