12 in 12

Welcome to the New Year!  I hope you had a “Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr”, as they say in German.  We slid quite literally, hosting our traditional tobogganing party to begin the evening.

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12 in 12 is my own invention.  The idea is to have a shorter, snappier version of the 101 Things in 1001 Days goal-setting  project. Twelve goals.  Twelve months.

Here’s how I’m doing it: I selected 3 areas in my life where I want to achieve 12 things in 12 months.

Here’s how a friend of mine is doing it: she’s picked 12 different key words for each month.  In January, her first month to try homeschooling with a newborn, her word is ‘routine’.

The ’12 in 12′ has a monthly check-in almost built right into it, and unlike the 101 in 1001 project, I do plan to post regular updates here.  I know it will make a difference. I’ve also got a chart drawn up so that I can simply fill in the spots as I accomplish things – a nice, snappy visual that should be a reinforcement of the whole process.

I keep having great ideas for more areas – host 12 suppers for great conversations, bake 12 kinds of bread, etc.  I keep pulling myself back.  I can have an idea and do it once, twice, thrice and then let it peter out.  Not all goals and ideas need to be set in stone.  They can arise and they can pass.

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My three areas are books, connection, socks.

I want to read 12 books this year.  Parenting, crafting,and  homeschooling books don’t count.  Neither do fluffy reads.  At least 6 of those are going to be biographies, either fiction or non-fiction.  I’d originally thought I’d do 12 biographies in 12 months.  But I don’t have a lot of time to read and biographies tend to be weighty tomes.

I want to call/write my grandparents 12 times this year. In January I’ll call one while writing the other a letter and then switch back and forth.  Like many introverts, I find the phone awkward and rather intimidating.  My dear ones deserve more of me.

I want to knit 12 pairs of socks for us.  3 pairs each.  I tried doing a knit-along to this effect a few years ago and just forgot after awhile. Not a big goal considering how much I love the comfort knitting socks provide, but my family knows that knitting = love and it feels right to give them these tangible bits of my time.

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my daily thinking spot

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A few other plans for the year:

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Year-long Gift- a-Long – a knitting group on Ravelry that serves as a place to set monthly goals and to participate in quarterly challenges so that your gift giving in December (and all through the year) does not sneak up on you.

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MITs – Identifying my Most Important Things for each day.  From the article: “My MITs are my top three things I want to accomplish that day. If nothing else gets done, I’d say my day was a success if those three things happen.”  Mothers live a life that’s never done, and it’s too easy to see what isn’t accomplished each day.

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daily thinking spot – a plan to spend a little time each morning thinking about who I am, what I want, what I can give.  A time to spend in stewardship of that most important resource – myself.

My friend Christy has loaned me her copy of “Simple Abundance” and I plan to read it in the early morning, jot down any thoughts that come to me, and identify my MITs.  Simple, but a habit to build and then build on.

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