First Impressions

Disclaimer:  I'll have to warn you that I am cleaning up two old computers; which can be interesting to say the least. I have come across miscellaneous things that I have written over the years and thought this would be a good place to put them.  I started a lot of different articles and then never pitched them anywhere (bad girl).   I will be posting them here for your reading enjoyment.  

First Impressions

As they say, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”   I’m not exactly sure who "they" are?  I actually think that saying came from a deodorant commercial.   Nonetheless, it is, for the most part, true.  When someone meets you for the first time they are judging you based on all kinds of factors, such as:

Dress.  Are you a good or a bad dresser?    Do you dress conservatively, trendy, or sloppy?

Eye contact.  Do you meet their gaze or look away?

Hygiene.   Are you clean?   Do you have bad breath?   Did you wash and comb your hair?

Manners.   Are you rude or polite?  

Behavior.  Are you drunk?   Do you swear like a truck driver?  Are you loud and obnoxious?  Do you act like a know-it all?  Are you evasive?  

Posture.  Do you stand up straight or do you slouch?

Intelligence.   Can you carry on a conversation well?  Do you have good grammar?

Body language.   Do your movements and gestures express how you feel?

People can decide whether or not they like you within five minutes of meeting you.  They are watching and if they don’t like what they see, that impression is bound to last.   That’s why it’s very important to make sure you figure out how you want people to perceive you, and act accordingly.  Let people see your benefits; the more you have to offer the more friends you’ll have and the more your company will be in demand.

Tips on how to make a good first impression:

Learn to see yourself as others see you.  Don’t assume that others see you as you see yourself.  You may think that you’re the cats meow but you have to prove that to others.

Know your audience.   You obviously want to make a different impression on the different types of people you encounter.   For example, you want to make a different impression during a job interview than you want to make on a first date.   What may impress a potential employer will probably not impress your date and vice versa.

Handshake and greeting.  Initiate the handshake and make it firm.   Introduce yourself and repeat their name by saying “Nice to meet you Tom.”  

Smile.   Smiling makes you appear warm and friendly.  Smile often.

Talk clearly.   Don't mumble.  

Make eye contact.   Making eye contact makes you appear confident; avoiding eye contact makes you appear shy and insecure.

Stand up straight.  Good and bad posture can bee seen across the room.   Standing up straight shows confidence and slouching is makes you seem insecure and uncomfortable. 

Be enthusiastic.  Studies show that enthusiastic people are better liked, more trusted, thought to be more capable and capture the attention of their audiences more effectively.

Ask questions.  It shows that you are interested in getting to know someone.

Listen.  I mean, really listen.  Asking questions is only part of the equation; people want to feel heard.  

Make comments and participate.  Share your point of view with others and engage in conversation.

Offer compliments.  People love when you notice positive things about them.

Be sincere.  Sincerity is transparent, if you aren’t sincere people will see through it.

Disclose information about yourself.  Be open with your opinions and let people get a sense of who you are. On the flip side, don't force your opinions on people.  Make sure it flows with the conversation, and if your opinion is radical or could cause tension it might be a good idea to keep it to yourself.     

If you keep these tips in mind your bound to make a good impression on everyone you encounter.   

Good luck!

My Dad!

What can I say, I am sentimental and tend to hold onto things for a very long time.   My husband gives me a hard time for being somewhat of a “pack rat.”    I’m trying to get better about letting go of some things and have started going through boxes to pitch things.   Well, this summer I was going through some college papers.  It was fund to read them and see what frame of mind I was in back then and how much my writing has evolved (i.e. improved).    In my college freshman writing binder, I came across a poem that I wrote for a class assignment.  I wrote it about my Dad.    I’m glad that I found it and that it didn’t get thrown away.    The timing of finding was perfect as his 60^th birthday was in Aug. and I read it outloud at his birthday celebration.   And now I’m sharing it with you. 

This is from my first semester, freshman year in college (1992).   It was typed on a word processor and printed on that paper the was serrated with the holes on the side that you had to tear off (remember that, when paper didn’t come in individual sheets and it was a continuous roll?).  Crazy!

MY DAD!

I wish I could be like my Dad,

he is such a great lad.

He’s successful in every way,

and knows exactly how to brighten my day.

I was the first daughter born,

in the state of corn.

I inherited his traits,

which helps me get dates.

I’ve put him through a lot of stress,

and tried to teach him how to dress.

