Describe one thing you'd like to achieve by this time next year? Why is this important to you?

I would like to be able to say that I didn't give up. That's all.

I would like to be over my soon-to-be-ex-wife and the baby she has on the way that isn't mine. The baby will have been born by then, and hopefully I am past it and moving on with my life. I certainly have been trying to do so, but it isn't easy. This is important to me because it's the only choice I really have if I want to find happiness someday. I would love a child of my own someday, and that won't happen until I'm over this.

I would like to take first place in any kind of contest. I am always coming in second or winning by default. Until I actually am recognized as the best at something, I will feel inferior to all of my peers.

I'd like to have the mobile dental unit project rolling. It's important because of what it does, and also because it honors Dad's memory.

By this time next year I want to be comfortable and at peace wherever I'm living. And at this point in my life I'm not comfortable where I'm living w/my husband after 16 years of marriage. I believe deep down that it's time to move on. I can no longer take for granted that this is where I'll end up or that I have to stay in this marriage if I'm unhappy. It's a little scary and different but I must begin taking small steps to move on and get out.

Hmm, excellent question. I would like to get my life in order. That doesn't necessarily mean a high-paying job or marriage... Actually, it probably won't mean either of those things. But, I'd just like to get out there and experience the things that I have wanted to do, but have kept putting off. I am hoping that this will include finding my "passion" in life - so that I can get out of my current job field and do something I love.

I want to marry elissa. It would symbolize solving a series of complex problems and put me in position to be the mensch I am supposed to be.

Be Divorced

 Ostoja Antonio Cvijanovic, Brooklyn.

I would like to find the combination of therapy plus medication that will kill forever the monster of depression that lives and destroys inside me.

This year I have decided to tackle my resistance to forgive my mother for things she did to me during my childhood. I will be sixty in 2010 and have decided that I have been sad and angry long enough and want to attempt to forgive her, because I need to be free of these negative emotions. I have already begun to work on this and am hoping that at this time next year, I will have made good progress.

Jill Jupiter, Los Angeles

This is going to sound stupid and trivial, but considering how all-consuming and miserable this one issue has been for me, it matters a lot. I want to achieve comfort in my own body. I'll say it again. I want to achieve comfort in my own body. My weight has fluctuated for at least 15 years. I've had a disordered perspective about food for at least that long, too. And, I have not really been comfortable in my own skin for a long time.

I would like to be able to handle disrespect with more grace, patience and poise. There is a Chinese proverb that goes like this: "One moment of patience may ward off great disaster. One moment of impatience may ruin a whole life." While my intolerance for disrepect has not ruined my life, it certainly has made it very difficult at times. I know that learing to ignore such treatment would stand me in very good stead. I have been saying for years that I want to get there but have not yet succeeded. Perhaps this is my year? I certainly hope so, because I'm not getting any younger. Being able to handle disrespect is a quality-of-life issue and I want the quality of my life to be as high as possible as often as possible.

I want to be less sad about being older and embrace the joys of my age. Why? Cause it is foolish to dwell in the past when you still have a future ahead of you.

Being a better husband and father, one who really listens is tops. One obstacle to that now is the amount of time necessary for our start-up business to gain altitude. So I would have to say, having a smooth business strategy that allows me more family time would be a prime goal.

John Hamilton, Fort Collins

I would like my feelings about people who anger me, whom I ruminate on, to be a flag, a warning, that my Godsense is obscured, that I am turning in the wrong direction momentarily - I want mini-teshuvah-on-the-go so minor course corrections daily replace the need for big ones after damage is done. I also want to stop gossiping about others, or taking dark joy in their upset- these are all related to outlets for an enhancement of my own anger.

To remain happy and active. I am 70 years old and I plan to have many productive years ahead.

Sondra Ross, OH

I would like to get really close with more of my friends. There is no greater feeling than knowing you have a close friend.

Micah Finkelman, granville

I want to achieve a greater sense of calm in my attitude towards my household. I am wasting energy on flipping out and getting angry that could be spent learning to understand my wife and my sons. If we are going to live we need to have a stronger foundation of calm and understanding as our platform of operation from which we can have all the fun and excitement and joy we need.

