A Whole Lot.
So now that I’m not working anymore, the one question I’m asked on a regular basis is “So what do you do all day?” — I know, very original. In short, the answer is “A WHOLE LOT”.
How often do you hear complaints (or even complain yourself) that there is not enough time in a day to do the things you need to do? Yet ironically, the first thing people often think when someone is not working is that they’re not doing anything at all. Now I’m not saying it isn’t true for many, but my goal is really to take advantage of the free time I have for the next few weeks before school starts.
How do I do that? That is the real question at hand.
SETTING GOALS
This is the easy part. This can be as easy as making lists to making promises. They can be big, they can be small. And in my opinion, I think they should also be personal. In other words, YOU have a direct hand and play an ongoing role in the success or failure of your set goal. Having another baby nephew, for example, can’t be a goal of mine because aside from some twisted ideas that are probably not legal (nor are they really ethical), I don’t really have a direct hand in making that happen.
ACHIEVING GOALS
So let’s say we have a list of goals. Now what?
- Set yourself up for success. Most of us will set unrealistic goals and then get caught up on why they didn’t work. Losing 5lbs in 5 days is quite a feat, so why 5 days? Why not 14 or 30?
- Take baby steps. While my high priority goal is to finish school by the end of 2009, it can be broken down into several smaller goals. For example, if I only snag 6 units for the Spring 2009 semester, my ultimate goal will only be tougher to achieve. (Thank God I’ve snagged 16 units for the upcoming semester.) People will “fail” at New Year’s Resolutions because they try to go the distance. You’ve been a smoker for 8 years and your goal is to “never smoke again”. Technically, your goal isn’t officially achieved until you die, right? Try not smoking for 30 days and then, upon succeeding, extend your goal to 90 days.
- Accept that failure isn’t the end of all things. Most goals we set are not life or death situations. While it’d be nice to succeed at everything we put our minds to, it’s just not going to happen. So what if you only cleaned out half your garage this week? Clean the other half next week. No one will call the “goal police” on you.
That said, I’m setting a new goal: NaBloPoMo
National Blog Posting Month = NaBloPoMo
The goal is to blog every day for the month of December. It may be a challenge with the holidays around the corner, but I’m up for it. One of my New Year’s Resolutions will be to blog at least 3-4 times per week. Hopefully this current goal will be one of those “baby steps” for me. Wish me luck!
