Welcome, January!

I got this fortune with my Chinese food the other day (third time in a week -- love being home). I'm definitely going to take this as a sign and not as a meaningless note in a cheap cookie.

There are a lot of things that I want to accomplish this month, and people say that sharing your goals with others can help make you more accountable. That's where you lovely Internet friends come in handy. I'm going to share my goals with you and then track my progress. Hopefully it will help me stay on track.

January Goals:

• Start and keep up with my Photo-A-Day project.
• Work out at least twice a week.
• Begin freelancing as a full-time job.
• Go somewhere I've never been.
• Read 3 books. 
• Get better about my diet.

I know some of these goals are vague and that the first step to accomplishing goals is to set achievable ones, but these will do just fine for now.

What do you hope to accomplish this month?

Deck garden and the Summer of Skills

I've been keeping busy with little projects ever since I got back from my vacation in New York. I've also been applying for jobs, but I haven't had much luck with that. I decided that I wanted to spruce up my deck, so yesterday I created my own deck garden. I'll post some pictures after everything starts flourishing, but I now have green beans, okra, tomatoes, peppers, and some pretty flowers to tend to. I also have a wasps' nest to avoid when I water plants, so if anyone has any suggestions for natural wasp repellents that work, PLEASE let me know.

I've deemed this summer the Summer of Skills, because I want to learn as many things as I can. Yesterday was a pretty good start. In addition to starting my deck garden, I installed a doorbell and learned how to replace carpet.

I have a lot of skills that I need to improve, so in addition to learning new things, I want to practice the things I already know. It's important to stay busy while I'm searching for a job, because it's so easy to fall into a pattern of sitting around doing nothing. I'm going to make an effort to include blogging regularly on my list of things to do, but we'll just have to wait and see how that goes. :)

Concrete Steps To Feeling Better About Life

I know I'm no expert on life, but lately I've been making an effort to improve myself and my outlook on things. I want to be a better person and enjoy life to the fullest, and I wanted to share my list of things that have helped me in case there is anyone out there also looking to improve.

1. Get a better diet. 
• Cut out all the fast food and other unhealthy food that you eat.
2. Exercise.
• Commit to exercising a few times each week. You'll feel better and eventually look better as well.
3. Spend less time wasting time.  
• Spend less time browsing Tumblr, lurking around the internet, napping, and/or watching Netflix when you're bored. Instead, spend that time doing something you're interested in or getting a head start on something.
4. Have less stuff.
• Get rid of a lot of the clutter and useless things that you've collected over the years. If you haven't used it in the last 30 days and aren't going to use it in the next 30, you can probably get rid of it.
5. Maintain a cleaner environment. 
• Keep the places you spend a lot of your time cleaner.
6. Make more ME time.
• Spend time alone and use it for things that will help your future. Write, create, do whatever you need to to better yourself.
7. Dress better. 
• Take the time to dress better; you'll feel better.
8. Take vitamins.
• Take a Vitamin C and multivitamin every morning.
9. Pursue your interests. 
• Research some potential interests or careers and then actually try to do those things.
10. Stop trying to be like everyone else. 
• Just be yourself instead of trying to be a combination of people you like. It will make you feel less stressed about not living up to someone else's lifestyle.
11. Stop procrastinating and creating unnecessary stress in your life. 
• Do things earlier rather than later. All-nighters really aren't that fun, especially when you had plenty of time to get whatever you're working on done early. 
12. Try harder.  
• Give everything you do your all. You want your name to be associated with someone who works hard. 
13. Stay positive.  
• Positive energy pays off. There's a good quote about not being able to control your situations, but being able to control how you react to them. Try to see the positive in everything. It might be hard at first, but just like anything, after you do it enough it will just become second nature.

If you have any other suggestions for ways to be happier or have a better life, please leave them in the comments! I'd love to hear them.

Goals for February

I've always been a very goal-oriented person. I write to-do lists everyday (sometimes more than once a day) and always try to get everything crossed off. Actually, if I don't write a to do list, I probably won't get anything done.

My goals for February are:

1. Contact at least 3 companies that I'm interested in working with after graduation.
2. Create at least one thing each week.
3. Order business cards.
4. Get at least 50 followers on Twitter.
5. Finish rough draft of book.
6. Finish my daily goals lists.

The most challenging things are going to be getting new followers and finishing my rough draft. I've always felt that to do lists that don't challenge you are boring, so this is good.

Oh and if you're looking for a neat place to keep your to do lists online, check out TeuxDeux.