J. Bee's Bucket

It has been several months since I made a post about upgrading my list. I have put a lot of thought into this. At first, I wasn't sure if upgrading was cheating on the list. Of course, there are no rules but I didn't want to suck at completing my goals. I had been toying with the idea for weeks. There were just so many things on it that I just didn't feel a drive to do anymore. There were a lot of over ambitious goals that, in all honesty, had a lack of funding. Europe, Washington, Nova Scotia AND Alberta? How did I ever think I would be able to afford all of that travelling?

In the end, I decided to revamp my list.

I must admit that I love this new list and I've also devised a way that I can finish without crossing all of them in the last couple days.

The first of every month from now until November (the last month of my list, that is so quickly approaching) I'll post my goals that I'm going to try to cross of that month and follow up on the goals from the month before. I must say, I think this is mildly brilliant. It will also help as I've only completed 28 of my 101 goals.

My dad always taught me to set smart goals. Not just intelligent, it's an acronym.

Click on the hyperlink for a better explanation of SMART Goals!

Specific - Answer those basic questions. Who, what, where, when, how, etc. You need to know these things so that you can know when you have most certainly crossed off this goal.

Measurable - I love this one. I see so many people making goals like "Pray." WHAT IS THAT?! If you pray one time, do you get to cross that off? If you're not praying 24/7, do you not get to cross it off? Make it measurable. "Pray every day for 22 days." Measurable goal, check! (22 days is how long it takes for humans to form a habit. FACT.)

Attainable - Pick something that you can actually do. If you have not stepped foot off of your couch for the last 15 years, do not make it your goal to run a marathon next week. You will become extremely discouraged! This is just a way of life, you must take baby steps to make a achieve goals that work for you.

Relevant/Realistic - Why would I ever need to learn Setswana? I would never need to. Why set a goal to do something that you have no use for? Set a goal for something that is of great use to you. Becoming more organized, spending more time with your family, etc.

Timely - When will you be done this goal? There has to be a time limit, or it's just a wish. Deadlines are what make this world go round, I swear. You have to be able to sit down on X day and evaluate how you're doing with your goal or you'll just have a dream goal that is recycled every new years. (This is why people don't think new years resolutions don't work.)

I want you all to set a couple of goals for 2012. It's supposed to be a great year!

Here is my new list with crossed off completed goals. Some of them don't have dates and that is because I don't know what the day was. Sometimes I forgot to document it... I'm human!

Start Date: 7 February 2010

Finish Date: 3 November 2012

Financial:

1. Save $5,000

2. Get a scholarship

~~3. Save $3,000~~

~~4. Get a full time job~~

5. Put 1$ in the travel jar for every task completed

6. Pay all my bills on time until November 2012

7. Donate 1$ for every goal I do not complete

Education:

~~8. Get into university~~

~~9. Keep a minimum of a 75% average~~

~~10. Take a recreational class~~

11. Attend university

12. Finish an assignment a week in advance

13. Upgrade a high school credit

14. Make a list of 10 books I want to read

Spiritual:

15. Read the Book of Mormon

16. Get in the habit of daily prayer

17. Read 15 general conference talks

18. Make a list of those talks in the order of which affected me most

19. Mark my scriptures at least once every day for 3 weeks

20. Learn about another religion

~~21. A-Z reasons of why I love being Mormon~~

~~22. Spend an entire day reading the scriptures~~

23. Read my PB weekly for 2 months

24. Graduate from seminary

~~25. Read a book by a General Authority~~

Health:

~~26. Get a pool/gym membership~~

27. Get to my goal weight

28. Run a race

29. Stop having fast food for a month

30. Drink only water, real fruit juice and milk for a month

~~31. Give blood~~

32. Sign my organ donor card

33. Do the hundred push up challenge

Performing/Artistic Skills:

34. Do a DIY project

~~35. Sing a solo~~

36. Paint a painting

37. Learn to play a song that I love on the guitar

38. Make a ridiculously good-looking dessert

39. Direct a piece in choir that I love

Travel/Sight Seeing:

~~40. Go on a trip with friends~~

41. Go on a trip with siblings

~~42. Have a travel fund jar in my room~~

43. Go to the beach for a day

44. Visit the Grand Canyon

45. Visit a friend outside of Ontario

46. Make a picture book with pictures from my vacation

~~47. Spend a day in Ottawa’s Parliament~~

~~48. Go geocaching with my family~~

New Skills:

49. Spend a day picking strawberries and making jam

50. Learn to cook a fancy meal

51. Keep room clean/organized for 2 weeks straight

52. Make cookies and deliver them to someone

~~53. Learn how to make sushi~~

54. Take an hour to read a book every day for a week

55. Do a photo shoot of someone

~~56. Make a nice dinner for some people I love~~

57. Memorize a Shakespearian passage

58. Take a picture of myself everyday for 50 days and make a video of it

59. Get my G license

60. Get a pair of jeans on sale

~~61. Learn how to bake a pie~~

62. Learn how to make apple sauce

Personal Challenges:

~~63. Get my ears pierced~~

~~64. Go out of my way to be nice to someone who dislikes me~~

65. Get artwork for every song on my computer

66. Write 5 letters to people who have changed my life

67. Write a missionary once a month for 2 years

68. Make a list of 100 things that make me happy

~~69. Cast an educated vote in my first election~~

70. Reverse pick-pocket someone

71. Spend a day with my grandparents

72. Wear my hair straight everyday for 1 week

73. Unplug for a week – no cell phone, laptop, TV or facebook

74. Keep a gratitude journal for a week

75. Keep a dream journal for a month

~~76. Make a list of my favorite 25 qualities~~

77. Do my laundry biweekly for 3 months

78. Keep in touch with one of my high school friends

79. Make my bed every day for a week

80. Replace the photos in my room with new ones

~~81. Buy a camera to document every task on this list~~

New Experiences:

82. Buy a lotto ticket

83. Do one of the following: hot air balloon, sky diving, bungee jumping

84. Try 3 foods from different countries

85. Watch the sunset and sunrise in one night

~~86. Have a slumber party (3+ people, planned)~~

87. Write myself a letter to open in 10 years

88. Leave a letter in a library book

89. Pull an all-nighter

~~90. Go ATVing~~

~~91. Go horseback riding~~

92. Send a secret to PostSecret

93. Buy something on Etsy

~~94. Go to a professional sports game and buy a shirt~~

~~95. Go to a concert with a family member~~

~~96. Get a mani/pedi~~

97. See 2 “cultured” events in Toronto

98. Go on a picnic

99. Volunteer in the social work field

Organization Skills:

100. Post on my blog for every task I complete

~~101. Keep an up to date calendar for 2 months~~

My Goals for January:

17. Read 15 general conference talks

97. See 2 “cultured” events in Toronto

87. Write myself a letter to open in 10 years

80. Replace the photos in my room with new ones

70. Reverse pick-pocket someone

59. Get my G license

29. Stop having fast food for a month

30. Drink only water, real fruit juice and milk for a month

38. Make a ridiculously good-looking dessert

39. Direct a piece in choir that I love

32. Sign my organ donor card

I just have to do 2 or 3 of these a week. How easy is that? This is going to be awesome!

What are some of your new goals for 2012?

Brittany and Brandon had been dating since February and I knew that they would be getting engaged any day. I had also been toying with the idea of going on an exchange to Russia for months and months and just couldn't decide if I wanted to commit to it or not. It would be a 6 month exchange where I would go and live in Russia for 6 months, and teach children how to speak English. All for about $2000. Which was really cheap and exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do.

When I finally decided that I was going to do this, I told Brittany. To which her response was probably something like "I'm getting married, dude."

I was then faced with an extremely difficult decision...

Should I stay or should I go?

Could I bear missing my best friend's wedding? Could I deal with seeing photos of her, all in white, with the man of her dreams, without me by her side? If I did leave, I could only do so half heartedly; knowing that I would miss her wedding and any planning involved. I even thought of going on the exchange and coming home for her wedding. That plan was short lived... It would have cost me about $2000 in airfare to get home, not to mention the hours it would take to arrive in Canada.

I told Brittany that I hadn't decided but that I was still heavily considering going to Russia. That I would love to be there but that if she chose a date from September to December, I probably wouldn't be able to be there. With that said, there was a long awkward pause. Brittany then piped up and said that she would just... not have a maid of honor. She made it clear that she wanted me to be there but she knew that I could not place my life on hold for her one day. But the fact stood: that if it wasn't me, then there wasn't going to be a maid of honor.

In that moment my brain and heart just turned into absolute mush. All I could see was:

That's what really did me in. I couldn't leave when she so desperately needed me to pull off a fabulous wedding. Haha. But I told her I would have to think and pray about it. Regardless of what mother and sister told me, the answer was stay. The thought of not being there was unimaginable for both myself and the bride to be. Also, I knew that I would be terribly lonely on wedding day being away from her and all the excitement.

Stay tuned for more wedding details from the maid of honor's perspective!