Eight Goals for 2012

Happy New Year to all of my readers! I hope that you had a wonderful time ringing it in! We spent the evening making and eating a delicious meal, drinking wine and cava, watching a favorite film, and dancing.

I'm sure lots of people are setting twelve goals for 2012 or setting goals to run 12 races in '12, but I decided that I needed to set fewer long term goals this year and use my monthly goal-setting in a more focused way in order to achieve some big things this year. As usual, I have divided my goals up into categories.

Running and Health Goals
1. Run 800 miles in 2012. I came very close to meeting this same mileage goal in 2011, and I have increased my annual mileage each year since 2008. I'm planning on focusing on half-marathons and 10Ks this year, so rather than increasing my goal mileage I'm holding it steady because I want to . . .

2. Get faster. More specifically I want a 10K and a half-marathon PR in 2012. I'm planning on running 3 half-marathons and a couple of 10Ks over the course of the year, and I want to work on getting my legs stronger and more capable of speed at those medium distances.

3. Continue my home yoga practice and take some classes at a studio (or studios). I looked at taking some classes at the Y, but at least during the semester their offerings are not going to work with my teaching schedule. There are a couple of possibilities that might work with my schedule at another local studio, though, so I'm going to drop in for a class or two and see if I like it. If I do, I'll buy a 10-class pass and use it through the winter and spring. I'm also hoping that there will be some visits to my beloved Kundalini studio in Madrid this summer. Those days that I don't do yoga, I still want to spend at least a few minutes being still and meditating.

4. Maintain my food journal for the entire year. I did okay with this in 2011, but I definitely could have done better. I'll be employing the sticker calendar system again. I also read a fascinating and sobering article on maintaining weight loss in the NYT recently, so I think continuing awareness of making healthful choices is something that I need to be diligent about doing.

Writing and Professional Goals
5. Write or Revise a minimum of 3 pages/week of academic writing for the entire year.  There is some research that shows that writers who log their writing and hold themselves accountable to others by checking in write almost 10 times as much annually as those who don't. I hope to do quite a bit more than 3 pages most weeks, but my goal is to maintain a consistent habit of writing even when I have way too much other shit going on. The projects I will be mainly working on under this objective are:
A) Submit at least two articles to journals for publication. While I can't completely control what reviewers and editors will decide regarding my submissions, I can do more research and writing and get things out the door.
B) Send my book proposal to publishers, get a book contract, finish writing the manuscript itself. The book proposal is a carry-over from last year, and I'm determined to achieve it this year. I will also continue to write/revise book chapters.
C) Apply for grants that will enable me to do more research. I'm hoping that I can find some funding sources that will allow me to make trips to archives in Spain and Mexico and to use the resources of other libraries and collections over the next year or so.

6. Look into doing service for a professional organization. I'm a member of several professional associations, and I'm interested in doing something in terms of service - sitting on an awards committee, helping with newsletter publication, something along those lines.

Personal Goals
7. Keep a wine and beer journal. I would like to visit some wineries, as well. But for now I'll focus on documenting what I buy, drink, and enjoy (or alternatively think is swill). I'd like to try at least one new wine each month instead of buying the same 5 bottles because I know that I enjoy them.

8. Learn to be a better photographer. In order to do this, I will participate in the 365 project this year. (Should it be the 366 project since it's a leap year?) I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've owned my DSLR for almost as long as I've had this blog, and I still don't know all of its settings. The other day I went to take some shots and realized that I still take some pretty crappy photographs with a good camera. So I want to improve this. Also my mom bought me a tripod and remote for my last birthday, and I want to make better use of the.

A lot of my 2012 goals are focused on establishing daily habits. Some of them seem a little daunting, but most will only take a few minutes a day (like meditating, jotting down my food intake, and taking at least one daily photograph), and some of the others only need half an hour or so here and there in order for me to make progress. A 20 minute yoga practice while coffee is brewing or between teaching and an hour or so of writing is better than no yoga practice at all. Similarly, I need to start approaching writing with a bit more flexibility. While I like having several hours in a day to devote to writing so that I can really  get into a zone, I also need to be better about using those 30-60 minute blocks of time that emerge here and there during teaching days.

Did you set any goals for 2012? If you posted about them, I'd love for you to link up here so that I can read all about them!