Last month I promised to explain how to draft your version of a future letter to yourself. The steps are fairly simple and I’ll use myself as an example. First, remember this letter is written some time in the future. I write my letter for one year from now, so this year’s letter is written as if it is Jan 2, 2013.

I write an intro paragraph with some general thoughts:

Dear Sherisa,

As I see myself walk into the door of 2013, I see a much more focused and mature Sherisa than ever before. The year started out with a bang. Turning 30 was such a huge accomplishment. Much more than I think I even thought it would be. 30 is such a solid number. And it gave me that extra boost. I felt much more stable. 2012 was the year of the Positive Productive; just look at all I accomplished in twelve months. I am so unbelievably proud of myself for having the faith that I can accomplish all I’ve set my mind to. I know that I can succeed at everything I glance at. The power lay within me. God has manifested that power within me. All Praise and Honor!!!

Then I usually make a list of all the things I would like to cover and I break it down however long as needed for each. I talk about personal growth and business:

Business
Health
Spirituality
Marriage
Friendships
Personal Growth
Financial
Home

The last bit is using some sort of service to email it to myself in the future. I’ve set my letter to be emailed to me 4 times in the year: once every quarter. I use FutureMe.org and they let you send it to yourself in the future as many times as you’d like. Once I’ve copy+pasted it and sent it off 4 times, I delete the draft I have on my computer so that I don’t haunt myself with constant reminders. I choose every quarter so that I can adjust what I need to in enough time and to also keep me on track.

There’s something that puts a bit of a fire under your ass when it just pops into your email and you’ve most likely forgotten about it while you just work day to day.

I hope this has been helpful and that you’ll also write your own for whatever goals you have. Or even if it’s for something like a surprise pick me up. That would be great too. If you do write one, I hope it works out well for you and your goals!

Hiii everyone!

So much has been going on. I’m behind online but not really. Sorry for my early year absence. I highly doubt it will be like this from here on out. I don’t even know where to start.

Besides my usual thinking about too much all of the time thing that I tend to do always, I’ve been getting life stuff done. I wanted to stop by on Friday and write a post, but I’ve had zero time. On Saturday, I turned the big 3-0! I’m 30 yall!!! OWWW! I was and still am so excited. I’ve been excited for maybe the last quarter of 29 and now that it’s here, and we’re fully in Aquarius I just feel like I’m exploding with happiness over and over again. I will attempt to recap the past few weeks over the next couple of days.

What does this mean for my 29 at 29 project? Technically it is over and I’m still trying to figure out everything I’d like to see accomplished this year personally. I don’t know that it will be 30 things. I don’t really know what form it will take, but I’ll have something put together by February to share. Goals never really go away until they are done. Everything I didn’t fully accomplish last year will be carried over. I realized much later than some relied on the completion of others and with a general lack of funds for personal pleasure, they just never happened. All that is changing this year though.

Outside of my glorious, grown up and beautiful new age, I’ve also got a bit of work news: I got a freelance job as a copywriter! Another thing ticked off the list! After all these years, after paying my student loan month after month without fail, I will finally get to use my degree for profit outside of myself. I am SO HAPPY! After getting the news, I got registered with the Chamber of Commerce here and I’m legit. It feels so good to know that I’ll be a functioning part of this society. I really need that to make living here a solid reality.

Now I know it’s Tuesday, and I haven’t mentioned one thing business related all year yet, but please bear with me. I’m working on something with two lovely ladies and that will debut next month some time. It’ll be about business and it’s the next chapter to my biz talk series. Here’s something else I’d LOVE to start but I need your participation for it to work. I’d love to start doing Q&A Tuesday as well for the biz talk series. Any and all business related questions can be sent to me here and I’ll answer them in some sort of order on the blog.

Let’s see…what else?

Oh yeah! I started working out yesterday. I coincidentally also got on my bike and rode around Amsterdam for about an hour total so naturally I’m super sore right now. I have to work out today, but I’m going to do it later this afternoon instead. I refuse to slack off right at the start.

So I’ll wrap this up now. Tomorrow there will be a new happiness post up so look out for that and on Thursday I’ll revisit what I wanted to talk about last week Tuesday: writing your future letter to yourself. As long as we have breath, we have time.

Yay to newness and thanks for hanging in there!

This won’t really take the shape of my happy lists, but I do want to highlight some of my most favorite things I’ve done and/or changed around here this year.

