With the Sun in Capricorn, it’s the right time to talk about goals- reviewing them, setting them.

First though, I need to draw a line under 2013.

I started 2013 with the express idea of setting no goals. That’s right. None.

Goals and I don’t have a good relationships. I think it’s a Saturn thing- Saturn and I don’t get on, you see.

I think it harks back to partition job days when goals were something that was enforced from above, from the MotherShip. They came with the promise of…nothing. Given that there were no rewards on offer regardless of how much you blitzed your target by, or how many hours you put in or spent away from home, I began to see them as something to be fought against and resented rather, than something to be worked towards.

The goodie two shoe part of me would still do the head down bum up thing each year, but I wasn’t working for me, or the company- the goals I was kicking were for my boss and my own self respect. With Saturn in the first, I struggle with both self respect and the concept of being good enough. Each year I’d exceed my goals, but each year it wasn’t good enough to warrant a pay rise. Actually that’s not strictly correct- an announcement would be made each December that there were no pay rises company wide for the efforts of the previous year…I still took it personally and figured that if I’d exceeded my targets by more than I had done, maybe the rewards would be there. They weren’t.

So, goals and I aren’t friends.

Sure I make New Years Resolutions- not that they’re resolutions as such- more like a declaration like “in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 I’m going to lose 10 20 25 kilos.” Resolutions are all about losing something, quitting something or doing something less.  I’m a Jupiter girl- I’m about more, more, more. Besides, 2013 was a Taurus Solar Return Ascendant year for me- I wasn’t about to limit myself.

I did, however, set intentions.

The thing I’ve noticed about intentions is that they resemble goals on the surface only. Without structure, they are just dreams. And how did I go against those intentions?

• I intend to get a publishing deal (or two).
• I intend publishing my first e book.
• I intend getting my health back and making my tummy happier.
• I intend treating myself better.
• I intend living with more passion.
• I intend pushing my boundaries.
• I intend working with (rather than against) the more challenging aspects in my chart
• I intend listening to the promise of my chart
• I intend to still look for the sunshine through the shit
• I intend to still believe that dreams can come true
• I intend to finish painting the timber trims.
• I intend to make more money.

On the whole, not that well.

That doesn’t mean that I had a non-productive year. Not in the least.

So, here’s what I did do:

• Posted 317 times to Jo Tracey Astrology
• Website stats: nearly 200,000 visits for over 300,000 page views
• Still on the website, I re-launched as a magazine style theme in June
• I didn’t keep count of clients…
• I wrote and taught the first two units in my astrology course
• I had articles published with Good Health, Wellbeing Astrology, and New Age News
• I completed the first draft- all nearly 100,000 words- of Are Your Planets Keeping You Fat? and submitted sample chapters and a business plan to publishers for consideration. Still waiting. The re-write will commence January 6.
• On the fiction front, it was a case of so close but so far regarding the manuscript I finished at the end of 2012. Another re-write is underway and will give it another shot in 2014.
• Not to be undeterred, I also drafted something new in July. It’s on its second re-write now.
• I did a handful of commercial radio interviews in October and now have a weekly guest spot on The Conversation Arena talking about astrology. This does mean, however, that my first fiction manuscript has been shelved indefinitely as many of the words I wrote those years ago have now become truer than I’m comfortable with.

In short, that’s a lot of words and a lot of re-writes, but no publishing contract…yet…

Here’s what else I did:

• A hard core anti candida eating plan that I followed to the letter in January and February made my tummy happy, quickly. A fall off the wagon into the arms of good bread and wine resulted in a gradual regaining of the kilos lost. My tummy, however, remained much happier…that is until the Seasons Eatings food, beer and wine fest that has been November and December. Let’s just say that my tummy is no longer happy.
• I finished painting the trims- except for in our bedroom (I’ll do that when I paint the whole room) and the lounge (I can’t move the heavy furniture).
• On the travel front- Queenstown in February, Thailand in April, Taiwan in August, Melbourne in July and December, with Canberra and Eucumbene in between.

My words for the year were Up, Yes and Abundance.

Physically a lot was up. I was up- in the air, the numbers were up- on my scales, and even when I didn’t feel like it, I forced my mood, in general, to be up.

I said yes- to pretty well everything- which explained the mood, the scales, the travel and the reason why a lot of productive more income producing work wasn’t done. New business is up, net profit is not.

As for abundance….well, the income hasn’t been there, but there’s more to abundance than money and material possessions? I’ve spent less this year than in previous years, I’ve bought less this year than I have in previous years, but I feel like I have more- if that makes sense. I’ve pared back, I’m living more simply, and in doing so I feel as though I’m living with more- if that makes sense. I think I’m more grateful and a couple of times this year I found myself also nearly using the c word- content.

Has it been an easy year? No, shit has happened- to me and around me…but I’ve actively tried to look for reasons to laugh.

Has it been a satisfying year? Absolutely.

Has it been the year I needed to have? Yep to that too.

Will I be setting goals for 2014? Absaflippinglutely. Proper goals. Business goals. Goals with KPIs, and CTQs, income targets and monthly performance reviews. I’ll share those with you … maybe…

Next year, you see, is a Saturn year for me- and that means getting real. And one thing I do know about Saturn is that when he speaks, it pays to sit up straight, listen, take note and do what needs to be done- if you don’t the consequences aren’t pretty.