Make a Crazy List for 2009 - Part 2
Last week I challenged you to create "crazy lists" for each of your major life roles, an exercise that I completed early on in 2006. I challenged you to make these lists without knowing their purpose. So if you have your lists, keep reading. If not go back to my last Tuesday's post.
Where are you going?
Women often tell me that they have many areas vying for their attention. Part of creating a successful goal plan, and thus the first steps of a successful year, is to hone in on the areas that bring the most good to others, ourselves, and our core values. When we choose goals that align with our core values we are more apt to see them through. When we choose goals that conflict or don't encourage our core values 99% of the time we will abandon the goal.
So how do we figure out what we really want when we seem to need so much or have so much that needs us (or both)? That is where your Crazy Lists come in.
If you followed the instructions last week, you now have multiple lists that were written without any goal in mind. (If you are reading this before reading the last article, it won't have the same affect but you can still derive some benefit. Or stop now and go back to last Tuesday's post before reading further to gain full benefit.)
Last week you were challenged to create a list without limits, boundaries, or rules--just a list of seemingly crazy passions or callings.You were encouraged to make each list as long as possible.
Now this week, we need to go back and look at these lists like a detective hunting down clues. As random as your lists may seem, there will be parallels among some of the items. These parallels are what we are hunting for.
My original "Crazy Lists" contained about 30 items per list and I had 6 lists. The items were very scattered. I didn't make these lists with any goal in mind I just did it as a personal challenge. Then a few week's later I began to realize the value in them.
As women, we often have a hard time expressing what we want, often because we aren't even sure ourselves. What I saw when I evaluated my list of "Crazy Things" was a pattern of what I needed in my life underlying these seemingly haphazard, crazy lists.
.On a personal list of things I wanted to do was to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve in Times Square.
On a parenting list I had listed some places I would like to take my family to visit.
When I re-read my lists and began looking for "connections" it was apparent that travel/adventure was something that I was really craving.
Another connection I found was in creativity. Many of my items included artistic endeavors, a need for knowledge and a need to connect with others.
Had I just sat down and said what is important to me and what do I want? I likely wouldn't have put these items on my list. Or if I did, I would have later removed them, thinking other things should take priority. (There is that dangerous word -- "should".) Yet by doing this exercise with my whole heart (not just slapping down some words and ideas) I was able to uncover the pieces that I needed to make my life "fit" .
Your Tuesday Tip: Take a look at your list. What threads can you find? Next week we will look at fleshing out these ideas and how to weave them into your plan for 2009.
