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Earlier this year, I wrote about my new ThemeWord for 2010 – CREATE. So far, I must say, I haven’t created much of anything. Mostly as a result of having a house full of sick kids for going on almost 2 weeks now.

And if that weren’t bad enough – when I took them to the doctor Thursday, the doctor thinks my 11 year old son (the autistic one) may be diabetic. Hopefully, we’ll get the necessary tests done this week to find out for sure.

Anyway – back to CREATE. My birthday is coming up this week. I’ll be 37. I usually don’t tell people my age but I’m doing so in the interest of the topic – Reinventing Annie.

Now, don’t worry – I wouldn’t call this a mid-life crisis or something. I just feel like this is my 2nd wind. This is my time.

The first half of my life has been about other people – my family, mostly. Earlier in the scheme of things, it was about school or work or whatever else I’ve done in the past. And now this part of my life is going to be about myself. Not in some conceited, “me first” kind of way – but more like, I am me and this is who I am. This is what I want to do with my life.

I won’t be letting my family define me anymore. I won’t be letting my personal beliefs define me anymore. Nor my parents. Or siblings. Or my work. Or my writing.

This is me on my terms.

And I am Reinventing Annie.

Stay tuned.

Be blessed,

PS – Would you keep my son in your thoughts? He already has so many things in his young life and diabetes might be a hard row to hoe for him if indeed he is diagnosed with it. Thanks! I appreciate it.

It’s 2010 and I’m thinking big. I’m adjusting my perceptions, making some decisions and keeping my ThemeWord (CREATE) at the forefront of what I do and plan to do. Granted, it’s only Day 2 of the New Year but I have hopes for this year. And I think that those close to me may be a little bit surprised about some of my plans.

Now, I know a lot of people tell anybody who will listen what their plans are. Not me. I keep my plans all tucked away inside my head. Why? Because I think that sometimes sharing everything with those around you gives the naysayers an opportunity to speak up. And speak up they will. Especially those closest to you.

Oh sure – they’ll say it’s only because they care about you. They’ll say it’s only because they want the best for you. In some way or another, they’ll shoot down every shining star you try to reach. And maybe it’s because they’re insecure in their own thoughts. Maybe they’re jealous. Or maybe they just don’t know any better.

Whatever the reason, my solution is to just not tell them in the first place! I may give a general idea, but I’m not one to actually put my whole thoughts out there for all the world to see and say “This is what I’m going to accomplish this year.”

I know that often the big goal and motivation gurus will tell you that putting your intentions out there for everyone to see will keep you accountable. Maybe for some. For me? It simply doesn’t work. And I hope maybe that gives you a little bit of hope as well, to realize that the gurus don’t always know the answers . . .

In any case, let me just say – I don’t do resolutions or set goals. I find they hinder my achievements. That’s not to say I don’t have some sort of a road map for what I want out of life – it just says goals and resolutions, which some say are meant to be broken – aren’t the end all, be all thing. And if you don’t do them, it doesn’t make you a bad person.

Personally, I choose to call them something else, such as intentions, that doesn’t have some stigma or preconceived idea attached to it like “You’re a failure if you don’t reach the goal.” Failure is fine and sometimes necessary. But not meeting the goal isn’t always failure and I think a lot people get caught up in that, thinking it IS.

Again, I’m here to tell you – not meeting the goal isn’t always a failure. Only YOU can decide whether you’ve failed or not. Maybe the outcome wasn’t the end result you expected but that doesn’t mean something wasn’t learned or gained along the way that is far more important than the outcome.

I encourage you to find a system that works for you in creating some kind of plan for your life. Call them goals or resolutions if you wish but know that you don’t have to. You can call them whatever works for you. The idea is to have some sort of concept about what you’d like to accomplish and by when.

There is a lot more I plan to share about goals and the process of mapping out your ideas over the coming days and weeks as this New Year gets underway. I think it’s an important topic and while it’s at the forefront of everyone’s thoughts, I figured I’d put my .02¢ worth in.

Right now, I encourage you to just pick a word that you feel lead to associate with this year. As I mentioned previously, my ThemeWord for 2010 is CREATE. For 2009, it was ACTION. And basically, you just take that word and apply it to everything you do. Let it be your motivator, your guide and your anchor.

