Now, I am sure this is not the title of post you expect to read on any blog. But there is nothing about me is typical and way I blog here. Let’s look at my life resume in short summery, shall we?
- Quitting my 6 figure income to be home with family and do volunteer work
- Decide to home school
- We do attachment parenting with kids
- Life long vegetarian who is unsuccessfully trying to go Vegan for 7 months (can not give up yogurt yet)
- Blogging with passion and not with success plan in mind
- Not being on twitter, Facebook or other social media (lack of time, see #2 and #3)
- Hardly promoting my blog, have done only 3 guest posts and 2 online magazine contributions.
- Releasing free ebook without any knowledge of creating a digital product, other than telling a few friends, no marketing for it.I think it went well.
- Saying no to many promotional books and products and potential revenue just because I do not believe in products.
- Spending a lot on site and making 0.44 cents in my blogging life. Yes, I am shocked as well! 🙂
- Living life with no significant income last year (with me at home and Zenguy without a project for awhile)
- Making friends online with other blogger and commenter, many cool people actually.
- Living and practicing really what I write about such as being content and happy. (Some days are better)
- Being thankful for many good things happening around me and other people.
- Gaining wisdom to know that I do not know much in life.
- Relearning from my own history, that, best things in life are not things and people.
What are my goals and resolutions going forward in 2011?
I always think that is it is good to have planning and organization skills in order to be productive and successful. While I do have my planner book and general to do list, I really do not have any resolutions for past few years. It is okay to be unproductive sometimes, we could all use some down time from all productive stuff that we usually do.
Every year, I used to make same resolutions like many other well meaning people such as eating better, saving money, spending time with family, get out debt, help others more and so on. You know what, like 88% people I was already breaking my resolution goals and it was not fun getting off the wagon. So, now what do I do? I do not make new year resolutions so therefor, no chance of failing! However, I have rough goal plan that are specific.
- I want to talk to one stranger (real or online life) and make a friend.
- I want to count to ten before responding to someone whose point of view is different than mine.
- I really want to think money is not root of evil, I have been avoiding it past few years. I am all for giving but taking things I have such a hard time. I wish to have a little income to sustain our already simple and frugal lifestyle.
- Make time to read classic books and educational books.
- I am also addicted to blog reading and internet, I have told R last year, sorry, mommy is busy blogging. I generally spend 1 hour to 3 hours on each post to create mediocre posts. In addition to it takes time to go through comments, spams and emails from heart and mind blog. R was simply happy this Christmas when I was off the laptop and actually spend quality time with him. I want to balance it better.
- I have been so busy playing a blogger, teacher, friend (online and offline), daughter, sister, sister in law, daughter in law that I have forgotten to give any time to myself and Marriage, I want to change that this year.
- I want to really go on good laid back vacation with family. Maybe one day I can convince my relative to do a big reunion type of outing, if everyone’s schedule met.
- Provide more values to my family and on my blog. Doing my best without expecting (This is toughie)
- Just have fun. What if I do not achieve any of this? I will be still me. It is okay to fail, as long as I tried my best. You should do the same.
- It is okay to cry and feel down. But when I am done wallowing in my own sorrow, I want to get up and improve upon whatever was bothering me.
- My last goal is to “Live and let other live”. I sometimes think when we love and dictate how one should live, we are suffocating them with love. So, let others be. Be supportive, even if I do not get the why they do things certain way.
I have learned a lot in year 2010 and there are many things to still learn. Here are some of the reasons, I am starting off 2011, new year with trials and errors and changing course of action as needed, if needed.
Hope I survive! and I hope all of your survive and thrive.
Other Important note; My friend Evelyn from Healthier you have just released a free ebook, 10 important keys to become healthier. Please go and download it for free, it is timely as many of us want to start off new year becoming healthier. While you are check out Evelyn’s blog, as she has wonderful tips on healthy living as well as blogging topics too.
Zengirl.
