11 Goals To Enhance Your Life This Year

I love the beginning of each new year, for me it’s always meant rejuvenation and an opportunity to look at new goals for personal growth and overall life skills that enhance daily life. By the end of the year it’s amazing and uplifting to reflect on all that you’ve accomplished, experienced and added to life and say: “This year I added this, this and that to my personal toolbox of experiences, skills and tools.” Fun stuff!

Here are a few ideas for helping define New Year’s Resolutions for yourself…

11 Goals To Enhance Your Life This Year

1. Choose One New Thing To Learn: Take a class for something you’ve always wanted to know how to do…learn how to knit, how to crochet, woodworking, embroidery, gourmet cooking, first aid, oil painting, wine making–whatever it is that sparks your interest, go for it this year!
2. Eliminate One Negative Distraction: Media gossip taking too much mental space? Spending too much time complaining with and about others? World news or politics haunting you hourly? Cut the negative noise, focus on weeding out one distracting habit at a time…you won’t believe how much more productive and content you’ll be!
3. Embrace One Positive Influence: Focus on making room for more time for something positive in your life. Nurturing friendships, seeking uplifting discussion or information, spiritual reflection.
4. Honor Your Family: With your time, laughter, forgiveness, respect, generous acts, support and encouragement…then enjoy what blossoms from that.
5. Nurture Your Home: Determine areas that need improvement–cleaning, baking & cooking, organize. Make pretty the best you can with the resources you have. Appreciate. Read 10 Secrets To Rewarding Homemaking for some inspiration.
6. Develop One Healthier Lifestyle Habit: Exercise, eat better, cut fatty foods and snacks, quit smoking, cut the soda pop, walk more.
7. Stretch Yourself–Do Something Terrifying: Public speaking, belly dance class, volunteer for your political party of choice, fundraise for a good cause.
8. Teach Something: Volunteer to teach a community class, start a blog and share your experience or knowledge, share family recipes, history and traditions with younger family members.
9. Reduce Something: Clutter, debt, overspending, household waste (recycle & repurpose).
10. Focus On One Area For Increased Independence: Make more instead of buying ready-made (food, gifts), learn how to fix more instead of hiring or purchasing replacement, grow more of your own food–even if it’s just kitchen herbs, work on debt reduction.
11. Stretch Your Generosity: Regularly do something a bit out of your way that helps someone else–give a co-worker a ride home, offer a helping hand to an elderly neighbor, donate clothing and household items to a struggling family–all with no strings attached.

Some goals you may let go of over time, but some will flourish. The fun is appreciating the journey–and where it leads you to next .

Happy New Year!

Originally Published January 1, 2008

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