It’s no surprise that I love my job.  I hate to stop working because I love it so much.  Remember my New Years Resolution’s and my 2010 goals? I swore I would give myself an intervention … from … that’s right, my iPhone!  Truth is – I haven’t.  I can’t.  I am addicted.

But that brings me to what I wanted to talk about most, and that is productivity.  I have been focusing on 2010 and what an amazing year it will be.  How I want to change my business, myself, and all of those goals.  But no matter what your role is, your job {a mom, an accountant}, you should never let that role describe yourself as a whole.  This seriously sung out to me  I try to be more productive, and read, or write, or get inspired.  Then, my phone dings.  It’s a new email.  Or it lights up, because I got a new Facebook message.  All of a sudden, I am distracted, and no longer focusing on the task at hand.  And, while I repeat to myself, that social networking {Twitter, Facebook} are essential parts of my business, they definitely don’t define me, my business, or my work ethic.

So I challenge all of you to make a list.  Make a list of the things that are distracting you.  My list from the other day went a little something like this:

• Ava
• My iPhone
• The barking dog that never stops outside of my office window
• Writer’s Block
• Nothing to talk about
• Emails that need to be responded to

Use those things to make you more productive.  In my case, I turned off some notifications on my phone.  I use that phone to be more productive when I am on the road – and it works, but I don’t need every tiny notification.  And while I love my daughter dearly, the days that she is home with me, I am not nearly as productive as the days that she is with a sitter, so I stopped working so much on those days.  Those, are family days {or Mom & Ava} days.  While I think all the time that I have a boring life, writer’s block, and nothing to blog – when have I ever been at a loss for words, and I hear from a lot of my blog readers  that you like it when I share my personal life.  No excuses – I can make that change too.

What are the things that are making you less productive and defining you?  Can you make changes to overcome those boundaries?

Happy Friday!

A few weeks ago, I asked a question to my peers on Twitter. I asked, “What is your biggest goal for 2010″. I got some awesome responses from other work a holics like myself. One of my favorites was to live an “unstressed life”. And another fave was to “achieve simplicity”. I think I would like to incorporate both of these in to my biggest goal of 2010. I am striving first and foremost to achieve a better work/life balance. I love my job so much that it is really hard for me to stop working. I have even joked that I would like to install an “off” button for my mind. I have yet to find that one. So, I thought that today, I would share some of the things that I intend to achieve for 2010 in hopes that it may inspire some of my readers to share their own in the comments below. If you leave a comment on this post, you will automatically be entered in our super fab drawing and the winner will receive a gift card to one of my favorite places. So, leave some love in the comments section by stating what your biggest goal is for 2010!

1.  Achieve a better Work/Life Balance (Check email only twice daily, workout, read/journal inspiration daily, spend more time with my family and friends who I love dearly, stage my own intervention with my iPhone).

2.  Continue to LOVE what I do everyday and strive to be more successful at every realm of business (this includes book keeping (which I hate and thankfully hired a great one over a year ago)).

3.  Blog More: I get this request a lot from my readers but fear my life is too boring to pour out every detail. I will work on this for my fab clients, blog readers, and fans.

4. Be inspired by life!

5. Share and help others who want to learn – I truly believe in this! It makes our industry stronger as a whole.

6. Make the switch – you know, the all out photographer brawl between Canon and Nikon (yes, I intend to switch from Canon).

7.  Keep my car cleaner (Hey, it’s pretty much my second home during the busy season … I am working on it).

8.  Lose that last bit of “baby fat” that is following me around It either stuck around since I was a baby or since I had a baby.  One of the two (and I am guessing the latter).

9.  Be BOLD (if you have met me, you know I am, but I intend to carry this through in many ways)

10.  Shoot more! This includes things not work related … and finally decorate my house with my own art!

11. An oldie but goody - DANCE LIKE NO ONE IS WATCHING! (FYI, this often embarasses my husband in the car)

So that’s it.  What is your 2010 goal?

(My awesome little family)