Hello 2017!!! We know there’s nothing magical about January 1, but it is a good day to think about what we want to do over the next year. The time of reflection is done…now it’s time for action!
I don’t make new year’s resolutions…I set goals!
Badass goals!
Why write goals at the beginning of each year? Why not just take each day as it comes and go along with whatever comes? That may work for some people, but I’ve found, as I’ve gotten older, that I rely quite heavily on goals. And that’s ok! That’s how I choose to live my life and it works for me. There’s a tremendous satisfaction in setting badass goals and crushing them!
I spend a lot of time writing goals. OK, to be honest-I spend a lot of time writing *IEP* goals! When I write an IEP goal for a student, I think of what they need to work on to be successful in school and life. Is it increasing vocabulary or speech intelligibility? Maybe it’s improving eye contact, understanding idioms, or maybe even identifying emotions in others. I write a goal based on current performance, but also where I think they will get to in a year’s time. Is it ever 100% proficiency? No! IEP goals need to be SMART goals….that is, they need to be….
S – specific
M – measurable
A – attainable
R – realistic
T – time-based
I try to follow the same process when I write yearly goals for myself.
When people talk about their New Year’s resolutions, they might say something like….lose weight, exercise more, eat better, read more books, be a better person, etc. Those are all great things to aspire to….but they’re vague, ambiguous, nebulous. There is no way to track progress or determine when you’ve met your goal. There’s no accountability. So what happens? We get discouraged, we become more and more likely to give up, maybe even move backwards. We need to understand that we may need to re-evaluate our goals time to time and make changes to make them more likely to be met. And that’s okay! I completely understand that not all goals can be measurable, but as much as we can specify what we want to accomplish and how we are going to accomplish it, the better!
I’ve thought a lot about my goals for 2017. I want to aim high, but at the same time, be realistic. There’s a fine line in there somewhere, and I’m still trying to figure out where it is! I also want to set goals for many areas of my life-with regards to my body, mind, spirituality, community, family, and friends. I’m sharing them with you so you can all keep me accountable!
Generally speaking, my goals are:
Take care of my body.
Be positive.
Grow closer to God
Think about others before myself
Be more present with my family
Be a better friend.
All great goals, right!?!? But in my mind, I need specifics….it’s just how my mind works and can make sense of things. So here they are!
Body (take better care of my body)
*Run 1800 mile
*Complete the following races:
April 29: Race the Runways
May 21: Sugarloaf 15K
July 17: Tri for a Cure (Sprint distance)
July 4: LL Bean 10K
Sept. 16: Lobsterman Triathlon (Olympic distance)
Oct. 15: MDI half marathon
Nov. 5: NYC marathon
*Do 5 unassisted pull ups by end of year
*monthly fitness challenges (January: planks!)
Mind (be positive):
*Read two books a month
*Create something every month
*Journal every day
*Focus on the positive: “3 smiles” photo on Instagram
Spiritual (grow closer to God):
*pray every day
*Thomas Merton devotional book every day
Community (think about others before myself):
*Pay it forward (at least on the 1st and 15th)
Family
*Family skype date Sunday nights
*Take Jacob out once a month
Friends
*Make a prayer request list
*send postcards (wanna be on my list?)
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WHEW!!! Is this a lot? Yes! I know it’s a lot but after some time, I know it will become second nature. These ideas, these goals, these promises, are all things that I should be doing anyway! After a bit of time, I know it will become routine and less to think about. The idea is to be more intentional about how I treat myself, my family, my friends, and my community.
Happy 2017, my friends. My wish for you this year…
thevankampens 