Hi Preeti,
I love your goals for 2011. There are so honest and heartfelt! You have clearly expressed the reasons for wanting to change, especially balancing your time better for your family. Since they are important to you, I am sure you are likely to achieve this goal.
I know what it is like to feel down from time to time. We all need time outs, myself included. But once that is done, it is always good to focus on the solutions and not the problem, that has always been my motto to moving forward.
I too am struggling to make money with Han of Harmony. I have not blogged as long as you have, neither have I actively marketed anything. But my goal is to earn passive income from my website. Hopefully that will become a reality this year. I know all too well how hard it can be to have no income.
For 2011, let us survive together then! It shall be a year of survival for us all! 🙂
Irving the Vizier
Happy New Year Preeti,
I wish you all the best in 2011. I’m sure you’ll accomplish all your goals too.
I really admire your decision to not be on any social networks, esp. Facebook. Some may view it as anti-social, but it’s anything but. Spending too much time on social networks sacrifices time away from real, face to face contact and socializing.
Happy New Year Preeti! I wish you more health, success, happiness, peace of mind, and prosperity 🙂 I’m like you don’t create new resolutions. For me, every day is a new day that I can use to accomplish my goals. Thanks for sharing
Dear Irving,
Happy new year! I wanted to share and be transparent here otherwise it would not be real me.
I believe I have achieved a few thins and failed at few things but I hope I am growing and evolving to be better person. I just realized I am this blog for now 9 months only but I have first started blogging almost 17 months ago. 🙂 I hope we all do better this year.
Angela,
Thank you, I wish you the same. It is always nice to see your smiling face here. I am starting off new year right with close online and offline friends.
Henway,
Social media if done properly can bring traffic and sales, but I simply do not have time nor have self control as I tend to overdo everything so I am off. Everything in balance works better and there are lot of people out there, who just do that.
Happy new year!
Dia,
Happy new year! I wish you very much the same and learn and evolve more. Yes, resolutions do not work with me, taking one day at time and making small goals seemed to work better. I hope this new year bring good thing for all of us.
Don’t worry, Preeti, I’m not making any money blogging either! You have to do it because you love it, and maybe someday make money from it. I think your goals for the New Year are reasonable ones. I think you should be able to achieve them. I wish all the best for you and your family in 2011!
Hi Preeti,
I like the way you tell your goals for 2011. To me it shows what a real human being should be.
Don’t worry too much about the money part since you already have the most important of life: A loving family! So many people spend an entire life chasing money just to find later in life that they wasted their time, and find themselves alone.
Have a wonderful 2011, together with your loved ones.
Thank you for your friendship! 🙂
Raul
Preeti,
You have so many heartfelt goals for the coming year! I wish you success. I too am aiming for balance in blogging. And I hope you are able to increase your income too.
trials and errors are all part of self discovery and they help us get clear on what we really desire & get clear on our priorities. It’s a discovery of choices and decisions.
🙂
Here’s to a happy, successful, adventurous 2011
Hi Preeti,
I enjoyed your post. I too need balance with my child and marriage..when it comes to blogging. So I have set a few goals and hopefully I will achieve those goals and reach the balance that I am aiming for.
I’m up early today and that is my plan..to rise early and do what I need to do, before my dear daughter awakes. Once she awakes, online stuff is stopped. This is day 1, so let’s see how it goes. 🙂
Thank you for acknowledging me in your post! Have a great 2011, and I hope that you reach all the goals that you have set for yourself this year.
Take care,
Evelyn
Thats funny. Counting to ten before you respond to anyones point of view different than your’s. It’s true most of us reaction hastily to objective perspectives. It’s best to be calm, think a bit and realize not everyone is going to see the world like you do.
Jonathan,
I have found that counting works well for me at least, as I am very open person in real and online life. It is always easy to react but tough to constrain.
Evelyn,
I think waking up early and getting your work done before family wakes up is very good idea. I have to practice that a lot. I wish you well in 2011 and knowing you, I know you will. Keep up the great work.
