Tuesday 4 January 2011

It's a New Year, What are your Resolutions?

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that you ate your fill of turkey, sweets and biscuits. But now the new year has rolled around again and lots of people are making resolutions. Every year we all promise ourselves to try harder, and set crazy tasks to complete in the year. Last year I wanted to get 100 listings in each of my shops and to hit 100 sales, thankfully both of those things happen. I also said I would learn how to drive...but as yet I'm have never sat behind the wheel of a car..oops, ah well, maybe this year. Here are some of the things I want to get done this year...and I'd love to hear all of your New Years resolutions too!

I would love a holiday, not necessarily to Paris, I'd even settle for a weekend in Galway. It's been years since I had the time or money to take a holiday but this year I really want to get away from everything and give myself a well deserved break. This resolution might go hand in hand with trying to win the lotto though!

I don't have a huge garden, in fact it's more like a decked corridor between my house and my garage, but I've been meaning to plant some flowers for ages. But I don't ever seem to make time for it. I haven't inherited my mothers magical green fingers but maybe this year I'll give it a shot. Even I like to grow some herbs as it's so handy for cooking.

This is a rather unusual one, mostly people say things like 'I must work harder', but for myself I have the opposite problem. This is a resolution to spend more time with friends over tasty pints ( I prefer Beamish, but Guinness will do nicely too). I find that there is always a million orders to catch up on and the temptation is to stay locked away in my studio working all the time. But I have a great group of friends that I need to make more time for. Years ago I remember watching an episode of Oprah and she was talking to a man who was a workaholic and she said 'on your death bed you are not gonna wish you spent more time at the office, you will wish you spent more time with your wife and kids, enjoy that time now and don't waste your life working all the time'. It was one of those things that really stuck with me years later.

These next few pieces are about getting organised. Part of having more social time will mean managing my work time better. I bough one of these fab wall organisers from Design Birdie and last year I got one of these sweet pencil cases from 2Boos. This year I will hopefully go full time at Nice Day Designs so things like spread sheets and all other grown up accounting things will have to happen. It's a bit terrifying but I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out.



My boyfriend is currently living down in Cork for college, and that means that my good friend Cecily has moved in to share the house/rent. Having a house mate that isn't my parter has made me much tidier and more considerate to live with, I actually wash the dishes instead of leaving them in the sink! I want to continue with this through the year, and when John moves back I'll try not to get lazy again...I can only promise to try though!

6 comments:

  1. Love the wall calendar! Is it ok to leave it looking all nice and pristine or does one have to write on it????
    Sound like a good bunch of Resolutions...I'd join you but I know I wouldn't keep 'em and then I'd worry about not keeping them and being a failure!!
    Sin an saol!

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  2. I opened my Etsy shop in October and I haven't had a sale, so that's my goal: get sales GOING! Pushing my blog more and developing more wearables are work goals. I'd also love to find a way to get a Bernina as I think it would be an excellent investment...Other than that, I really need a car. Life in the country is hard without one and I have yet to get the Irish license...plenty to do!!

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  3. Great post Ruth.

    I'm right there with you on most of them - more playtime, organise my business properly and plan proper holidays but I am also going to get back into hiking and swimming, sort out my shelving and home decor for once and for all and learn a new skill...maybe I will learn how to make and put up my own cupboards and shelves ...hmmm....

    oh, and Ruth, being an ex-Guinness employee, I'm going to pretend you didn't mention the 'B' word :-D

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  4. Fantastic! I bought the same wall organiser and it is hanging over my work desk right now!

    You know I have temporarily shut my shop to sort out work/life balance. Balance the kids/work/life etc. Hard one to do!

    Definately a holiday this year haven' had one in properly in 3 years (i.e. Greece).

    x

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  5. One of my New Years resolutions every year is to stop procrastinating, but I haven't even written down my resolutions yet - oh dear!

    The trick is to add an action plan to your resolutions which is specific and manageable. Like, I need to get fit again - I am so sluggish and flabby, it's not funny anymore (can't even carry a small suitcase for a while without having sore arms and an aching back!). So, I am going back to the gym - and the action plan is:
    - to go once a week (that's manageable)
    - pick one day and a specific time to get a routine going (otherwise I'll do other things and the gym will be forgotten)

    At the end of the month, I'll review the situation and see if it works.

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  6. haha Purls you keep putting off your resolution to stop putting things off...that sounds like me too :-)

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