Take a walk with me.

It’s not a walk down memory lane, though. Instead, it’s a walk into the future. Into what this year will hold. In plain English, a list of my goals for this little blog in 2015.

• publish three posts per week
  Plenty of people advocate posting every day. That’s great, and I’ve done it before. But it feels overwhelming to me and doesn’t make me more committed to this space than I already am. There may be weeks where I publish evey day but for starters 3 days will be my sweet spot.

• include a picture in every post and its corresponding tweet
  I’m really bad at pictures. I think I get it from my mom, who frequently forgot to bring the camera to important life events when I was growing up. (It’s okay, Mama!) But there are all kinds of statistics about how much better posts and tweets with pictures do. Plus, I know that even I am sometimes turned off when I encounter a big, uninterrupted block of text. So my sake and yours, I’ll be using pictures.

• set up an email newsletter
  This will probably happen sooner rather than later. Again, there’s so much benefit to having a list of email addresses. Feed readers can change or go defunct, Facebook and Twitter can be fickle, and having a cadre of faithful subscribers is a much safer way to build your tribe. Right now most of my traffic comes from social, and I’d like to begin shifting that. First step is to figure out what I have to say in a newsletter, and then figure out what value I can provide to entice folks to sign up…

• reach a daily visitors count of over 100
  …consistently. My traffic count is all over the place right now. Some days I have spikes up to 75 or so, and other days it’s more like 20. I’d love to hit a reliable count in the triple digits.

• contribute one guest post per month
  Self-explanatory. I want to write, and not just for myself (though that would be reason enough). Email me if you’d like me to share my words on your blog!

• identify one bloggerly conference to attend
  I’ll be attending Story 2015 in Nashville in October. Storytelling is really why I do this. Plus I have a dream of creating a kit to help people tell their own stories. My goal here is to connect with other creatives and hone my own storytelling abilities.

• revisit my abandoned 31 Days series and publish it as an e-book
  Not precisely a blog goal, but definitely related. I felt like I had a lot of valuable information to write back in October about how my husband and I craft our budget, but I just lost my mojo. I think the topic is well-suited to small self-published e-book. Plus, working on a bigger project and figuring out the publishing aspect will be great experience for me.

That’s the bulk of it! I have some personal goals that will likely overlap with the content on this blog, but as far as specific blog goals these seven should do it.

I’d love your input about content you’d enjoy reading. You can take my survey here and be entered to win a Friday Night Lights quote print. Entries close tomorrow, Tuesday, January 13.

Grab a cup of tea and pull up a chair…here are some of my favorite things from the Internet this week.

A photo posted by Laura L. (@lclindeman) on Jan 5, 2015 at 11:55am PST

• From Frugaling, a new-to-me blog: Being the Best Made Me Miserable
  Sam tackles this topic from a consumerist perspective but the principles apply in any area where you’re struggling with feelings of inadequacy (hello, anxiety). This resonated with me.

• My friend Steph designed this amazing image with a quote from my blog. I’m honored!

My friend Laura is a clever problem solver, a great listener, an incredible wife to Andy, and is setting out on a new journey. Reading her words is good for my heart. You will love the ideas she has to share at http://blog.lauralindeman.com

A photo posted by stephwhitacre (@stephwhitacre) on Jan 6, 2015 at 8:26am PST

• A reminder from Laura Vanderkam to buid the habit first then shell out the cash. I’m underbuying for my triathlon–not buying “the best” of everything like I usually do–since I’m not sure it’s something I’ll stick with in the longrun. I enjoyed this article about the bikes people used for their first triathlon. I think I’ll be okay!

Love this frm @lvanderkam: “Gear alone won’t guarantee a habit. Build the habit first, then commit the cash.” Applying to my triathlon goal.

— Laura Lindeman (@lclindeman) January 8, 2015

• From The Art of Simple: Limits give birth to freedom
  As someone who sets arbitrary timelines for herself I could relate! It’s an interesting paradox to find freedom in restriction.

• From Shauna Niequist: Burn the Candles
  This one blew up the Internet this week, and I know why. I’ll give you a taste of it, but go read the rest. Maybe grab a kleenex.