His sense of humor is kind of strange,

yet he always comes through when I need pocket change.

When I need to talk,

he’s always there to offer a walk.

He’s a great cook with all recipes,

my hungry stomach he does please.  

He can handle any situation,

even in this time of inflation.

His views should not be ignored,

he is a man who deserves to be adored. 

He has taught me a heck of a lot,

ever since I was a little tot.

My Dad makes me so proud,

I want to scream it outloud.

He is looked up to,

and always follows through.

He always understands where I’m coming from,

and never tries to make me feel dumb.

He means the world to me,

I hope this is something he can clearly see.

I want to thank my Dad for everything he’s done,

to me, he is definitely number one!

My Dad and Me in 1992

Cheers!

Triathlon #3

I just did my third triathlon this past weekend.   I’m thinking that completing three gives me the right to call myself a triathlete.   

I almost didn’t compete this year.   I started having pain on the top of my foot in early June and then sprained my right ankle in late June.   Add that to the extreme heat and my training was pretty much non-existent.    I swam about five times all summer, I biked three times outside on my bike, and I ran intermittently but never more than 2 miles.   I did hit spin class at least weekly as that didn’t really bother my ankle.   I finally went to an orthopedic guy when my ankle wasn’t improving at the quick pace I expected.   He said I had a cyst growing in a joint on top of my foot that will probably have to be surgically removed at some point but gave me a cortisone shot to get me through the tri (yes, he gave the green light to do the tri; I was half expecting him to tell me it wasn’t a good idea as I could do further damage) and he set me up with physical therapy for my ankle.    Mind you this was all 10 days before the tri.    That’s the background story.

I went into this with a goal to just finish.  Between my aches and pains and lack of training I didn’t want to push it.   I went into it telling myself to take it easy since I didn’t have much training under my belt and my ankle was still bothering me.   I honestly thought it would take me 2-3 hours to finish.    But when Tom asked me what time he should be there, I was torn.  There was always the chance that adrenaline would pull me through.      Anyway……..

The morning of the race was cold!   63 degrees with a high for the day of 66, with the threat of rain all morning.   Mind you this is way better than the 100 degree heat of the summer so it was a good thing.   I woke up at 5:15 a.m. to eat, stretch, tape my ankle, and mainly to try to get myself awake.  I am not a morning person so it is a challenge to get my mind and body working independently (let alone together as a team) before 8 a.m.    I loaded up my gear and arrived at Lake Nokomis at 6:45 a.m.   

All my gear set out and ready to go

For the race you have to arrive early to set up your things, get your chip, and get marked – they put your number everywhere; both hands, both arms, both legs and they put your age and wave on your calves.   They close the transition area at 7:30 and you can’t return again until after the swim to collect your bike.     There is a mandatory meeting on the beach at 7:45 and then you wait……    

The wait was cold.  Given that you have to check your bag and everything by 7:30 it was chilly waiting around in just my tri suit.   I should’ve brought a towel I didn’t care about to just wrap myself in on the beach before the swim and then just leave on the beach.    The race officially started at 8:00 a.m. with the “elite” (i.e. very serious women) hitting the water.   It continued in waves every 3 minutes by age.   I was in wave number 7; hitting the water at 8:18 a.m.   And the race was on…..

SWIM

My swim went okay.  No one tried to swim over me this year, so that was good.   It starts out really crowded though so it takes some time to get in a groove and carve out your own space.    My ankle bothered me a bit but otherwise the swim went pretty well.  Until the end!   I made the mistake of standing up too soon (rather than swimming as far as I could before standing).   I stood and tried to sprint out of the water.   It was like I was anchored down.  Running in rough water on sand is a complete killer.    My quads were burning, my calves cramped, and my heart rate went so high it was very difficult to regain a steady breathing pattern.    Lesson learned.   As you might know by now, I do tend to learn my lessons the hard way.   And I usually have to learn them three times for them to sink in.   But I do learn – eventually…….

 

Transition 1 – this was okay.  I was huffing and puffing and dealing with a major calf cramp but managed to wipe my feet and get my shoes on.    I put my shirt on that had my number on it and it ripped off.  It is hard putting on a shirt while you are dripping wet and it got stuck so when I roughly pulled it down the number got stuck and ripped off.   That set me back a bit as I had to repin it.   When I went to mount my bike, I realized my shoe lace was not tied.   Another minor set back as I had to pull to the side, set my bike down and get my shoe lace tied so it didn’t get caught in my gears.    

