What will you do next year that you have been putting off for far too long?

 Good morning, Happy Monday, and Happy week of Christmas!

I'm doing a blog swap through 20 something bloggers today!

Charis is my pard-ner.  I checked out her blog- it's awesome!

So, Charis take it away.

And you can check me out on her blog here.

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While I'm not one to brag, 

I will say that I'm a master 

 (not exaggerating)

of procrastination.

Hard at work in the pre-dawn and yet my procrastination still wins!

Anti-climactic announcement there, I know.

In high school, I did the bare minimum to get by in all the honors classes. Now I know that's nothing to sneeze at (thanks to genetics and being raised in a family where reading and education were given top priority), but one I reached college and actually started to study for the first time (and thereby aced all my tests), I realized, with a decent amount of self-loathing, that had I actually, you know, studied in high school, I wouldn't have had to pay a red cent for college.


Ugh. Hindsight.

But back to the point. 

That is a single example of how my procrastinatory short-sightedness has cost me. (I don't procrastinate on making up new words, in case you were wondering.) Nowadays it costs me in other areas, such as career decisions and just personal awesomeness measures (which, if I actually DID the things I set out to, would be much, much higher). Good thing we were given this subject to write about for the blog swap - if not, I may have put off thinking about this for another year. 

So, here's my list of  

Things I'll Be Doing In 2011 (That I've Been Putting off for Far Too Long):

1. Learn to play a musical instrument (2 would be better). I gave my husband a guitar last Christmas that I intended to learn to play as well, and I inherited a keyboard from my sister in law too. Haven't touched the keyboard once, and the guitar has laid in my hands less that 10 times. Pas mal. Especially because I can feel that playing music, then writing music for fun, could be a passion of mine, once I freakin figure out how to do it.
2. Get publishing. I'm a sometimes-writer with a publication here and there, but I've hammered out two pages a day, nearly every day, since sometime in 2007 (need we count how many pages that is? Somewhere around 2,000) and have never read hardly any of them again, much less compiled them into a book. Now is it just me, or is that nothing short of ridiculous? So I say forget it, I'll start anew, with topics in mind, and I'll get to cranking out some books this year. These days, with self-publication being such an easy thing to do, there's really no excuse. Okay, so that's two.
3. Plant an edible garden. My husband and I are passionate environmentalists who one day plan to grow ALL of our own food, and who now live in a place that we chose largely because of the growing-friendly area outside. And yet no seeds have gone into the ground. We've lived there since July. Disgraceful. Luckily, the early new year is a great time to plant in SoCal, so this can be something that I do right away with nice benefits (it takes about a week for the lettuce and herbs I'll be planting first to sprout up). Instant gratification is always a plus for these things.
4.  Put my business hat on. When it comes to growing business and you work for yourself, ain't no one gonna do it but you. Because my career is a passion and also something that is a benefit to the world, again, there's no excuse not to get crackin. Especially when every day procrastinated is a day that someone out there doesn't get the help that I could give them.
5. Get outside more. As someone who's brain function is greatly enhanced by putting herself into natural settings AND who lives in a warm-weathered paradise, I have no good excuses for staying in the house as much as I do. Nuf said.

 So,

 That's my list and I'm stickin to it!

What are your resolutions? Have you thought of how to put them in place yet? I'm not quite to the action-taking stage yet, but luckily I still have 11 days left to do that. 

Good luck with your resolutions!

My name is Charis Brown Malloy and I'm a holistic health consultant, educator, writer, and childbirth advocate. I live in Santa Monica with my new husband. Should you feel so inclined, feel free to check out my site, blog, and twitter.