Last year, I decided to trade in New Year’s resolutions for a bucket list, thanks to inspiration from a few of my PR pals. I’m sticking by my commitment for 2013 and every year moving forward.
Everyone operates differently. If resolutions work for you and you actually stick with them and achieve them each year, then good on you. Keep up the trend.
But, if you’ve determined resolutions aren’t your cup of tea, I highly suggest making a bucket list. Rather than creating new resolutions each year, you can slowly chip away at crossing those items off your bucket list. Some you may achieve the following year. Some you may not achieve for decades. That’s OK. At least you’ve established a list of important things you want to accomplish in life. Keep that list close by, and make sure you’re making as much progress as possible each year.
Looking back at 2012 and where I’m at with items on my bucket list, I’m happy to say I’ve made some good progress. Here’s the initial list I created and the progress:
1. Visit my Chilean family again. This is one that won’t happen in the near future, but I continue to stay in touch with them, particularly through Facebook.
2. Pay it forward, but in a really big way. I’ve paid it forward in several small ways this year. My big “pay it forward” moment will happen in the future.
3. Travel to Hawaii and Italy. Not this year! MAL and I did finally make it to Boston to visit his brother and his family. We also took our first trip to Lake Tahoe for a wedding and San Francisco.
4. Attend Wimbledon. Not quite yet.
5. Establish a yearly scholarship in my name for a student in the integrative public relations program at Central Michigan University. Not there yet. But, I did launch the Help a PR Pro Out (HAPPO) Michigan Report for communications pros in Michigan. There may be more, but I know of at least two people who found jobs thanks to the HAPPO Michigan Report, which is awesome!
6. Be part of a fashion designer’s photo shoot and/or be featured in a fashion publication, website or blog. Not yet.
7. Provide PR/communications services to a major retailer, fashion designer or anything else fashion related. Not yet.
8. Have children (ideally two). In progress and will be complete some time in February 2013! I thought one child in 2013 was a definite possibility, but two at once never crossed my mind. If you missed the news, MAL and I are having identical twin boys (dubbed the #littlebabies).
9. Receive some type of PR/communications award or honor. My social media team at Identity is a finalist for a PR Daily Digital PR & Social Media Award for our work on the 2011 BRU Fest Michigan event on behalf of client Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan. I was the lead on that campaign. We are up against some big players for Best Social Media Campaign, and regardless of whether we win or lose (winners are announced in late January), I’m so proud that we were chosen as a finalist.
10. Continue contributing articles and blog posts to sites/blogs I’m not affiliated with in any way, and keep aiming higher. I continued writing guest posts, including for Heather Whaling’s blog, prTini, Spin Sucks (which was also featured on Ragan.com) and the3six5, among others. A contact on the digital team at Crain’s Detroit Business asked me to be part of a new blogging initiative. My first post about building a social media response plan went live last week.
I’m more than happy with the progress I made this year. Aside from my personal bucket list, I accomplished several professional goals I set for myself. And, as I noted in my bucket list post from last year, I stuck by my new motto: I will not commit to anything new unless I receive as much value from it as I’m providing.
2013 is going to be an interesting/exciting year with some big changes and adjustments, mostly due to the #littlebabies coming into this world. Am I completely ready for all the changes? Absolutely not. Will I tackle everything one day at a time, learn from my mistakes and find a way to balance it all? I’m sure as hell going to try.
Thanks to everyone who continues to read, comment on and share these posts! I truly appreciate you being here. If you haven’t already, please subscribe via RSS or email (top box in the right column or the big pink box below) to stay updated on my posts.
I’d love to hear from you. Do you do resolutions, goals, a bucket list, or some combination? What are you hoping to achieve in 2013?
Photo Credit: Valerie Everett via Compfight cc