BIKE

I had a rough start on the bike.  My legs were burning from the stupid sprint way to early out of the water and I could not catch my breath.   I was wheezing like I had asthma or something.   That lasted for a good half hour and definitely slowed me down.   On top of that I forgot to take off my 5 lb. bike lock and that was weighing me down.    I also had the wrong water bottle.  I was dying of thirst and had a screw cap water bottle.  Try to unscrew that while biking and then taking a sip without spilling.   I will definitely have to change that next year.   I also need to bring Chap Stick; my lips were sore and feeling really chapped, which is more of a distraction than you may think.   It started raining about 20 minutes into the bike.  It was just a mild sprinkle that continued on and off throughout the rest of the race, it didn’t really affect me too much.  I was glad it was a light rain and didn’t amount to much more.   The bike was maybe my toughest leg of the race because I couldn’t get my breathing down and it is hard to bike with your legs burning.     

Transition 2 – I forgot to mention that my right foot fell completely asleep on the bike.  It was kind of scary actually.  I had to take my shoe off and rub it to get feeling back in it before I could run.    I set my bike back on the rack, changed from my helmet to a baseball cap, rubbed my toes and then headed out on my jog.

RUN

My foot was still tingling and my left hip was hurting (from putting to much weight on my left side to baby my right ankle).   So I got off to a slow start on the jog/run too.    I kept telling myself not to push it and hurt myself.    I walked a couple of times and otherwise I tried to keep a slow, steady pace.    That said, I couldn’t help but to sprint across the finish line!    In hindsight, the run goes pretty fast and I think I could have pushed it a little more.

Finish – it felt good to finish and even better to know that it wasn’t 10:18 yet.   This meant I finished in less than two hours.   I was happy about that.   I was also happy to see Tom and Rocky at the finish line even though I finished earlier than expected.   I got my medal, caught my breath for a bit and then sat down and had some snacks.   It was a good ending.     

Trying to catch my breathe after crossing the finish line

Spotting my Fans

My cheerleader and Running Trainer

Stretching and Chilling after the Race

Proud of my Metal

Results:

Swim (500 yards) - 11:07

Transition 1 – 4:17

Bike (15.5 miles) – 59:52

Transition 2 – 2:31

Run (3.1 miles) – 31:48

Last Year (2011) Results:

Swim (500 yards) - 11:37

Transition 1 – 4:16

Bike (15.5 miles) – 54:34

Transition 2 – 2:55

Run (3.1 miles) – 30:40

I beat my swim by 30 seconds, added five minutes to my bike (no surprise there), and added 1 minute/8 seconds to my run.   I can’t believe it only took me five minutes longer to complete than last year.    I think the adrenaline and inspiration of all the other ladies helped move me along.  

Next year I will beat 1 hour, 44 minutes.   

Cheers!

Penelope, The Triathlete

Grandpa Frohardt Remembered

Me & my Grandpa Frohardt, April 2012

My grandfather recently passed away unexpectedly.   Granted, he was 88 but it was still a shock.  I always thought he’d be around into his 90s.  And I wanted that for him; I wanted him to have a few more good years.    I am fortunate to have been able to spend time with him (visiting as often as I could and calling him regularly.)  I know most people don’t get to know their grandparents that well or have them taken away from them much too soon.   I am grateful for the relationship we had and that I got to know him as an adult.  I was asked to speak at the funeral and thought I would share that here……..

I’m Penelope, the oldest granddaughter and there are a couple things you should know about my Grandpa Frohardt.

The first thing that pops into my head is PROUD.   Grandpa was a very proud man and he was extremely proud of his family.   He would always mention how lucky he was and how not all families make an effort to get together with each other or get along so great.   He truly took great pride in his family and would light up when talking about them. 

Now this doesn’t mean that he didn’t embellish a little bit.  For example he would introduce his pharmacist granddaughter as a doctor and he credited his grandson Daniel with creating the Internet.    When I had lunch with him a few weeks ago he introduced me as a famous writer from Minneapolis with a husband that owns a big computer company.   Neither of which are quite true but it is always good to dream and play along.    My favorite example of his “pride” is when the family all went out to dinner at a local steak house and Grandpa pulled the hostess aside and said “you’re going to see a lot of really good looking folks in here tonight – that’s my family.” 

