Resolute

I realize I'm a few days late with the whole New Year's resolutions thing, but that's life. I was freshly inspired to make some new goals after we talked about self-improvement today in church. Elder Richard G. Scott of the LDS church has encouraged taking the following inventory:

• What are my highest priorities to be accomplished while on earth?
• How do I use my discretionary time? Is some of it consistently applied to my highest priorities?
• Is there anything I know I should not be doing?

I think I am (for the most part at least) clear on my priorities, but the part about discretionary time stung just a little - I'm pretty sure "What Not to Wear" isn't doing much to further most of said priorities (although I am a firm believer that indulging in a guilty pleasure from time to time is healthy). So, here are my "discretionary time" resolutions (#1 should probably be Find more discretionary time - seriously, I don't have much these days so I'll be careful not to be overly ambitious). I'm not posting them to intentionally bore anyone who might read this, but because there's nothing like a little public accountability to motivate me to actually KEEP my resolutions. Feel free to check up on me throughout the year - I can usually use a kick in the pants with stuff like this.

1. School for the non-student: read one non-fiction book each month...or at least every other month (nothing like hedging your goals to guarantee success, right?).
2. More school: study for the GRE. I'm not sure where the next couple of years will take us, but I'd like to go back to school eventually and I want to keep my options open.
3. TAKE the GRE this year. It's been a long time since I took a test. Also, I don't tend to respond well to disappointing scores. Um, yikes.
4. Start WRITING for real - I need to put together a portfolio to apply to the program I'm interested in and I don't think blogging counts. Darn.

That's probably enough for now - I suffer from what I'll call Overwhelm Paralysis. Basically, if I feel like I have too much to do, I just don't do anything (except maybe garner fashion advice I can't afford to follow from Stacy and Clinton or spend way too much time learning about football from my sports-savvy hubby).

I have other goals too - you know, the normal spiritual/exercise/nutrition/budget kinds of things pretty much everyone else wants to do too. I'll post those on my fridge or something and hope that's public enough to keep me on my toes.