In 2012, my resolution was to be kinder to strangers on a daily basis – to ask the cashier at the checkout how she’s doing and genuinely respond to the reply; to make eye contact and smile at homeless people (I don’t usually give money, but smiles are free and I figure it’s at least better than being ignored!); to be the person that jumps to help when someone drops a glove or trips.  Over the past year, I’ve helped moms carry their strollers up and down steps, chatted with the Target cashier about my favorite kind of Chobani (PASSION FRUIT is the best one!!!), and yesterday I let the check out guy scan my ID so the lady in front of me could buy cough syrup.  (Don’t worry, she was definitely over 18 and I assessed her not to be looking for a cheap, syrupy high.

I’m not saying this to make the point that I’m some kind of saint, or worthy of praise.  If anything, last year’s resolution just moved me up to what should be the bare standard for being a citizen in a free, safe, country.   The only thing noteworthy about my resolution is that it stuck – I went from forcing myself to think about it to enjoying small interactions in my community all year long.

So now it’s time for a bigger jump – launching WFW means creating resolutions and goals for the business as well as myself, and I’m going to share them here to increase accountability.  To be clear, I’m going to classify “resolutions” as what I do on a regular basis and “goals” as the outcomes those actions will lead to.

Resolutions:

• Write something (blog, letter, brochure, PR outreach, etc) every day
• Make a new contact every week (comment on a blog, introduce myself at an event, get in touch with related community businesses)

Goals:

• Host 75 dinner parties, and do 5 for free for low socio-economic populations
• Be featured on 10 blogs
• Post (at least) one WFW blog entry and one WFW Skin Edition blog weekly

Everyone I’ve ever taken life advice from says you should write down your goals, aspirations, and vision.  So join me, and do that.  And Happy New Year. 🙂