He was also known for his one-liners, for example – “I try to improve a little everyday, but it's hard to improve on perfection,” and “I’m already working on my second million – I gave up on my first.” 

Grandpa was such a sweet and caring man.  He liked to make sure everything and everyone was taken care of.    This truly shined when he cared for grandma after her stroke.   He was always by her side and catered to all of her needs, including taking on the domestic duties such as the cooking – which was interesting to say the least.    It was sweet to see him take on that role and embrace it with a smile on his face.  Even if he did mix mushroom soup with salsa for a dinner treat.     

He was a polite man and had the best manners.  He would always stand when a woman entered a room and would never walk in front of them.    Even later when he wasn’t supposed to, he couldn’t resist the urge to spring up to greet you.    He was the ultimate gentleman.

He also had a voracious appetite.   I remember him saying that he had room in his big toe for that second piece of pie.   I will definitely say that appetite is one thing I inherited from him, combine that with the sweet tooth I got from grandma and all I can say is that it is a good thing I work out.  

He was quite the charmer.  Always full of compliments, he regularly greeted the ladies in his life with “hi beautiful” or “hey good lookin.”

He had the best laugh and sense of humor.   A couple months ago when I was visiting, he and I were cracking up for about 5 minutes.   For the life of me, I can’t remember what had us in uncontrollable belly laughs – with tears.   I guess the reason doesn’t really matter, it was a great memory to see him laughing so hard and to be laughing along with him.    Robin described him as a joyful man and I couldn’t agree more.   He really appreciated the simple pleasures in life and found joy in everything, especially his family. 

And how can we forget his ability to chat with anyone about anything – for hours!  This was evidenced in the many times we would lose him in the grocery store or just out and about.  He’d wonder off and chat with complete strangers about any topic.  

He was also quite the story teller.  I remember him starting his sentences with “say, did I tell you about this one time…..”    He usually pulled his glass down a bit to make direct eye contact while telling it.   It was an endearing quality.   

I will miss his laugh, his stories, his hugs, his two different colored eyes, and him just being him.

Grandpa will be remembered fondly by our family and his characteristics live on in many of us.   Our memories, guidance, and experiences have shaped us into the individuals and family that we are.    And I have to say that I think the grandkids turned out pretty well - if I do say so myself.   Seriously, I am so proud, lucky, and grateful to be part of the Frohardt family; grandpa and grandma really laid a great foundation and if even in their passing they are our pillars.  They will be missed terribly but remembered regularly.

Great Memories On the Farm: Grandpa, me, and my sister - Chelley  

Book Review: The Happiness Project

I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.   It is kind of a self-help book in that it gets you thinking about your own happiness and how to improve it.  It is also kind of written as a journal in which you get to follow Rubin’s quest for happiness during a one-year period.  

For a happiness project, you start out by identifying what brings you joy and satisfaction; and also what brings you guilt, anger, boredom, and remorse.   From there you make resolutions, where you identify concrete actions that will boost your happiness.  Then you try to keep your resolutions.   In the book the 12 chapters are broken into 12 months in which Rubin picks a different “resolution” for each month.  The chapters (i.e. resolutions she chose to focus on are as follows:

1)      January – Boost Energy; Vitality

2)      February – Remember Love; Marriage

3)      March – Aim Higher; Work

4)      April – Lighten Up; Parenthood

5)      May – Be Serious About Play; Leisure

6)      June – Make Time for Friends; Friendship

7)      July – Buy Some Happiness; Money

8)      August – Contemplate the Heavens; Eternity

9)      September – Pursue a Passion; Books

10)   October – Pay Attention; Mindfulness

11)  November – Keep a Contented Heart; Attitude

12)  December – Boot Camp Perfect; Happiness

There is a little more that goes into it, such as coming up with your own 12 Commandments and Secrets of Adulthood that to are designed to help you keep your resolutions.   An example of a Commandment would be: lighten up.   An example of a Secret of Adulthood would be: people don’t notice your mistakes as much as you do, or if you’re not failing, you’re not trying hard enough.

The book is really well written and interesting as it kept me interested in reading about her one-year experience and the research that went into it, and had me consciously thinking about my own happiness.   Most people aren’t as happy as they could/should be.  I’m sure most people would probably say they are happy but, hey, couldn’t we all be happier?  Working on your happiness not only makes you happier, it boosts the happiness of the people around you.  Happiness is contagious.  