Blogging

1. Started blogging again. It took me quite some time but I definitely got into the habit of blogging in 2011. And I did some serious blogging. This year I published 161 posts and most of those posts were of high quality. Next year, my goal is to try and double that amount. It felt really really good to write so frequently. I did suffer from some dry spells and my start was super rocky, but I wrote at least 15 posts every month come April. In May I wrote a total of 30 posts-my highest amount yet. July and August were the runners up with 21 and 20 posts respectively.
2. Created some really wonderful series. 2011 was the year of expansion for me. I was overflowing with ideas and I got to implement quite a bit of them on the blog. I actually had so many ideas, I felt overwhelmed before even starting. I picked a few to get the ball rolling and I’ll say that this is the best decision I made. By far I think my most popular series and one I had little trouble talking about at length-to the point of writing actual articles, was Biz Talk :: Back to Basics series. That series brought me opportunities I hadn’t had prior and also brought me a lot of new supporters. Those posts were enjoyed and commented on the most. Another series, which was more personal but still got a lot of response online was my 29 at 29 list. It encouraged quite a few of my friends and supporters to do their own lists and think of things they want to accomplish this year. My third favorite series was ‘Til Monday, where I would put a list together of things I saw and loved around the internet. I am hoping to upgrade that next year, but I’m definitely continuing with it.
3. Added contributors. I thought it would be fun to add contributors to the blog to talk about things they are particularly amazing at and Megan, Mariam and Marsha joined my team. It was really fantastic to add these ladies and I’m hoping to expand that as well in the new year. I would love more than anything for this to not just be a place where I’m doing all the talking all the time. I love community. I thrive on it. What better way to have that happen than to have others share their opinions on this blog as well. If you’re ever interested in being a contributor, let me know.
4. Wrote guest posts. I got a taste of fulfilling part of my writing dreams by contributing a few posts to the Vianza blog and writing a post at Miss Moss. After reading some of my Biz Talk posts, I was asked to become a contributor on Vianza, which I accepted and I hope to really dig down deep in the new year and source some serious gems. I would love to do some guests posts at other blogs as well, so if you’re interested you can always contact me.
5. The Great Postcard Swap. Although, admittedly I was pretty lousy at updating, I have more confidence than ever that I am great at connecting people. Over 20 women signed up for the swap and while not all of them participated fully (full disclosure: myself, included…but I’ll get them out. I must after all.) most of them did and a lot of these women have become friends. It went beyond postcard writing to letter writing and chatting and befriending one another on other sites and even getting together in person if I’m not mistaken. I am so thankful to have had the idea. I am also thankful for all the new relationships I gained because of this swap. I’ve met some real amazing women and look forward to even more next year. I will be hosting another one next year some time, with modified rules.

Business

1. Shop updates. I had quite a few shop updates this year that I’m really proud of. I started really creating work again this year and it felt amazing. After taking pretty much a year off really left me in a slump. But I got my mojo back! I’m on it.
2. Added new products. This year I also added two new lines to my collection: Lithe bracelets and Amis necklaces. I have made bracelets since I started this business, but didn’t really put any up for sale because I was never really fully happy with what I made. My tastes became more refined and I found my own unique niche. I’ll be expanding on the styles available next year.
3. Invested. Not only did I take out ads on Miss Moss and I Adore Style, I did something exceedingly important and so timely it scared me. I purchased Danielle LaPorte’s The Fire Starter Session. By far, one of the best investments I made not only in my business, but in myself. It helped me to really define parts of what I feel my purpose is. It triggered my Biz Talk series. It has helped on so many levels–levels I didn’t even anticipate. I’ve done my part to spread the good word.It got me thinking about things not just when I was ready to, but because I absolutely needed to.
4. Learned new things.I spent a lot of my time reading this year. I also spent a good chunk of time learning how to use a DSLR properly and how to create things in Photoshop on my own. There is nothing better than being self-sufficient. Without it, I feel empty. I am glad that I’ve been making the time to find tutorials and really spending time learning the program. I am tons better at it now. I still have a huge way to go with using a DSLR, but I’m getting there. I’ll talk more about this next week.
5. Learning my business. I’ve always felt like I’ve spent a lot of time learning who my customer is and learning how to engage people in an effective way and I finally am starting to reap the benefits of that. There are so many hats that I attempt to wear, but with time I’ve realized that I am hurting myself by not letting go. Letting go is hard for me, but I’m getting there. The more I do it, the greater my network becomes.

So these are some of my most poignant moments and lessons online this year. I am so looking forward to growth in 2012. I am excited about the shape my business will take next year. I am excited to grow a community.

How was your 2011? Did you accomplish any or all of what you had hoped for? What have you learned? Let’s talk about it in the comments.