Action Item Update: Summer Success!

I've been crazy busy these past two months with running my new business but it's been simply amazing and I couldn't be happier with my decision to do it. However, in an effort to remain focused to my original mission, I'm going on posting about some of the things that I've committed to doing: specifically, my action items.

Here's a look back to my last post:

Now check out all the green I've added!

Here's the highlights of what I've been up to this month!

- I just got back from my first trip away from home without my son. I was invited to attend a convention for a women's organization that I volunteer for and the trip was fabulous! While Dad and son hung out for four days, I got a chance to network, learn, and get inspired. So yays for attending a networking event, taking a class, and having a night out!

- Working on my business as giving me plenty of opportunities to learn new (blog) skills: I've been using a software to create email marketing campaigns and I've got a ton better at using a social media scheduler like Gremln and HootSuite.

- I've only managed one book: Water for Elephants which I LOVED! However, I'm halfway through an awesome recommendation from Joanna: MWF Seeking BFF, that unbelievable hits home for me.

- This summer my husband and I decided to join a CSA (farm share program) that preps a box full of fresh local veggies for us each week. We've spent the past month making a real commitment to eating healthier and less processed and the box of veggies has really motivated us to eat a more diverse array of veggies. It's been a fun challenge to learn to prepare new veggies like: cabbage, kale, chard, Choi, kohlrabi, garlic scapes, and beets; (sadly some of these aren't even that rare but they are new to us!) So essentially, I've rocked out in the recipe department. Here's a few faves: Avocado with Bell Pepper and Tomato Salad, Garlic Scape Pesto (with quinoa), Kale Slaw with Red Cabbage and Carrots, Spiced Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, Grilled Salmon with Orange-Avocado Salsa, Sesame-Kale Crisps, and Red Lentil Soup. I picked a few faves to post here but this seriously isn't even a taste of all the new things we've tried...like this which I had a hard time talking my husband into because I wasn't even excited for it...but it seriously was pretty good. To be honest, this whole eating fresh thing kind of came about (for a number of reasons) but one being that we noticed a disconnect from what we were feeding our son and what we were feeding ourselves. It could seriously be a whole other post...but if your looking for resources we used a lot of the recipes from Whole Living's 2012 Action Plan Challenge.

- The home projects have been kind of lackluster...ideally we've been wanting to DIY redo our kitchen this summer but we've been really unmotivated in that department. We'll see...

- Lastly, I've been maxing out on the nights out - mostly because my awesome sister came into town and my husband and I capitalized on a free babysitter (we saw our first movie in a theater in over a year) but I've also managed to get out with the girls too which in some ways is equally as nice. I managed 5 nights, all of which were awesome: shopping date with my sissy, movie with husband, dinner with husband, dinner with the girls, and a happy hour!

I'm still not even halfway there but I've been busy and it feels good!

Sincerely,

P.S. - Anyone else trying the CSA thing? (I love recipes!) Or planning a major home remodel? (I need guidance!) Or just getting some time out of the house with the one(s) you love? (Yay!)

Action Item Update: Slow and Steady (Wins the Race?)

I'm sure posting these goal updates are more for me than for you, even though you don't realize it - you are holding me accountable and so I'm going to keep reporting out.

I'm slowly but surely accomplishing items, and while I'm not running through things incredibly fast - I've clipped up my pace by focusing on what is interesting me at the time.

In the past 2 months, I've completed 15 items! (AND May isn't even over yet, so hopefully I can eek out a few more!)

A couple of highlights:

- I made a printable (ie - figured out how to post a pdf of my blog and enable it to be downloaded.)

- I read (and memorized) my study guide to take my ACE Group Fitness Instructor Exam - (AND I passed!)

- I've been reading a lot - for fun! I downed Mockingjay (super surprised by the ending - but liked it), The Accidental Tourist (a little sad and hard for me to read, but an interesting perspective), and The Lover's Dictionary (super fast read, but it was just ok.)

- I started taking Stroller Strides classes (workouts for me and a stroller ride and songs for baby) AND I took an online class about teaching pre/post-natal fitness so I can teach my own classes!

- Baby and I have been a ton of places, but the highlights would have to be the Zoo and our local pet store! The zoo was a planned trip (for Mother's Day,) however the pet store was a sporadic trip for dog food that turned into a long tour. My son LOVES animals and it's been so fun to see him see new things. If you can't make it to a zoo or just need to kill a little time, check it out, (aquarium displays are equally entertaining.)

- I went through my closet and started getting rid of all my work clothes.

- I had two fantastic nights out - one wine night with the girls and one date night with the husband! Yay!

Overall, it's good to see my progress moving and I think it was helped a lot by changing my perspective about my goals.

Sincerely,

March Goal Review: Changing My Perspective

I've been putting off my March Goal Review for a few days now because I'm actually a little afraid to look at it. I have a strange feeling it's going to be bad. I literally haven't looked at it since my last goal review and basically...out of sight, out of mind. Not good. (Even sadder, it has been so out of sight that I never even transferred a copy from my old computer to my new one.)

I really like my list and want to do all the things on them but I am a little worried that I'm not going to finish. 