Aileen,
Yes, for me, my laid plans works sometimes, trial and errors and correcting them as I go along is working as I never know what is up ahead. This is laid back approach that keeps me bit sane.
Wishing much successful 2011 for you and kaizen vision.
Sandra,
My goals are very simple and laid back, so I am hoping I can get to some of it. Balancing various things we juggle is sometimes toughest thing for us, specially me. And I am working on that. I wish you much success and joy in 2011. I learn always a lot from you and others. Thanks for stopping by.
Raul,
Thank you. I try to be honest and not show inflated achievement to keep myself in check.
Yes, I am happy to be loving family who is understanding when I am on computer blogging and blog related activities, I wish I can balance blog, money, family all well some day. Thank you for being a friend and wish you best 2011.
Betsy,
Thank you, wishing you best 2011 to you and Bargain guy. I blog because I love it as do not think of it as a business but as self improvement on my part. I wish it could balance it better though. Let’s see. Here is wishing you best 2011 and happiness.
Thanks Steve, Happy to be part of your Sunday Selections again!
Hi Preethi,
Happy New year , hope you had a blast 🙂
I love the way you planned your 2011 goals.
One thing I really inspired from your blog and started converting in to action already effective from Jan 1st 2011 is
No spending month. I have fixed a very low budget for this January, Divided amount for 4 weeks. Irrespective of what ever happens , I am not gonna cross my weekly budget which is going to be a major change at the end of this month. I am planning to follow this for Jan and based on the results , I am going to continue for the rest of the year.
Once again , I thank you so much for your time as well as your blogs.
If my first resolution gets success , I gonna dedicate this achievement solely to http://www.happyheartandmind.com
Since I have tried saving money many times in past but never tried it soo seriously , after looking at your blogs now I have decided to take it up on a serious note 🙂
Preeti: Happy New Year. I really loved this post and hearing you reflect on all that happened in 2010 and what you are going to accomplish in 2011. I really appreciated how many of your goals for 2011 were focused on living life in balance and making certain that you have room and time for the things that are most important … family, marriage, friends and great relationships. You have inspired me to create my own list … thanks for the pointer in the right direction.
Hi Zengirl! I too struggle with the balance of my life. I have to work fulltime, there is no way around that, but I am also a fulltime student and I have 2 little girls. It is difficult to really prioritize every single aspect of my time. I like that you have followed your heart and you are an inspiration. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Preeti. Your goals for 2011 are admirable… challenging yet very realistic. Your willingness to take take a good look at all the things that are working, and all those that need improving is a wonderful lesson for all.
Rob,
Thank you, there are things are working and good and there are things that need to be improved upon, mostly self changes, I think its doable. If not, I am still going to enjoy the 2011. I wish you well for your goals in 2011 and successful year.
Jasmine,
Yes, being a parent and online blogger is not easy, believe me I have 2 little boys who are active and busy kids. I would not change things at all for peace but I wish I can balance it better. I wish you, I and others to find great balance in whatever we decide to do. Good luck.
Sibyl,
I am glad, I will look forward to reading your list as you write so well and bring positivity in all of us. Yes I am all about finding a balance be it between heart and mind or in life and money making. I do better a few things and improving on other things as we speak. Good luck and wish you well in 2011.
Taurian,
Thank you, I love your no spending Jan month plan, do let us know know how are you doing each week or daily. I think you will be able to accomplish this goal. Good for you. I wish you well on it. Money you save, put it in saving accounts to save for later or use it for your dreams or something you believe in. Looking forward to hearing about it, you can email it or post in comment or start your free blog on blogger to keep us updated. Good luck.
Preeti,
Your outlook on life is so refreshing. We live in a time where everyone takes what they do too seriously even when it’s not. It’s beautiful people like you who helps balance the world. Continue to do you and rock like you have been for many years to come.
Bravo! Bravo!
Ali,
I am glad you think so, but sometimes I am still working hard to not be too serious 🙂 Really, I am working on it and it seems to work most days, some days I struggle through and make it! I hope I make it too. Thank you for the wish, you still rock!