For a long time, I honestly thought I was writing out goals. That's what you're supposed to do, right? Make a list of everything you want to do (your goals), then do them. So I wrote my goals out. A list of goals to accomplish for the day. A list of goals to knit for the year. A list of goals to accomplish by the time I reached my 50th birthday. Weight goals. Household goals. Life goals.
And every day, no matter how much I get done, I never managed to complete the goals for that day. Or that year. Or that lifetime. It's very discouraging. No matter how good my intentions are, I'm a failure because I just can't seem to meet all my goals.
This past week, I've been making a list of my goals for the year. I have a list of things that I want to knit (many of which were on my list from last year). I have a list of things I want to accomplish (many of them left on the list of things to do before my 50th). I have a list of things I want to get for the house. Then I thought of a list of places I want to go. And a list of books I want to read. And a list of things I want to try. And I started looking at my lists, and realized that they weren't lists of my goals. They were just lists. I'm a list maker.
Each day at work, I list everything that needs to be done. I'm never going to have time to do everything on the list. But by writing it all in one list, I can see which things absolutely have to be done, which things I should do, and what I can do when there's time in between the important tasks. I'm not getting everything done, but the list gives me the opportunity to see the possibilities.
I like that -- I'm listing possibilities rather than goals. I don't have to feel guilty for being a failure because I didn't meet all my goals. I can be proud of how many possibilities I met. This year, I'm going to embrace the listmaker in myself, and the only resolution I'm making for the new year is to enjoy the possibilities.
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