Enter Finish Year

I randomly happened upon this great blog from another great blog and the timing could not be perfect because as I started writing my review of my months goals - I got disenchanted with the process and the bad grades I am getting. I sort of need a kick in the butt, i.e. a new way to look at my goal list, a way to encourage me to finish.

I've been looking at this all wrong as a routine to do list; I'm not trying to build habits out of these things, I just want some new experiences. And since it's getting me bogged down - I'm not going to do that anymore! Instead, I'm just going to focus on getting these done over the course of the year. Trying to work on 12 different goals a month is HARD, and in some cases (like learning a new blog skill) it's hard to hold back. I think it will be much easier to focus on things organically and check things off, like a list. Sure I might get all the easier things done first, but then that gives me exclusive time to focus on the harder things.

So here is my monthly review of all the things I've done:

 

Learn a new blog skill

I've added a new banner! What do you think?

Volunteer somewhere new

I haven't fully finalized this yet BUT it's very exciting so I'm going to share. Remember when I said my informational interview provided me with some ways to get experience right now? Well, long story short, I submitted a proposal to volunteer with a local organization helping them to coordinate their social media efforts - and they accepted it! We are working on scheduling a meeting to get the ball rolling. I'll keep you updated!

Read an employable book

I posted about how I started this AMAZING book, The Comeback. I literally just finished it last night and LOVED it. I just really liked hearing individual women's stories about taking time off and how they returned to their careers. It was hopeful, inspiring and empowering. Plus, it made me feel like I'm not alone!

Try a new recipe

I actually tried two this month. The first was from The Everygirl. They put out an awesome 10 meals for less then $50 pdf and I tried the flatbread (sans chicken) - fantastic and SO EASY! The second was for an app I wanted to try: buffalo shrimp and I added my own version of this Bleu Cheese dressing (see my notes for changes); both turned out delicious!

Take baby to a new place

I got a groupon to try out our local Stroller Strides class which we just did this past Monday (not really March!) I only did it because of the groupon and I kind of expected the class to be more social than an actual workout. However, I was pleasantly surprised; I LOVED it and I'm still sore today! Great workout and def planning to make it a permanent join.

Complete a home project

We FINALLY bought a new bed! It's just the mattress so far, we have plans to go pick up the frame this weekend but regardless - YAY! Getting a new bed has been way overdue; ours was so uncomfortable, we were waking up sore and getting no sleep. So last weekend we finally splurged and went for it. BEST.PURCHASE.EVER.


So my goal review now feels incredibly positive and so does my new chart!

Lots of green! And I'm actually looking forward to sharing this with you next month!

(I've also got one last thing I've changed...but I'm actually going to save it for tomorrow's post about productivity.)

Sincerely,

P.S. - How are your yearly goals? Didn't set any? There's still time! Check out this post about creating your Finish List for the year and start now!

Why Leap in February? Goals Report

I hope everyone is enjoying their extra day today. I never thought about it before but why February? Why not June or July? It's a dreary, rainy DC day and I'd much rather get my extra day on a sunny warm summer one.

So today, I spent my nap times reviewing my Employable and Enjoyable Action Items from February. I really worked hard to rectify my scores after last months "not-so-hot" report.

So here is the outcome for my Employable Action Items.

 

Attend a networking event.
FAIL.

Attend a community/town meeting.
FAIL. I really thought this one would work out too! I had put four different town meetings in my calendar but each time something came up (like volunteering) and I was like, "oh well, I've got three/two/one other to still go to" and I just put it off. Then when the last one came around I was busy getting ready for our trip. Lesson: don't wait until the last minute.

Learn a new blog skill.
SUCCESS. Boy, have I been busy on this one! I even wrote this post about some of the cool things I learned. I also learned how to use google analytics and stop it from tracking my own pageviews (a ridiculously time consuming feat until I discovered this. I swear I tried all the other ways first and it didn't work!) I signed up to be part of some blog directories like Technorati, and Blogher. I figured out RSS feeds, how to add customized buttons, dallied in CSS, messed around with my template, played around with blogrolls, started a weekly segment, and I bought my domain! Lastly, I reflected about how I think blogging will help my career and posted it for the Brazen Careerist's February Run Around. A lot of these things you can now see around my blog - so how did I do?

Volunteer somewhere new.
SUCCESS. This past month I volunteered at a local food rescue farmer's market distributing fruits and veggies to families in need. I've been a strong supporter of food rescue (redistributing day-old products that stores would otherwise be trashed) since I was in high school and college, and used to complete weekly rescue missions. It was nice to see the distribution side of things and it was great to get to know more about my local community. 

Take a class.
SUCCESS. 

Read a new employable book.
FAIL. I did get the book from the library...but you're just going to have to wait until next month for me to let you know how it went.

AND my Enjoyable Action Items:

Read an enjoyable book.
This month my husband and I read the 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. Get your own love languages profile for married couples, kids, singles, parents of teens, everybody: here.

Try a new recipe.
Your probably lucky that I don't have pictures because while it was very tasty (even baby loved it - spices and all!) it didn't turn out this pretty. 