I'd like to have health insurance. This could be achieved in a number of ways--I could be able to afford to buy coverage for myself (and be able to get coverage?); my boyfriend and I could get married and I could be covered on his insurance. Or, we could pass health care reform? It is important to me because medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US. I don't have any coverage and I am scared I will get sick and not be able to afford my care.

By this time next year? I'd like to build something manually. It can be a kitchen cabinet, a car engine, an unmanned drone.

I need to resolve my issues with the Catholic Church because my faith is important to me, and I feel the loss of a faith community.

This is a very easy question, and one I'd hoped 10Q would ask. By this time next year, I would like to have found a permanent, full-time, paid position with an organization I respect doing something challenging and career advancing. I certainly hope I achieve this goal before next year but, if it takes all year, so be it I guess. I would also like to have a clearer sense of where I am going personally and professionally in the long run, rather than living month to month like it feels I am doing right now.

I want to know what it is to truly be in love and to want to be with the one I love, more than anyone else, not because I just want to make her happy, or because I feel an emptiness without her, but because it brings both of us a joy we can't find any other way.

I'd like to have found a therapist and moved forward on my goals in therapy--toward being at peace with who i am and working to improve what i can to make myself happier and healthier.

I'd like to quit smoking for good. It's something I feel guilty about every day, but the thought of doing this by myself and gaining 15 lbs (as I've done before when I've quit) is so depressing. I need to figure out a way to keep the weight off without drastically changing my life and making my life less enjoyable.

I wish to be debt-free by next year. It is time for this to happen. I no longer wish to worry about money. The process many take several years, but it will be achieved.

I want to have finished my PhD, because it hangs over my head like an albatross. And I want to have come to peace with some of the things I'm angry about. I don't want to become a doormat, but rather to accept the things I'm angry about without letting them eat away at me.

Having a baby or at least be pregnant. I am just days from turning 39 -- so by the time I read this again, I'll be days away from turning 40! I fear that I will not have another chance if I wait much longer. And I really do want to be a mom and to nurture a new loving and responsible person for the good of the universe. I also would like to achieve the successful transition of the non-profit I founded to another executive director. And I would like to feel genuinely close and comfortable with V's family.

A balance in my life. Contentment within myself. I love my life and the people I have in it, but I'm really hard on myself for not getting more done in a day. I need to learn to cut myself some slack when my entire 'to do' list doesn't get accomplished. I need to ask for God's help in my menial everyday tasks. By this time next year, I would like to have a more in depth relationship with my older son. He's growing up before my eyes and I don't want to lose him. I don't want him to shut me out of his life like I did my parents. I want to be the person he WANTS to talk to when he needs to talk.

It's selfish, but I'd like to write a new book, short or long. It's been too long since that part of myself got to breathe and stretch. And I want it to make my wife smile and laugh, possibly cry, because winning her heart is the surest sign that the work is honest and compelling.

Steven Goldman, MD

I want to earn at least $150K in real estate investing and pay off the loan from my father-in-law. this would establish the success and viability of my business model and enable me to attract more investment capital, better credit, and to do more deals.

I still want to be madly in love. I feel like we must be too good to be true, but I'm so happy that I never want this love to fade.

I want to have achieved success a a teacher. I define this by developing the ability to create dynamic, engaging, and thematic lesson plans; and becoming proficient at classroom management. I will not be able to consider myself a good teacher if I cannot create a worthwile experience for my students and if I cannot control the decorum in my classroom.

To stop harping on and on about my husband's non-existing sex drive and to look at the glass half-full.

I'd like to move out of healthcare and back into IT. I do not want to be a government or HMO employee. I value capitalism and the free market, neither of which is to be found in healthcare for much longer. I will continue to support healthcare but in a 503(c) capacity.

Elizabeth Davis, Dallas

I'd like to have a real, live, full-time, benefits-granting, not-too-soul-crushing steady job. Being an unemployed workaholic is an existential mindf*ck, and the bit of freelance work I can pick up isn't giving me enough to focus on. The money would be nice, too. I'm too young to be living off my meager savings.