Be blessed,

And PS – I have some cool tools coming soon! Tomorrow, look for 3 forms I designed that I use in my own work and family life including a Weekly Menu Planner and a Mini Character Sheet. I hope you enjoy them!

When you’re taking time over the next few days to establish the goals and accomplishments you want to complete in 2010, don’t play it safe. And by that I mean, whatever you THINK you want to achieve, multiply by about 3.

Yes, really.

Because I’ve found for myself that I often tend to stay within a “safe zone” when setting my goals. But you know what? Goals aren’t about being safe! They’re about pushing your boundaries. Exceeding the limits. Claiming victory.

Not about settling.

Annie’s 5 rules on how NOT to play it safe

1. Pick a word, any word. Well, at least pick one with some meaning, like COURAGE, EXPLORE, RELEASE.

For 2009, I chose ACTION and made it my single-minded goal, my ThemeWord. Like I mentioned earlier, for 2010 I’m choosing CREATE. And everything I do for the year will be as a result of that one thing. Every goal, every task on my list will be the question, “What can I CREATE from this?”

2. Take your word and keep it at the forefront of your mind all the time, day in and day out. Breathe it. Earn it. Live it. Let everything you do come from that one idea. Make it your mantra. Put it on your desktop wallpaper. Write it on your mousepad. Whatever. Just make sure it’s always confronting you.

3. Every time you make a list of things you want or things to do, multiply it by at least 3.

I’ve found that often I will stay within my comfort zone, my safe zone and put down something that’s probably a little more than I’ve done but still too easily reachable. For example, I may have a goal to ride my bike every day for at least 4 miles. Well, 4 miles is definitely doable for me and doesn’t really challenge or stretch me. Putting down 4 miles would be a cop-out.

Be honest with yourself – what can REALLY do? Multiply the number by at least 3. Can you ride 12 miles? Is it a little OUT of your safe zone? Well, put THAT down. Push the limit of your comfort level.

4. Get out of your preconceived box and go for the challenge! Don’t take no for an answer. Do your best in all things.

5. Be fully engaged and aware. No half-assed attempts. Either do it, or don’t. Nothing spells defeat to your inner self like doing something half way and feeling guilty. Like Yoda said, “Do or do not, there is no try.”

If you pick a ThemeWord for 2010, let me know what it is. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on this concept. I’ll try to keep you posted periodically on how things are going with mine.

And with that, I’d like to just say have a Happy New Year! Be safe! Drive carefully. Be responsible and all that stuff.

Be blessed,

Every year during the last few weeks of December, I like to sit back and think about the past year. It’s a time of reflection and introspection for me. And I think, probably a lot of other people. This time between Christmas and New Year’s is maybe a little less hectic and I find it’s a good time to just relax and think about things.

I’m not really one for resolutions – I think they often do more harm than good. Instead, I like to create an outline of the things I hope to accomplish in the coming months, more like milestones I hope to cross. I simply ask myself “What do I want for this year?” Sometimes, the answers surprise me.

And last year, I started a new tradition – a theme word that becomes my single-minded goal for the year. For 2009, that was Action. I planned to simply take Action on anything I felt compelled to do. I must say, it worked out rather nicely! And I think I’ll keep the tradition.

So today I was a reading a blog I subscribe to and low and behold! I find out she and several other people in the blogosphere do this keyword for the year thing! Only they have been calling it a “ThemeWord” so I’ve decided I’m going to borrow that name and call it my ThemeWord. Because, really, “single-minded goal” is just a mouthful! LOL

In any case, I’m not entirely sure what my ThemeWord for 2010 will be yet. I’m leaning towards Create but due to a few things I’ve experienced in the past few weeks, I think it could turn out to be Transition, instead. Frankly, I’m a little scared by that. But we’ll see what happens, I guess.

What do you do this time of year? Anything special? Do you do New Years resolutions? Why or why not?

Regardless of what you do this time of year, I wish you much peace, relaxation and happiness in 2010 and beyond!

