I’ve been thinking a lot over the past week considering what I want to focus on this year. I started with Tom Rath’s text, Strengths Finder 2.0. I have to admit, at first I was frustrated by the book. I wanted to be able to easily identify my strengths so I could immediately move on to ways to build on them and ideas for action. Of the 34 themes, I was able to narrow the list of possibilities down to 19. Then I took the online test. My themes are Input, Learner, Intellection, Connectedness, and Achiever. When I re-read these sections, I could pick out elements from each that I feel speak to me. Of course, there are elements in each that I don’t think apply to me, but I want to focus on the positive. Here are the first sentences of each theme…

1. “You are inquisitive.”
2. “You love to learn.”
3. “You like to think.”
4. “Things happen for a reason.”
5. “Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive.”

These are definitely on target. However, I don’t think I’m quite the Achiever that I want to be. I do have drive, and I do get energized by getting things done, but I can laze around in my PJ’s and watch movies or read pointless fiction as well as the next person. Hee. I re-read the Achiever theme and part of it is that an element of discontent will always be with me because I always want to get things done.

In the text, Rath said people in my type are energized by:
1) thinking,
2) staying current with skillsets,
3) the process of learning and the journey from ignorance to competence, and
4) the thrill of achievement and getting things done.

It will be interesting to learn more about this under the Health category below.

My challenges are to focus my energies, set challenging goals, deadlines, and outcome standards.

Also, I know that I prefer new tasks and new challenges. Consequently, I have to really work at breaking things down into manageable chunks so that I can create more new tasks instead of one huge project that seems never-ending.

However, there is one theme that I’m really attracted to and it wasn’t on my list. Woo! (Win Others Over). Even before I read this book, I had been thinking about all of the little ways that I have turned away from others because of self-doubt…not talking to others when standing in line, turning away from the person using the microwave next to me, averting my eyes, feigning business, etc. I realized how sad I was because I was unconsciously shutting others out. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to engage, but that I was nervous about their opinion of me. I want this year to be a year where I turn that around. I want to talk to strangers, meet new people, make new friends, engage them all in conversation, smile more, laugh more, be inspired by the wonderful things that they do and tell them so. Bottom line: I want to build relationships with others. And, if a smart, sexy, funny guy is in that group, then so much the better. :)

Here are things I want to work on this year…

1. Creativity and Spirit

I’ve started buying beads and want to make some jewelry. The colors and textures are just so appealing. S. gave me a text (that she chose intuitively) about the healing properties of gemstones (link coming). It’s the perfect gift to help me learn more about different stones and develop this talent.

I want to take pictures every day this year (see my project 365). This supports my desire to notice and engage with my surroundings.

Keep a daily prayer habit.

Travel and especially take more road trips (when Spring gets here and I can get my motorcycle out of storage).

2. Continue Learning

I want to update my skillsets in CSS, Photoshop, Illustrator, iMovie and GarageBand. That means about two months on each. My goal is not to become a hot-shot expert in any of these, but just to have fun and up my skill level another notch in the process.

Research my Must See places. Could I create a side business of buying and selling beads? It could make each trip tax deductible?!

Look for ways to speak, travel, and inspire others.

Blog more. New (or re-prioritized keywords): Creativity, community/web 2.0, fun, health, humor, living with purpose, spirituality/prayer, and travel.

4. Health

I’ve started reading The Writing Diet: Write Yourself Right Size by Julia Cameron. I am committed. This year I will make better choices about the food I eat and schedule more frequent workouts, and make daily walks a part of my life. I have a number in mind that’s my goal, but I’m really all about making better choices each and every day. I’ve started keeping a food journal (Moleskine) so that I can identify problem issues and work through them. I’ve reached the chapter in the book where Cameron recommends getting a food buddy who you can check in with and talk about successes and challenges. Anybody interested in starting a group blog, discussion group, conference call (or something) to encourage each other?

Also in this category — I need to pay attention to my body’s need for sleep. Forget watching TV re-runs or movies I’ve seen before. I enjoy watching movies, but I need to learn to say no to the repeats and just go to bed if I’m too tired to do anything else. I think I’d be much more productive the next morning.

Discover what energizes me, what drains me and do more of the former and less of the latter.

5. Good reads

There are so many books and blogs on my “to read” list. I need to make some sensible decisions about what I read, scan or eliminate so that I can accomplish the other things on my list.

In the stack now:
The Art of Project Management, Scott Berkun
The Pursuit of WOW, Tom Peters
Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie
Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far by Amy Grant
The Art of Power, Thich Nhat Hanh
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Ok, that’s it…the master list. Now I need to identify what makes it on the list for January, and create some tasks and deadlines.