Take baby to a new place.

SUCCESS. Check out this post about baby's first museum trip.

Organize a part of my house.
SUCCESS

Complete a home project.
FAIL. Although my husband and I finally decided to put a time stamp on updating our bed set. 

Have a night out.
FAIL. I had two potential nights planned, but alas, travel and life got in the way.

Ok, so just to compare...it's not all bad, but I do have a ways to go. I said I worked hard on what I missed last time, and they are all YAYs! But I'm going to have to spend a little more time planning (and less time procrastinating) in order to get some of these things done. In reality, if I had read a little less Us Weekly, I could have gotten those books read and if I had just committed to one night for my town meeting, I would have not left it until the last minute.

I'm looking forward to a fresh start in March.

Sincerely,
Jordan

My Not-So-Hot January Goals Report

Since it's the last day of the month I want to take some time to check back in on my E&E Action Items and see how I've been doing.

This month has been positively crazy: my son and I had our first solo flight to FL, I quit my job, I spent a LOT of time doing goal setting and strength finding, and we had a really scary 911 call and trip to the ER.

And as far as my Action Items are concerned, to be honest, I did not do so hot. So now is the time to evaluate, and I'm basically going to commit to keeping it, drop it, or change it.

So let's review.

 

Below is a picture of the employable section of my action items.

 

 

Attend one networking event.

I checked off "networking event" because of my goal setting workshop. It may seem like I'm just fudging it into the networking category, but in my definition of networking, just going out and meeting people who have the same interests as you, just for the sake of being social is going to count, because shoot - I just need some adult conversations. COMMIT.

Exchange contact information.

So this I didn't do. I actually kind of don't think I will ever do this unless I were to go to one of those cheesy meet-and-greet networking events. I'm not even really sure where I intend to go with this goal but I'm not loving it. DROP. 

Create an online portfolio.
So in reflection of this goal, having this blog is really where I am going to be documenting skills and so what I really need to be doing with this goal is learning a new blog skill per month. CHANGE: Learn a new blog skill.

Volunteer somewhere new.
I feel really badly about not meeting this goal because I thought this would be a slam dunk because I do volunteer a lot! Oh well, this month was a wash. COMMIT.

Take a class.
I checked this box off because of my strength finders class and I've come to realize that the networking event and this action item are very similar, which to me is fine. As long as I learn something at one and talk to people at the other, which in this case I did both, it doesn't really matter how it gets labeled. However, I don't know why I thought this would be so hard that I needed 6 months to do it, so CHANGE: monthly.

Learn how to do something financial.
Another really vague goal that wasn't accomplished, which is why I should reflect on my goal setting advice and make them SMART. I'm not sure where I am going with this either. No surprise, DROP.


My enjoyable action items turned out slightly better...albeit still an F.

Read an employable book.
I read Living Your Strengths. However, I think I am going to move this goal out of Enjoyable and into  Employable, because to me something enjoyable would be the last book of the Hunger Games which keeps getting rotated through my library book cue because I never get to it. CHANGE.

Read an enjoyable book.
I'm disappointed I never made it to this, will work harder. COMMIT

Try a new recipe.
Biscuits, done! COMMIT

Take baby to a new place.
New place, sheesh...we flew to a whole new state! COMMIT

Organize a different part of my house.
I will do this. COMMIT

Complete a home project.
We got our basement insulted this month! Hurrah! COMMIT

Since I dropped/moved some action items, I'm also going to add some new ones for this upcoming month.

So here is to February!

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - I'd love to here your January progress reports! Comment, tweet, or email!

My 2012 Employable Action Items

I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and LOVED it. She offers a lot of great advice but what I liked the most was her method of turning resolutions into "concrete measurable actions." So a 'la happiness-project, I am here to present my much talked about, employable action items.

Using my Three Factors of Employability and my Employable & Enjoyable Skills Breakdown, I created an excel spreadsheet made of six employable action items, (things that I think will help me to get hired when I return to the workforce,) and six enjoyable action items, (things that I want to do because I want to make the most out of my career break!)

 Almost all of my goals are monthly so I'll be easily able to track them by coloring in a box for each successful accomplishment. You may be looking at this and thinking, "wow...once a month, big whoop," but for me, this is a stretch and will enable me to guarantee success for some of these. Plus, I can re-evaluate whenever I want to ensure the intentions behind these are being met. Being a new mom can be ridiculously time-consuming and so putting aside time to get through a book or get out of the house to take a class in something might be all that you can do; don't pile on too much and set yourself up for failure.

These action items are all about helping me to find my niche when I return to the workforce. If you already know what you want to do when you return, focus on that. If you are still trying to figure things out, jump around and encourage yourself to try new things.

I'm really excited to put this into writing because I think that it will help to hold me accountable. The timing for me to start this is ideal, since it's the beginning of the new year, however, you can start this anytime. Putting your goals, however large or small, into writing is crucial to success; it just makes them more real.

Sincerely,
Jordan

P.S. - I'd love to hear some of your own employable action items. Comment below or tweet me @employablemom #EmployableActionItems