How to lose a month of time?

Apparently, it's by getting deeply involved in something. Spending massive amounts of free time obsessively reading all you can about how to set up and market an online store (ok, so this is my example, but I'm sure you have all experienced something like this too? Or am I all alone here?)

So, the end of the year is creeping closer & closer and I for one cannot wait for the new year. If only because it means that all the year-end madness at my day job will be over at that point. And also thinking about the plans I made at the beginning of this year, which have taken me so long to get working on, and I'm really wanting to make the next year better.

While writing up this post, I snuck over to Gwen Bell's blog to see if she's doing another year-in-review meme like last year (you can see all my #best09 posts here), and YES of course she is doing it again, but in a much bigger way this year! This time it's called Reverb10, it starts this Wednesday (Dec 1), and looks to be awesome. I just signed up & will try my hardest to participate every day this time around, even if all I can manage is a little one-liner on some days. We'll see, this is a hard time of year since I'm always exhausted from the j-o-b. But I am very much looking forward to reflecting, reminding myself of the good that came out of the past year, and planting some seeds for next year. Maybe finding some more doorways to walk through in 2011.

So, tell me: Are you looking forward to the rest of the holiday season & the new year to come? Who out there is already planning what their next new year's resolutions will be? And if you're also joining #reverb10, let me know so I can read your posts!

Article

3 days blogging in a week is far better than I've done in a while. Let's keep on building the momentum with the Best of '09 Challenge, shall we?

December 3 - What's an article that you read that blew you away?

I'd like to preface this with a side-conversation: Does the traditional article mean anything anymore? I mean, the ones published in magazines or newspapers, or other places of "authority". I can't remember any traditional article I've read in the last couple years that stands out for me. Oh, I know I've read them. They just don't strike a chord with me anymore, the way that things I read on the internet do. And by internet of course I mean blogs not the websites of the "establishment". In this day and age anyone who blogs, facebooks, tweets, etc, can consider themselves a "publisher" can't they? After all they are making content available for others to read.

Ok, moving on.

The *best* article I read this year was How To Conduct Your Own Annual Review by Chris Guillebeau. (You can also find him here. I think I will find him there soon. Twitter, I think you will have another convert coming your way before too long - me!) I've read plenty of stuff about setting goals, so you can get to your dreams, blah blah blah... but when I read his article I suddenly got it. Like, it's not all about looking at the list of stuff you're failing to complete with every second of every day and feeling like utterly miserable. I love how he starts the next year's goal-planning by recognizing what went well this year. Kind of like how I feel like 2009 wasn't so great, but participating in the Best of '09 Challenge here is reminding me that there was lots of good stuff along with the bad. Plus, the spreadsheet he gives for tracking goals & projects is right up my alley (I'm an Excel freak, I admit it).

I think the reason this is the article I consider the best is because it touches on so much of what I'm going through in my life right now. What do I really want out of life and how the heck do I get there, because what I'm doing now sure isn't working for me. This article hit me like a flash. I cannot wait to do my own annual review at the end of this year... Thanks, Chris, for reminding us all that it's ok to want want to live unconventional, remarkable lives!