Given that its January 1st, perhaps we'll do our annual "goals" and our periodic "lifestyle challenge" all in a single shot!
Lifestyle Challenge
For those new to the challenges, it isn't to compete against others. It's to push yourself to greater heights, have some company & inspiration along the way, and a few ideas the help get us focused. For example, you can use this waving of the analytical knife to help organize your goals:
1) Exercise - Set a specific plan or goal(s). Keep us posted weekly (or more) on your progress!
2) Creativity - Music, art, writing, acting...set a goal to complete by month's end. Keep us posted!
3) Personal life - Re-affirm your personal relationships, get to that project/chore you've been avoiding, or just read a book you've always wanted to read!
4) Professional life - Set a work goal or change jobs or....just tell us what it is and keep us posted!
My goals include doubling my shoulder strength as well as fixing a lingering hip & lower back issue. In addition, a greater focus on mixing up the workouts to include more agility, flexibility, and endurance training. And to maintain my low bodyfat percentage.
Creatively, several of my projects (namely, the Monday Classic Cover series) overtook my stated goals from last year, so I plan to return to them. To wit: I'd like to release TWO albums this year....one featuring original compositions of mine and the other recording original compositions of singer-songwriter friends like DJ Crowe and Travis Warnken.Personal life goals is to find better balance so I can spend more time with ALL my grandbabies and more frequent trips to Georgia to see my parents and sister. This is the same as last year, and while I managed to trek to GA, I have not managed proper balance with grandbabies...so working on that one now!
Professional life....well, that could be an entire entry. To over-simplify: financial stability and increased creative endeavors (including more custom composition work for commercial purposes and more stage time). Exactly the same as last year - haha!
How about YOU?
New Year Goals
I've seen interesting "health" break-downs over the years, but recently revisited the concept. I rather like the one listed below, and I include it here in the hope that it is of some utility to you. I wrote a brief article ARE YOU HEALTHY over at Skinny Devil Magazine giving a tad more detail for anyone interested.
1) Physical health
2) Psychological health
3) Intellectual health
4) Social health
5) Environmental health
6) Occupational health
7) Spiritual health
8) Financial health
Soooo....2020 sees me (based on last year's list):
1) re-evaluating my diet & exercise plan, but I crushed this in 2019 and hope to do so again.
2) working towards a focus on banishing negative thoughts,
3) re-focusing on intellectual exercise (more on this later),
4) getting out more in social settings & see friends more often,
5) I'm feeling pretty solid on environmental health and have learned to minimize interactions with negative situations, and
6) hard to top my current occupational health at the moment, though I'm attempting to re-align some balances between my work as a performer, writer, teacher, and producer. I'll likely articulate these more specifically in the coming months.
7) still grappling with some difficulties in articulating spiritual goals, so there is little improvement here over last year, unfortunately....though I've made time for additional contemplation, so that is at least a marginal net gain.
8) financial health.....the area of biggest concern for a self-employed musician. Quoting directly from last year:
"Without being overly specific, I clearly need increased stability, more robust return on current revenue streams, and the creation of new highly viable streams. This is of special concern to all of us who are self-employed (as it takes twice the annual income as our employed peers to match their standard of living since we have to pay 100% of things like unemployment/disability insurance, business insurance, health insurance, various retirement plans, and the like). In concrete terms: the per capita income in KY (the state where I live) is roughly $39,000 per year (far below the national average, but not so bad when adjusting for geographical cost of living). That means someone self-employed (to enjoy the same lifestyle and retirement as someone employed) has to net roughly $78,000 a year."
"Without being overly specific, I clearly need increased stability, more robust return on current revenue streams, and the creation of new highly viable streams. This is of special concern to all of us who are self-employed (as it takes twice the annual income as our employed peers to match their standard of living since we have to pay 100% of things like unemployment/disability insurance, business insurance, health insurance, various retirement plans, and the like). In concrete terms: the per capita income in KY (the state where I live) is roughly $39,000 per year (far below the national average, but not so bad when adjusting for geographical cost of living). That means someone self-employed (to enjoy the same lifestyle and retirement as someone employed) has to net roughly $78,000 a year."
I have taken steps to increase stability and open new pathways, but have largely failed to properly capitalize on them. Clearly, this will be among my primary foci for 2020.
Soooo...there's that.
What about YOU?
Soooo...there's that.
What about YOU?
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