Here are some thoughts and thought-provoking ideas from the book that I thought were helpful to put things in perspective:

• Implement a one-minute rule; don’t postpone anything that can be done in less than one minute.  
• What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.
• Whatever love you feel in your heart, others will only see in actions.
• Advice from her grandparents (married 72 years): Married couples should have an outdoor game (golf, tennis, etc..) and an indoor game (Scrabble, gin, etc..) that they play together.
• A sense of purpose is very important to happiness.
• Happiness has four stages.  To eke the most happiness from an experience, we must anticipate it, savor it as it unfolds, express happiness, and recall a happy memory.  
• Create a positive mood.   Don’t focus on the negative.   In a long line that is not moving?  Don’t focus on the negative, create a positive spin.   For example, you now have some time to check up on emails on your phone.   
• The days are long, but the years are short.
• One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy.  Conversely, one of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself. 
• Nonjoyous types of people suck energy and cheers from the joyous ones; they rely on the joyous types to buoy them with their good spirit and to cushion their agitation and anxiety.   At the same time, because of a dark element in human nature, nonjoyous types are sometimes provoked to try to shake the enthusiastic, cheery folk out of their fog of illusion – to make them see that the play was stupid, the money was wasted, the meeting was pointless, etc.   Instead of shielding their joy, they blast it.  
• You can usually make your point, even if it is negative, in a positive way.  
• Within a marriage, it takes at least five good acts to repair the damage of one critical or destructive act.
• There is a significant difference between a resolution and a goal.   You hit a goal, you keep a resolution.  Goals are specific and easy to measure, and once you’ve done it, you’ve done it (for example running a marathon).   Resolutions (such as singing in the morning or exercise better) are something you resolve to do every day; resolutions continue.

Rubin’s research taught her many things that I found interesting.  Here are some of the highlights of her research:

• The most important element to happiness is having strong social bonds.    
• Happy people are more altruistic, more productive, more helpful, more likable, more creative, more resilient, more interested in others, friendlier, and healthier.
• Hug for at least six seconds; which is the minimum time necessary to promote the flow of mood-boosting chemicals that promote bonding.
• One of the best ways to lift your mood is to engineer an easy success, such as tackling a long-delayed chore.
• A good marriage is one of the factors most strongly associated with happiness.
• It isn’t the goal attainment but the process of striving after goals – that is growth – that brings happiness.
• Both men and women prefer to gossip to women because women are more satisfying listeners. 
• Gratitude is important to happiness.  Grateful people are happier and more satisfied with their lives; they even feel more physically healthy and exercise more.
• Mindfulness (the cultivation of conscious, nonjudgemental awareness) brings many benefits.   It calms the mind and elevates brain function, it gives clarity and vividness to present experience, it may help people break unhealthy habits, and it can soothe troubled spirits and lift people’s moods.  It reduces stress and chronic pain.  It makes people happier, less defensive, and more engaged with others.  
• A typical child typically laughs more than 400 times each day, and adult – 17 times.

Although I’m not a parent, I thought her parenting chapter was great.  She also highly recommends two books for parents: 1) Siblings without Rivalry, and 2) How to Talk so Kids will Listen and Listen so Kids will Talk.

Rubin addresses the age-old question: can money buy happiness?   The answer she comes up with is: no.  Money alone can’t buy happiness.   But money, if used wisely, can help buy happiness.   She states that it’s a mistake to assume that money will affect everyone the same way and identifies three factors that she feels shapes the significance of money to individuals: 1) it depends on what kind of person you are, 2) it depends on how you spend your money, and 3) it depends on how much money you have relative to the people around you and relative to your own experience.    Makes sense to me.    She takes it a step further in saying, “when money or health is a problem, you think of little else; when it’s not a problem, you don’t think much about it.”  I thought her comparing it to health was a great way to put it into perspective.   “Being healthy doesn’t guarantee happiness; lots of healthy people are very unhappy.”

At the back of the book, she has a couple of different tips for different things (how to stick to a schedule of regular exercise, how to be a more light-hearted parent, how to get an energy boost in the next 10 minutes, etc…)   Here are her seven tips for making someone like you: 1) smile; 2) be easily impressed; entertained and interested; 3) have a friendly, open, engaged demeanor, 4) remember trait transfer (whatever you say about other people shapes the way people see you); 5) laugh at yourself; 6) radiate energy and good humor; and 7) show your liking for another person. 

