Goals For The New Year

 My sincerest wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year to you and yours!

As we ring in 2012, we say goodbye to 2011, a year which wasn't the best.  A terrible economy hurt so many families, including mine, so we gratefully turn the page with optimism 2012 brings an upswing.  Maybe I'll have extra helpings of black eyed peas, cabbage and ham this New Year's Day.

It's also time to set goals for the coming year.  There are the standards: lose weight, work out more, among others.  Mine are to continue striving to be a better person, a more understanding person & a giving person. 

Music wise, I plan to cut back.  While working at the Telethon of Stars this past November, I was chatting with a friend of mine who is a professional musician.  He was shocked to find I played more shows than HIM over the last 2 years.  That's in addition to holding a demanding full-time job at which I work 50-60 hours per week.  Maybe that's why, during the past 2 years, I've been fatigued from July until my annual "break" from playing, during the holidays.  In 2012, I plan to cut the number of shows in half in order to spend more quality time with my family.

In my professional life, my goal is to continue to improve, learn and help as many people as I can.  In that sense, I don't worry as much about specific numbers, as much as I just strive to do as much as I can to be a positive influence in encouraging others.

Never worry about numbers.  Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.  ~Mother Teresa