Have a fixed retirement plan, including how we will get health care, how much we can afford to travel, how much we will want to keep working, etc.

leigh marriner, Greenbrae

Have our home organized and cleaned so that the children have a good environment. Also, we would not be embarrassed to have people over. Ideally, we would MOVE but we have to dig out first.

Oh mother of the year award of course! I say that tongue in cheek, but I would like to be the best mother my kids could have. You can have the trophy!

Beth Shapiro, Poway

I am so hesitant to say it because it is so cliche, but I want to be in love. It has been a long time and I want it so much, but I often feel it will never happen.

Part of me thinks that by this time next year, I want to be living in Ohio. But do I? I can't decide whether I truly want to move back; I can't fathom having less than one year left in DC. But I miss it there so much & am very much planning & looking forward to a future in the Midwest. I want to have begun a book by this time next year. It's time to make a life out of my passion. My excuse that "It's not time yet" can't go on forever. I'd also like to be a size 10, but don't I say that every year?

By next year at this time, I want to feel reconnected to God through spiritual practice. I want a tradition of Friday night candle lighting and Saturday Torah study or some practice of spirtiual mindfulness represents Shabbat for me.

Carrie Bartlett,  Estacada

I want to have a morning ritual and time set aside every day to write.

A new relationship. I don't want to feel alone.

I want to lose weight!!! For real!!! I want to be in better health and shape so that I... -feel better! -look better! -live longer! -be a model of health for my daughter!- -and wear cuter clothes!

I would like to have achieved the honor of saying I have not used any drugs what so ever! It is important I know they will not get me where I want to be in this life!

By this time next year I'd like to be closer to moving into a house. I want my children to have a place to grow in..my vision of that place is not this apartment.

i am starting a business this year called "savrakraut". i make sauerkraut and pickled vegetables and i plan to sell them in cafes and health food stores, maybe the farmers market. this is important to me for a number of reasons. i am full of joy that i finally have the confidence to make a specific contribution to the world. i believe in the nutritional power of raw fermented foods and am ready to share them with others. and i am interested in doing business with integrity. there are very few businesses i can honestly feel good about supporting and i choose to take action in being the change i want to see in the world.

savra Kramer, LA

Find a job. I won't be alive this time next year if I don't have one.

Beat this cancer. This is important because I am tired of fighting this. I am ready to be well again. I miss living.

I'd like to have a close friend. It's important to me because I need someone new to be honest with in my life. Related to this, I'd like to be more myself around people, to worry less about their opinions and possess the kind of posititive energy that attracts people.

I would hope to be finished my conversion process. I also want to learn how to bake bread, I can bake a lot of other things quite well, but bread eludes me...

Oh, please, God, may I achieve financial prosperity so that I may gain the freedom to experience the many things that fascinate and attract me about this marvelous human, physical life experience. I want to experience to much more of this magical, remarkable 3-D world I have chosen to incarnate into. And please, God, may I have the blessing of a soulmate, life partner with whom to experience it and with whom to share my Joy.

I would like to get a 3.3 GPA or Higher. I like to get my weight down from 221 to 180. Finally, I like to have my first girl friend.

Michael Gainor, Potomac,

Today (9/23) is my birthday.....I'm 66!! G-d - where did t the decades go!!! I'm still singing rock 'n' roll.....but my body is betraying me, by breaking down - back problems, knee problems, nerve problems, blood problems etc. etc. ad nauseum. A lot of it is due to the extra 80 or so pounds I carry around (much of it due to steroid treatments over the years.....) So.....my goal for the coming year is to make an honest and tenacious attempt to lose a lot of this weight, increase my activity (which is hard due to acute/chronic pain) - and to extend myself more to others. I am a nurturer/healer by nature - extremely empathetic, and I used to counsel cancer patients as a volunteer. Hard on the psyche/but good for the soul. I almost always made people feel better. Lately, I've been steeped in my own troubles and haven't sought counseling for me. I've become crabby and snappish....not like me at all! It's easy to drop out of the world when you have little family and you choose to isolate yourself. Chronic, unrelenting pain can do this to a person. So.....,my goals are to be successful at losing weight (I've been trying unsuccessfully for the past couple of years) ...and to .....re-engage in the world. G-d willing, I'll see these goals come to pass.