While, I haven’t written out a plan for a happiness project for myself yet, I have tried to incorporate some of the principals and ideas I learned into my own in life.

I highly recommend this book, it is an easy read that keeps you coming back.  And it is a really good motivator to get you thinking about your own happiness.  Most people wait for a crisis to hit before they decide to make some major changes.  I like that this book takes a proactive approach.   It is important to stop going through the motions of life and really embrace it and make it what you want to be.  I can’t think of a better state of mind than happy.

Cheers!

 

FYI – Rubin also has a website and blog to tips to get started with your own happiness project.  Check it out here: http://www.happiness-project.com/

Organ Donation

I’ve been reading a book called The Happiness Project, and the author’s husband has Hepetitis C.  In an effort to feel like she playing an active role in doing something to support her husband disease (there is a chance he could need a liver transplant at some point) she decided to get involved with the Organ Donor Network.  

It got me thinking that I’ve never really considered organ donation and that it is something that I think is a great thing.  There are 112,657 patients out there waiting for a transplant.   I think it is kind of a no-brainer.   If there comes a point where I no longer need my organs, it makes sense to donate them to someone else who could really use them.   If I could save a life, then that seems like a really important decision.  

After I signed up, I was encouraged to send this out to my family and friends.  “Today I made a commitment to help others through the gifts of organ and tissue donation. There are many people in our community waiting for the life-saving gift of a transplant and I am proud to be able to help them. I hope you too will decide to share the gift of life through donation and tell your loved ones. You can log onto www.DonateLife.net to get the facts about donation and register today.”

I encourage you to at least consider it.   

Resolutions 2012

Well it is a New Year and time for a new set of goals.    I’m sure I couple keep adding to this list but figured I better post it before I get carried away.   

• Eat more fish. I love fish and need to make it more often.  Plus, it is good for you.
• Eat less processed foods.   I need fresh, homemade food in my life.  
• Make new recipes out of my cookbooks.   I have so many cookbooks and rarely cook any recipes out of them.  If I try a new recipe it is usually one I ripped out of a magazine or saw online.  Time to go “old school.”
• Take more people photos.   I take a lot of food photos and forget to take photos of the people eating it.   I also need to do a better job of keeping up with my photos on a monthly basis (posting and sharing).
• Learn to use the settings on my camera.   This is an embarrassing one as it has been on my list before.   I have some mental block or something when it comes to getting my camera off of auto.  Seriously, I need to learn everything my camera can offer.  There are some awesome photos to be had.
• Live in the moment.   I need to enjoy the moment as it is happening.   I need to relax and focus.   Sometimes I get caught up and distracted by things I should be doing, forgot to do, or need to do and forget to just enjoy the moment I am in.
• Listen.  Like the above comment, I have a lot going on in my head and I find myself only half listening sometimes.  I need to give people my undivided attention.  
• Speak up.  The flip side of listening is to speak up and communicate better.   I need to open up more when something is on my mind.  I tend to keep my mouth shut to keep the peace but I’ve learned that in the end that doesn’t do anyone any good and usually can escalate the situation.   
• Multi-task less.  Don’t get me wrong, I am the ultimate multi-tasker, but I have so many projects going on that I wonder why I can’t anything done.  Well, I need to focus on one task at a time and finish before I start something else.   How nice will it feel to start crossing things off the list rather than having several open-ended things going on at once.  I think there is a theme emerging here….
• Wear more lingerie (sorry Mom).   I think it will make me feel pretty, sexy, and confident.  (And hopefully mu husband will think so too.)  
• Stretch more.   Not ready to commit to the yoga word but I certainly do need to stretch more.   I’m going to start with a goal of one day a week, even though I should really be doing it daily.  Baby steps.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff.  I need to stop stressing over things that are out of my control.  No more sleepless nights.
• Read more books.   I get overwhelmed by my magazine pile and tend to read those first, but because it is a never-ending pile I never get to my book pile.   I need to start balancing out the books and the magazines and let go of some of my magazine subscriptions.  
• Network.  I used to be a master networker back in the day (gosh that makes me sound old) and I’ve kind of gotten lazy.  I need to get back out there and expand my network.   After all, I love meeting new people and who knows what opportunities might open up.   

I am going to try to check in with my goals at the end of every month to see how I’m doing.   I’m hoping to not let these fizzle out as the year goes on.   Wish me luck.

What are your New Year resolutions or goals?  Talk to me…..