  Burn the candles. Not just when people come over. For you, because someone gave them to you. Open the wine and have a glass tonight while you fold laundry. Wear the perfume, the pretty scarf, the whatever that you have tucked in a box, too fancy for you. […] Because it’s not about candles or coffee. It’s about believing that you’re worth the good stuff, that someone wanted you to feel loved and seen and known. I bet that someone didn’t want you to hoard your candle or your fancy tea or your beautiful lotion. I bet they would love to know that you’re drinking fancy tea all day and all night, reveling in the feelings of being loved and noticed. That’s how I feel, when I give someone a gift—I don’t want you to put it on a shelf for when someone else comes over. I got it for you, for you to feel loved and seen and known.

Okay, let’s lighten things up a little bit…

• I chimed in for a Twitter chat with That Working Girl and found myself mentioned on their blog!

• I made a yummy soup with the last of our Christmas ham (but you could buy a ham steak or diced ham to use in it, too).

Evidently January is National Soup Month. This potato & ham chowder was a big hit at my house! http://t.co/LpJgwBUcMT

— Laura Lindeman (@lclindeman) January 7, 2015

• From Contently: 7 T-shirts All English Majors Should Own**
  I’m just sayin’, if anyone needs my address for shipping purposes…

I hope you’ve had a relaxing weekend!

What made your week this week?

Pssst….don’t forget to take my survey and enter to win a sweet Friday Night Lights quote print! Winner will be chosen on Tuesday, January 13.

It’s been just over a week since I announced the first day of the rest of my life, and I think it’s time to reflect. I would love your help! Whether you’ve been reading this blog since the beginning or you just came on board, your input is valuable. I’ve created a short survey to collect your thoughts and help me collect my own.

As a small token of my appreciation, I’ll be sending one lucky respondent a copy of this lovely print by Speak Easy Digital Art. Thanks for helping me find clarity! If you can’t participate in the survey for any reason, feel free to leave a comment to be considered for the giveaway. Winner will be selected on Tuesday, January 13.

wut, do I have something on my head?

And now, to take stock of myself. I found this list on Meet Me At Mike’s and I love it (though I took a few off that I didn’t have good answers for)! It’s great to have a structured way to reflect on your week. I may not do this every Friday, but I’m considering an entry in my card catalog.

• Making : plans for an outing this evening
• Cooking : two winners this week! Potato-Ham Chowder and Chicken, Broccoli, and Mushroom Stir Fry
• Drinking : water, natch
• Reading: just started My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
• Wanting: a cute coin purse for an upcoming purse organization project
• Looking: forward to see college friends next week at a wedding
• Playing: Americana music on Spotify and loving it
• Deciding: what to do with this corner of the Internet
• Wishing: my hands weren’t so cold
• Enjoying: working from home
• Waiting: for the next Veronica Mars novel to come out
• Wondering: how Kira can possibly sleep so much
• Considering: buying a new mattress
• Watching: Gilmore Girls, duh
• Hoping: for some nice time connecting with new bloggy friends next week
• Marvelling: at the traffic my blog has gotten this week
• Wearing: brown cable-knit sweater, slim jeans, my slippers
• Following: some new folks on Twitter
• Feeling: worked out (Pilates yesterday and swimming this morning)
• Admiring: the community on Desk PM
• Bookmarking: Airbnb options for a trip to Portland
• Opening: emails like a boss (after getting behind for awhile)
• Giggling: at this video (Downton Abbey + Cards Against Humanity)
• Feeling: relieved I finally got a trip to the dentist out of the way (& grateful for dental insurance)

What are you giggling at? Wishing for? Cooking or reading?

It came as a surprise to me when I was working through my coaching sessions with my friend Steph that a recurring member on my lists of values, goals, and ideal working situations was stillness. Rest. Quiet, unhurried work. I pinpointed that part of why I enjoy backpacking is because your only responsibility is to walk. You get to be at peace among the trees. You can only carry what you can carry, so there’s no pressure to achieve. The journey is the destination, etc. etc.

This is from what I’m realizing is one of my favorite albums: Dave Matthews Band’s Busted Stuff. You should check it out.

I suppose I’ve sort of always known this about myself. In school I much preferred to be finished with a project well before its given deadline. I was so excited the first time in elementary school that I was given homework assignments, and I’m pretty sure I did all the homework for the week at once. In college, my roommate and I took a majority of the same classes, and it would stress her out when, the night before a paper was due, she was just diving into writing while I was printing out my final draft. There’s no extra motivation to me in bumping right up against a due date. Obviously I deal with the pressure when I have to, but it’s not how I function best.

