Wednesday, January 06, 2010

New Year, New Habits

I was reading "The Legal Watercooler" on my google reader stream, and was really intrigued by her New Year's post. I love New Year's superstitions and resolutions, even if I don't always follow them. I often think about what's gone well or badly over the past year, and come up grandiose visions of who I'll be by the dawn of the next year. What I liked about Heather's list is that she's focusing on stuff she can accomplish on a smaller scale. Small things she can always do, but that add up to big things over time. Here are hers:

  • I can clean out my in-box of today's messages before I leave the office
  • I can call a client (in my case, an in-house attorney at my firm)
  • I can write a blog post
  • I can return the phone calls on my list
  • I can prep the ad for the magazine
  • I can schedule the ad placement for that conference
  • I can participate in networking (online or in person)
  • I can make plans for an in-person meeting with a fellow legal marketer
  • I can go to the gym and follow my trainer's food plan
  • I can give more than I take

Can you tell it's a legal marketer's blog? Anyway, though my perspective as a law librarian is different, it inspired me. Here are my bite-sized daily resolutions:

  • I can color-code all standing requests in my in-box before I leave the office
  • I can log my time before I leave the office
  • I can write a blog post (even if it's just some thoughts on an article, it can be my personal or library blog)
  • I can review and file all my new action items (ie, actually open all the mail and email and figure out what I need to do with it next)
  • I can make a schedule for the next morning
  • I can spend a few minutes remembering what I like about my job and my life
  • I can be social (online or in person)
  • I can do ten push-ups on the balance ball
  • And I like her last one - I can give more than I take

What would you like to do every day? What little steps would actually make a big difference in your life?

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