In the arena,

My posts over the past few months have been few and far between. I’m not going to rehash the why’s now (you can read my previous post for a glimpse at that) but again I’d like to apologize for leaving you hanging! And also thank you for sticking with me. I appreciate that you’re still here reading along.

So, every once in a while, I flip-flop around, wondering exactly what this blog is all about. What should I write here? Anything? Everything? Should it only be about personal things? Or business? Maybe both? Or even something else entirely?

And I always come back to the answer that it should include everything. It just feels right. Several years ago a well-meaning friend said I should separate the business from the personal and not have it all on one blog and while I appreciated her input, it just doesn’t work for me. Everything in my “real” life overlaps – why I should it not overlap here? For me, it’s part of being authentic.

Over the next few weeks you may see a some changes going on around here. I am planning to incorporate more business related things including current designs and projects I’m working on as well as some thoughts on more work-type topics. What exactly that entails at this point, I’m not entirely sure. We’ll see what happens as things go along.

And I say this because every time I try to make some sort of schedule or plan for what I want here, it always goes by the wayside at some point and I rarely stick to it. So I apologize for being so vague but I do hope you’ll enjoy what happens and I hope you come along for the ride!

Stay tuned! I’m going to talk about Thanksgiving next and also something I read on another blog this morning.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

In the arena,

I’ve been listening to Christmas music all weekend! The last few years I’ve been rather “blah” about this holiday but this year, I’m pushing all that muck aside and allowing the light to shine. Are you ready for the most special season of the year?

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my “system” for productivity and it has quickly become my most popular post on this blog to date. It literally TRIPLED my traffic.

But anyway . . . that’s not really wanted to share with you. What I actually want to write about is that one of the programs I use on my iPod Touch called Grocery IQ just had a major overhaul and it knocked my socks off! This app simply ROCKS! I liked it well enough before the revamp but now, it’s legions better, if that’s even possible.

Before, you could sort the store by aisles, add new aisles, delete aisles, keep lists of favorite items, show a history of past purchases and of course, check off things as you put them in your cart.

What’s better than that?

Well, the new app allows you to create lists by STORE! Which is so cool for those of us who shop at more than one store. Now, I am not one of those crazy people who clip coupons and shop 10 different places but I do buy certain items at certain stores because the others don’t carry them.

For example, I can only buy RAW local milk at the Food Co-Op because they’re the only ones who carry it. I can only buy the brand of Hemp Milk I like at one store and I can only buy the brand of non-dairy ice cream we buy at yet another store. So, the ability to not only arrange the list by aisle but also by store, is fabulous.

And the other new thing that makes it legions better than before is the ability to move your checked off items to the “checkout” without having to discard the whole list. This was annoying before because I didn’t ever get a true reading of my shopping “history” since sometimes I would buy 10 things at one store and not go shopping at the next store for a week. Plus, you couldn’t make different lists for different stores. So, it was all on one list.

This was annoying for 2 reasons – first, because not all stores have their aisles arranged the same so I’d be scrolling through the list all the time and invariably miss something. And second, because once I checked something off, it just sorta disappeared. If I wanted to add those things to my history, I couldn’t do that until everything on the list had been checked off. If you shop at only one store, that’s probably not a biggie. But since I don’t, it ended up confusing at times.

With the new app, I can make lists for each store, check the things off as I add them to my cart and then when I get to the checkout, I can hit “checkout” on the app and it adds those items to the history. Oh and you know what else? You can also add the price of the item to it’s details page so you know how much you’re spending and can compare prices at different stores! How cool is that??

I LOVE it! It’s fabulous.

Seriously. Get an iPod so you can have Grocery IQ.

Oh and PS – that’s not a pic of my actual list – it’s a screen grab of the app’s listing in the iTunes store.

In the arena,

If you regularly shop at 10 different stores and clip coupons to get all the stuff on your list, don’t worry – I don’t really think you’re crazy. No. I just think maybe you’re a little OCD than me.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.

Just thought I’d add a couple pictures of my planner files so you can see exactly what they look before you download them.

Enjoy!

Please feel free to download the PDF files from the previous post.

In the arena,

Happy 4th of July to all of my American readers! Hope you have a safe, enjoyable and fun holiday.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business – just as if it were her own.