Write it down – to get it done (2011 edition)

As you may or may not know, I am a member of a fabulous blogger community, 20 something bloggers. They are hosting a blog swap for all their members, and today's post comes from my partner Annelie. She describes herself on her 20sb profile as "A very passionate and friendly Swede who enjoys traveling, studying, dancing and of course blogging!" Be sure to check out my post at her place, too!

Most things that you put off are ideas that never get started on. But many times we put of finishing stuff that we already begun with, maybe just before the finish line. We call this procrastinating. Why do we do this? We have many reasons: we find the thing we should do boring, or time-consuming, maybe it was not what we expected when we started, don’t see the point of doing it or simply; other things came in the way.

Sometimes it is not even necessary to complete the things we have started, but I think that most of the time we feel better when we complete what we started. It makes us feel that we accomplished something and often it can lead to something better.

Earlier this week I wrote a post named “Write it down and get focused” where I simply shared a story about how I last spring blogged about something I wanted to do and by the end of the year I was doing it. Hopefully, what I will share here will have the same effect.

In 2011 I aim to do the following things that I’ve put off for too long:

1. I will finish by bachelor degrees
I’ve been studying more or less for the last 4 years but still not finished my degrees. I do have a diploma in mass communications but other than that I don’t have a degree yet. This is due to lots of reasons: uncertainties of what to study, time abroad, work, you name it. Now I’m so close to the finish line and 2011 it will happen!

2. I will start an IT-development-project
This is something I’ve been thinking about many times as the ideas emerged, but I’ve always found an excuse to not do it: time, skills etc. But as of Monday this week I’m collecting a team to try it out, and in 2011 it’s happening.

3. I will write at least 100 blog posts
My first year blogging about a school-related subject I produced almost as many posts as I anticipated. The second I did not set a goal, which made me sloppy. Next year is my third year, I this time I will make it. Third time’s a charm!

Goals should be smart; specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. I think mine are, do you? What will you accomplish in 2011 that you’ve been putting off?

(Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumaxart/2137729748/)

Technically a woman, but you know, not really.

Today I'm turning my blog over to Caroline from Girl Goes East. We are partners in the 20 Something Bloggers Blog Swap, so we're swapping blogs for the day (duh that's what a blog swap means). Here's Caroline's autobiography:

Caroline (girlgoeseast.com) is a 22 year old college graduate who holds a degree in journalism and a full-time job in...not journalism. She currently lives in Manhattan where she frequently locks herself out of her building and sees that guy from Gossip Girl (she doesn't know which one). She started her blog so she wouldn't forget how to write, but now she just forgets how to work.

Hopefully you will enjoy her post and if you do make sure you go show her some love at her place (while you're there, you could show me some love on the post I wrote for her... *cough*cough* just sayin') Anyway, without further ado, here's Caroline's post: 

When I first saw my name next to Patrice’s, I clicked her link.

Oh F*#^.

 

This girl is serious. She has a layout. She has a BIO. With a picture. And a background. It looks like a digital scrapbook.

 

Wait. Patrice is still in college? I’m not in college anymore! It’s been a year, and the wealth of knowledge I’ve aquired in the last 11 months is so extensive that I could trump her layout any day. In fact…

Ok wait. This isn’t a competition. My therapist would say I’m probably just jealous she’s still in college and I’m not.

My therapist would be right.

Not a girl, not yet a woman, hm? Yeah, I feel you. I totally feel you. I realize that even though in the state of New York (and in the bank account of Mom and Dad), I am legally a woman (and not a girl), sometimes I feel like I’m still in the in between phase.

With Britney Spears and her awesome thought-provoking lyrics in mind, let’s go back to 1998 when Baby One More Time debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts (also, sometimes I make facts up).

Because I didn’t get a CD Burner til 8th grade, I was left to my own devices. And by my own devices, I mean an 18lb boom box and an alarm clock radio, where I would record mix tapes externally so the sound would always be fuzzy and LAY OFF ME WHAT ELSE COULD I DO?!

I would wait until the “top 9 at 9” would come on the radio so I could record the hit songs like “Baby One More Time” and “Lady Marmalade”. Then I would choreograph stage routines to said songs pretending the most popular girls in my grade were nothing more than my back up dancers.

I mean, what? Who said that?

I look back on that and I nearly die laughing, remembering listening to Britney in my bedroom as an 11 year old girl and really “feeling” the music. I think "Email My Heart" once reduced me to tears (I mean, that song still does, but before they weren't because of the pain from my BLEEDING EARS.) 

 

How embarrassing! Who does that?

FLASH FORWARD to my 22 year old current self.

Every single time I find myself in a car alone, you know what I do? I sing songs. You know what kind of songs? The one's on the Glee soundtrack. You know who I am when I sing the songs from Glee? The lead. Obviously. Even during the stereotypical male vocal songs, I AM THE STAR.

I watch my little cousins sweat Miley Cryus and kiss Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber posters before they go to sleep, and I thank God I'm not a dorky little girl anymore.

 

But where was I last night at exactly 9:25pm? On the edge of my couch, humming along to Lionel Richie's "Hello" with the cast of Glee and Googling pictures of Mark Salling while my roommate looked at me like I was the biggest freakshow on Earth. Where was I before that? Furiously voting for Andrew Garcia on American Idol.

 

I CAN'T BE THE ONLY ONE, PEOPLE!

 

We’re not girls. But we’re not women either. Most of the time we’re just awkward.
 

Let’s embrace it.