I can’t help myself. At the start of a new year I begin compiling lists of all the things I plan to do and change across the following 12 months. I don’t generally publish them, but then I don’t usually discuss my personal life so openly either.
The older I get, the longer the list of to-dos seems to get. And a greater sense of urgency attaches itself to the to-change list. I’ll address them separately so you can gain an insight into the wishes of a woman staring down the barrel of 48 in 2013.
The to-do list:
- Celebrate my twentieth wedding anniversary in Spain. For years I’d had my heart set on Positano but I have visited Italy on more occasions than almost any other country and I developed a romantic notion of Barcelona after falling for the location in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
- Visit my friend Sylvana in Canberra far more frequently. I can report that after two years of promising to drive down there (I live in Sydney), I have given this resolution a fighting chance. On January 1 I drove to Canberra and spent a couple of days with Sylvana and her family. We studied Art for the HSC together many moons ago (30 years to be exact) and share a knowledge of and interest in a number of artists, including Toulouse-Lautrec. The Paris & The Moulin Rouge exhibition of his work at the National Art Gallery is worth a look by the way.
- Pay more attention to my personal finances. I spend my working life with P&Ls and spreadsheets so have avoided replicating this at home. But maybe it’s time…after all, there is a trip to Spain in my near future.
- Spend more time with my sons. They are growing up so fast and soon they won’t be spending much time at home at all. These days evening invitations to work-related events need to be pretty amazing to drag me away from a night at home with my boys. They have become such wonderful young men and great company.
- Re-connect with people who inspire me in my career. I am fortunate to have met a number of clever, outside-the-box thinkers in my time and this is the year that we work on projects together (hopefully). I am poking one of my fingers at you Todd Abbott.
- Make contact with those women who I have admired in my career. In truth I started this process late last year and the result was that I got to meet Elizabeth Proust, Wendy McCarthy and Sam Mostyn. I aim to continue this with fervour in 2013. Amazing women, look out.
- Renovate. I hate the thought and I have no time but it’s way overdue. Refer to point 3.
The To-Change List.
- My fitness. I am largely unfit. I don’t exercise at all. But there was a time when I did. It was a time when I was forced, through circumstance, to walk far more than I do. And I was healthier as a result. I have started to walk the dog. Does that count?
- My stress levels. After more than two decades of managing people I have learned to internalise the big stuff so that I only get stressed on the inside. A year ago one of my editors told me she couldn’t ever imagine me getting stressed as I appeared so calm all the time. However, a nurse at The Sydney Breast Clinic shared her belief that there may be a connection between stress and breast cancer when I had cause to visit there recently. I will endeavour to let it out this year.
- My Board portfolio. Time to get serious about the mix and reduce the focus on not-for-profits. Two weeks in and I have already had a couple of interesting approaches.
How are your resolutions going?