Goals 2012 - How did I do?

Last year I posted my 2012 New Year's Goals here to keep myself accountable.  While going through these one thing I'm going to remember is:

If it's important to you, you will find a way.  If not you'll find an excuse.

So, let's see what ended up being important to me this year.

ACTING/CAREER: Goals Achieved:5  Got Close:4

• Attend class unless working an acting gig or sick.  *Mostly. Although, towards the end of the year when I was going to 4 classes a week I played hooky a couple times.*
• Work on scenes from plays I can put up. *I did work on scenes from plays, but we never got any of the plays up. Next month, I will be in "Boy's Life."*
• Read two plays a month. *I lost count. Some months I read more, other months I reread old plays. In the end I am happy with the number of plays I read.*
• Find and attend a good on-camera class to supplement my acting classes. *I attended an on-camera commercial class.*
• Complete editing on both my films before the PWFF early bird deadline. *One made it for the early bird deadline. The other made it by the late deadline.*
• Write and produce two more shorts this year. *We are halfway done filming one short I wrote. I didn't get a second one done, unless you count the 72 Hour Film Fest.*
• Continue to help at the agency once a week. *Went to the agency most weeks.*
• Find three casting offices that I can help out at as a reader. *I did!*
• Blog every Monday. *This will be my 47th blog this year. I did miss a couple weeks and some weeks were late - but I think that's an okay record.*

HEALTH: Goals Achieved:1  Got Close:1  Did Not Do:1

• Do something exercise-like at least 4 times a week. *Haha, yeah, not even close.*
• Cook at least 3 homemade dinners a week. *I didn't keep track, some weeks I made dinner every night, other weeks we ate more fast food than I would like to admit.*
• Make my own cleaning supplies.  Including laundry detergent and Windex. *I made both detergent and Windex. Plus, I tried to use cheaper, more natural cleaning products like baking soda.*

PERSONAL: Goals Achieved:1  Got Close:2  Did Not Do:1

• Do one craft per week. *I made a lot of crafts, but by halfway through the ear the one a week goal was too much - plus, I didn't have room for all these crafts.*
• Go see/do one cultural thing per week. *I did a lot of cultural stuff this year, but again the once a week goal was overwhelming. I am happy with the amount of culture I got.*
• Work on those novels.  Write 2 pages a day and reach 300 pages of a rough draft by August. *Nope, not even close.*
• Have friends over at least twice a month for movie night, dinner party, etc.  Can be low-key. *We had lots of small events throughout he year including Walking Dead nights and movie nights.  I am pleased with our social life this year.*

Now, it's time for me to start working on my 2013 Goals.

Who is Keeping you Accountable?

Every New Years we make resolutions.  Last week, I wrote about the proper way to set goals.  But, once you figure out what your goals are, what keeps you from forgetting about them a month from now?

First, make sure you post your goals somewhere that would force you to see them as often as possible.  You could print them out and tack them to your mirror, make them the home screen on your phone, or do what I did and make them public by posting them on your blog.  You can see my 2012 goals here.

This leads to the second step on how to keep your goals.  Find a partner who will hold you accountable.  Get a close friend to meet you once a week or so for coffee and discuss where you are at with the goals you set.  By posting mine, I am using all of you to keep me accountable.  I will update once a week to keep me honest on my professional goals. 

For my personal goals I started a new blog called Getting Crafty and Cultured in Los Angeles, where I try to become more like Martha Stewart but on a budget. 

Hope everyone's New Year started fabulously! 

Good luck with all your New Year's goals.

A New Year and New Goals

New Years is fast approaching and people will start asking you what resolutions you made, like that question isn't the least bit nosy and intrusive.  My answers are the same as everyone else: to work out more, eat healthier, stop procrastinating, blah blah blah.  They are all good ideas but they lack specificity and for that reason I'm making the same resolutions every year.

One of my teachers at Playhouse West gives out a great goals assignment every year that helps with those pitfalls.  The first step is to create goals not resolutions.  Goals are something that have a finite end point and they are only goals if it is something that you can do on your own without the approval of someone else.

So, how do you create goals?

I start with my dreams.  You know those things that you want so bad and seem so far away that saying them out loud makes your stomach go into knots.  (I talked a bit about that here.)  This is one of my dreams: to become a series regular in a hit TV show.  The reason this is a dream and can't be a goal is because I cannot do it wholly on my own.  I need other people's approval to get cast and an audience to watch. 

The next step is to break your dream down into smaller dreams that lead to it.  In the case of getting a series regular role the steps before that would be booking some guest stars and before that would be some co-star roles.  That is a more manageable place to start, but it is still a dream and not a goal.

What goals would help me book some more co-star roles? 

• Always attending acting class unless I have an acting gig or am sick and I will always be working on a scene.  Perfecting my craft will make sure that when I get an audition I am 100% prepared to be my best.
• Communicate with my agent at least once a month about what I need to be doing to make it easier for them to pitch me.  Make sure they know what my dreams are so they can help me achieve them.
• Attend one workshop a month with the casting directors who work in the type of TV shows that cast my type.

These are just a few ideas of the type of goals you can make that are specific and are something you can achieve.  The best thing to do is write your goals down in a place you see everyday as a reminder and then revisit your goals a few times during the year to adjust them as you achieve your dreams.

Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year filled with success.  Keep Dreaming!