Finishing the Year with a Feeling of Accomplishment

As I think about the end of this year, I realize that many people, myself included, may feel that they would have liked to have used their time better and accomplished a lot more than they did, so far this year. I like to think of things in a positive light, and I also like to remind myself that each day is a new beginning. With this in mind, I have been thinking about the fact that we still have ten days left in 2009. What can we do with our time in the next ten days, that will lead to a feeling of accomplishment, a feeling of ending the year well? Here are a few ideas I thought of:

* We could choose ten friends or relatives we haven’t talked to for a long time, and call a different one each day, to let them know we are thinking about them, and tell them what we appreciate about them.

* We could say Hello to at least one person per day, whom we haven’t met before (if we are able to be out daily) – for example, people on the bus, people in the grocery line-up.

* For those who have blogs, we could write one blog post a day, even if it’s just one paragraph or a reference to a link we like. By the end of the year we would have ten new posts!

* We could take ten minutes daily (or even five) to clear out clutter in various areas of our homes (maybe a different area each day, or just working away daily at one area).

* If we have not been exercising, we could go for a ten minute (or longer) walk each day.

* If we play a musical instrument, we could play it for at least ten minutes a day (even if we haven’t played it for a long time). If we are out of practice, doing this could give us fresh motivation to start playing it again.

* If we are not used to setting goals, but would like to develop new habits and use our time better in the new year, would could spend some time each day (or set aside a longer block of time on one or two days), to think about, and write out, what we would like our goals to be for 2010, and what steps we will need to take to achieve them.

If we do one or more of the above activities, we could write it down at the end of each day; then at the end of the year we would see what we’ve been able to do in just ten days. I feel this would be a good way to help motivate us to fulfill our goals in the new year.

Do you have any additional suggestions along these same lines? I look forward to reading them in the comments.

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