Toward the end of last year, I had this crazy idea I would write a book. I planned it out to where if I wrote about a page a day I could finish this in the year 2014. You know how much I've written in 2014? 0 pages so far.
I wrote a good 24-25 pages when I started back in November; I even have a great title for the book. Somewhere along the way though, I've lost sight of my goal. Every year I make goals, this year I will accomplish 4-5 goals out of 8; maybe 6 or 7 if I somehow get my stuff together.
Goals are a great thing. There are many quotes about goals, one of which is very true in my case. Goals without a plan are just wishes, or something like that. I forget the exact saying now. I even had a plan, so perhaps a better saying would be goals without executed plans are just wishes.
Part of the problem is I typically make goals when I'm in a manic state. I'm hugely optimistic about my abilities, grandiosely so as a matter of fact. There are so many things I want to do.
I also read this year on a Donald Miller blog that if you write your goals out for people to see them your mind basically tricks you into thinking you've already done the goal without actually doing anything. More recently I read that even the act of writing them out to yourself makes you feel accomplished even when you've done absolutely nothing. The human brain is amazing, isn't it? Not to mention our ability to deceive ourselves.
Obviously, I still believe in writing out goals; I keep a little card with them written on it in my wallet to remind me of them often. Now the problem lies more in executing those goals. Or rather executing the plans that lead to accomplishing your goals.
The reason for all this talk about goals is that YouVersion (the Bible app I use) sent out an email recently suggesting people make half year goals. I remember a campus minister who told me he couldn't fathom making goals for a whole year, he always divided them up into semesters. That's probably part of success too, dividing goals into smaller bites you can really tackle.
So, just in case you're curious, here were/are my goals at the risk of losing the drive to accomplish them...
1. Make my old salary that I was at from teaching (not even close on this one, but that's okay :) )
2. Save enough money for wedding (hopefully yes!)
3. Save enough money for cushion (hopefully! gotta kill it this last half of the year though :) )
4. Write autobiography (this is the book I was talking about, which probably isn't going to happen, unless I become manic again or at least put some effort into it.)
5. Lose 20 lbs (maybe, but does it count if I put on weight first? If that's the case then I'll def make that goal, otherwise I still have a ways to go)
6. Write 1 kids' book (I have a good start, but need to focus on it to make it happen)
7. Start an English business (done! And still doing!)
8. Read entire Bible (Read through the NT already, well on my way to finishing up the OT, probably in a couple of months realistically)
It looks like I'll accomplish #2, 3, 7, 8 for sure; #5 is within my sights but will be particularly difficult when I'm back in the states with our portion sizes there and all the fantastic food that I have such a hard time saying no to. #1 most likely isn't going to happen unless my tutoring business really takes off and I end up working 80 hour weeks or something crazy like that. I'd like to do #4 and #6; I should probably focus on #6 if I'm going to give myself a realistic shot at accomplishing either one of those two goals.
So four of my goals are very doable, two are within range. 6 out of 8 isn't too bad, that's a 75% rate which is passing, right? :) Even if I only accomplish 4 or 5 I'll still be happy with that. That's another thing about goal setting, you get better at it the more you do it. It also helps to look on the bright side of things, i.e. what you've been successful at rather than what you haven't been. Not that you should neglect those things at all, just that it doesn't do me a lot of good to focus on my failures, which I tend to do anyway.
Goals are a great thing. There are many quotes about goals, one of which is very true in my case. Goals without a plan are just wishes, or something like that. I forget the exact saying now. I even had a plan, so perhaps a better saying would be goals without executed plans are just wishes.
Part of the problem is I typically make goals when I'm in a manic state. I'm hugely optimistic about my abilities, grandiosely so as a matter of fact. There are so many things I want to do.
I also read this year on a Donald Miller blog that if you write your goals out for people to see them your mind basically tricks you into thinking you've already done the goal without actually doing anything. More recently I read that even the act of writing them out to yourself makes you feel accomplished even when you've done absolutely nothing. The human brain is amazing, isn't it? Not to mention our ability to deceive ourselves.
Obviously, I still believe in writing out goals; I keep a little card with them written on it in my wallet to remind me of them often. Now the problem lies more in executing those goals. Or rather executing the plans that lead to accomplishing your goals.
The reason for all this talk about goals is that YouVersion (the Bible app I use) sent out an email recently suggesting people make half year goals. I remember a campus minister who told me he couldn't fathom making goals for a whole year, he always divided them up into semesters. That's probably part of success too, dividing goals into smaller bites you can really tackle.
So, just in case you're curious, here were/are my goals at the risk of losing the drive to accomplish them...
1. Make my old salary that I was at from teaching (not even close on this one, but that's okay :) )
2. Save enough money for wedding (hopefully yes!)
3. Save enough money for cushion (hopefully! gotta kill it this last half of the year though :) )
4. Write autobiography (this is the book I was talking about, which probably isn't going to happen, unless I become manic again or at least put some effort into it.)
5. Lose 20 lbs (maybe, but does it count if I put on weight first? If that's the case then I'll def make that goal, otherwise I still have a ways to go)
6. Write 1 kids' book (I have a good start, but need to focus on it to make it happen)
7. Start an English business (done! And still doing!)
8. Read entire Bible (Read through the NT already, well on my way to finishing up the OT, probably in a couple of months realistically)
It looks like I'll accomplish #2, 3, 7, 8 for sure; #5 is within my sights but will be particularly difficult when I'm back in the states with our portion sizes there and all the fantastic food that I have such a hard time saying no to. #1 most likely isn't going to happen unless my tutoring business really takes off and I end up working 80 hour weeks or something crazy like that. I'd like to do #4 and #6; I should probably focus on #6 if I'm going to give myself a realistic shot at accomplishing either one of those two goals.
So four of my goals are very doable, two are within range. 6 out of 8 isn't too bad, that's a 75% rate which is passing, right? :) Even if I only accomplish 4 or 5 I'll still be happy with that. That's another thing about goal setting, you get better at it the more you do it. It also helps to look on the bright side of things, i.e. what you've been successful at rather than what you haven't been. Not that you should neglect those things at all, just that it doesn't do me a lot of good to focus on my failures, which I tend to do anyway.
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