Friday, January 02, 2009

Three Words

I learn a lot about social media and current events through blogs.  One person in particular, Chris Brogan does an excellent job of teaching through examples and providing additional resources online.  His blog entry from January 1 was helpful as he differentiated between setting resolutions and setting three word goals for the new year.  

Brogan wrote, "Think of how you want to be successful in 2009.  Then, thy to think in even broader terms.  Extrapolate on the broader terms, and find one word to hang the idea on."  

So he follows up by explaining his words for this year- equip, armies, needles- and how they apply to the goals he has set for 2009.  

Despite my 2006 and 2007 resolution successes, I failed miserably with my 2008 goal to take a daily multivitamin.  Plus, when it was all over and the ball had dropped, I wouldn't have been that much better off because of that measly resolution.  I tend to eat a balanced diet.  

So, I have three words for you, 2009.  They are: cross. catalog. carrot.  Don't mind the alliteration.  

Cross represents my idea of finding a stronger faith this year by daily reading of the Bible in chronological order.  I wanted to use my Bible in a Year book to set a devotional habit years ago, but I always seemed to fail by the time I got to Exodus.  This year the cross will remind me of both this goal towards a more faithful lifestyle as well as a motivation to connect with the church community in my neighborhood.   

Catalog is the goal to organize my free time towards the future by studying for the GRE.  It is a goal to improve my vocabulary and quantitative reasoning skills with the hope of finding professional development opportunities.  

Carrot is for cooking.  Chris Brogan has nothing on my mom, who constantly challenges and inspires me to improve my life regardless of what day of the year it is.  This idea for a nutrition goal comes from her resolution to try a new recipe each week.  I will use my carrot motivation to help remind me that learning to cook using fresh foods will not only help me avoid the multivitamin fiasco of 2008, but also help me improve my hosting capabilities.  I would like to have more 'cross' people over this year.

I'm rather visual so the idea of having words that I could easily associate with images seemed like a great way for me to remember the goals.  

What are your 2009 words? 

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