I’d never equated this with stillness. Stillness makes me think of yoga people, Zen masters, content grandmothers, quiet monks. I am none of those things and don’t actually aspire to be. I’ve enjoyed jobs where I wore a lot of hats. I like switching gears periodically. I’m super efficient at working through my to-do list. But apparently at the end of the day I like to be still.

I think what stillness implies to me is just a slower pace. Andy and I really like Greenville, SC, and the feeling I always have when we’re there is that things are a little easier than they are in Atlanta. It doesn’t take 45 minutes to run an errand because of traffic. You don’t have a million different options for everything you want to do. It’s quieter. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of people hustling there and making big things happen, but in general the day-to-day seems simpler.

I had a few weeks in November where I experienced almost crippling anxiety. There was a lot changing at work, and I was tackling some tasks that were new to me. While I could logically tell myself that I was perfectly capable of completing them, my psyche was having none of it. There was this feeling that started in the pit of my stomach, a plummeting feeling, and it rendered me incapable of forward progress. I kept thinking I was getting over it and then a new piece of information would surprise me and there I was in the anxiety again.

Obviously I survived, and I did not fail. I wish I could tell you what it was that got me through it, to help you if you’re in a similar place, and to remind myself if I’m ever there again, but I’m not sure what the secret was. I was very gentle with myself, I can tell you that, and I cut myself a lot of slack. I’m glad I came out on the other side, because I know I couldn’t have sustained that level of worry for much longer.

My hope for the work I do this year is that I’ll find time for more stillness in my days. That by managing my own time I can head off that anxiety and feel less undue pressure. I know it takes gumption and grit to succeed as a writer, and I can dig that out. But I’ll be digging it out in my own way, in my own time. In a quiet, unhurried way.

P.S. I also combat visual clutter in an attempt to quiet my brain.

It’s different, this structuring of my day. When you work full-time, even if you work at a hip, cool place that is fairly felxible, there’s still a level of expectation and accountability that is lacking when you work for yourself. And as of yet it’s still hard for me to call what I’m doing working. When I don’t know what things need to be done each day to inch the needle toward my goals, and when I can’t articulate at the end of the day what I’ve accomplished, that label feels overblown. But I’m working on it, a system, a plan.

These little guys are with me as I type:

I’ve always been inspired by Erin’s “My Week in Objects (Mostly)” posts over at Reading My Tea Leaves

1. my trusty Nalgene
   I drink a lot of water, folks. I’ve never once had to make a resolution to get 8 glasses a day because I actually drink more than that already. Even when I’m working at home and could refill my glass, it’s more efficient to fill up the bottle and have a larger volume on hand. It’s always within reach.

2. my beloved slippers
   My feet are always cold. I don’t know why. In the summers when I would wear sandals to work I always regretted it when the arctic blast of air conditioning wreaked its havoc. The worst part of my morning is when I had to switch from slippers to shoes. And now that I’m at home all day I don’t have to! It’s so easy to be distracted, and keeping my feet warm removes one possible interference.

3. my portable office
   This is my work environment these days. Obviously, my computer, a 13-inch MacBook Air, which I love. It’s light and sleek and I just feel like a badass typing away on it. My Kindle–I’m reading a lot this year so it’s sort of part of my job. My notebook and pens. My approximation of a planner (Passion Planner pages stapled into a cute file folder I got from the dollar bin at Target). And my table. My beautiful table. I have a desk at home, but now that I’m actually working here I’ve realized it’s too small for me to type comfortably for very long. It’s cute, and has good storage cubbies, but for longer periods of writing I’ve been sitting at our dining room table. I like having plenty of space to spread out (my notebook, my coffee cup, my snacks), so it’s great. Just a big flat expanse all for me. And don’t tell me it’s weird that sometimes I run my hands over the wood just to appreciate how it feels, okay?

4. my pink headphones
   I like things to be pink, especially utilitarian things, because why not? A little splash of color. These headphones were the second best on my spirit website The Sweet Home. They have a built-in microphone for calls, which is nice. I don’t feel picky about my headphones, but having music on helps me go inside my own head and focus.

And a bonus perk of working from home?

I get to pet this gal whenever I want. She sure sleeps a lot! I find having a little creature in the house to be so relaxing. Just knowing she’s there makes me happy. And I’m really not sorry if I sound like a crazy cat lady. So there.

I’m supposed to be writing this year, and so far so good. I’ll be mixing in some coffee shop days as I progress, but my home environment serves me well for now.

What practical objects help you focus on your work? How do you minimize distractions?