Monday, August 11, 2014

2nd 30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 29 - My Goals

Only 1 more posting in order to complete this task. Whew! This is day 29: "What are your goals for the next 30 days?"

Today is August 10, so what will my goals be from today through September 9? The thing about goals is that you cannot make them too crazy. For example, saying "I'm going to lose 50 pounds over the next month" is impossible and crazy. When you decided to set a goal, remember the mnemonic - SMART, which is useful for helping you to attain your goal.
  • S - Specific
  • M - Measurable
  • A - Attainable
  • R - Relevant
  • T - Time-bound
I've settled on attempting two goals in the next month - one professional and one personal:

The Professional Goal: Do Some Work

School officially is back in session next week, and even though I have had 2 months to prepare for returning to school, apathy has taken its toll. You see, I have not yet finished reading the first book that I will be teaching my little cherubs. Gah! It wasn't from a lack of trying, but I'm finding it difficult getting through The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Please understand that this is a really well written book but very dense. Apparently Malcolm X decided that he needed to mention every little detail about his life and Alex Haley decided it was all golden. If Malcolm mentioned that he took a dump, Haley put it in the book. Because it's so dense, I cannot seem to get through it. I cannot see how I'm going to get students to read it. Therefore, I keep putting off doing any work. Ergo, I am way behind schedule, so I have to get cracking and start planning out this book - starting today!

The Personal Goal: Sing More

Today I made a big realization - I don't sing as much as I use to. When I was a struggling actor/singer in NYC, I sang all the time. Between rehearsals, voice lessons, cabaret shows, and just sitting around the house, I was singing most of my day and I really miss it. Today, as I was setting up my classroom, I was singing along to some music and not only did it make tedious work much more fun, but it made me absolutely joyous. I need more music in my life. At least once a day for 15 minutes minimum, I will sing -- even if it means only singing in the car at the top of my lungs!

There you have the two goals that I will be working on for the next 30 days. They easily fit into the SMART mnemonic. I shouldn't actually have any problems completing these two goals, but one never can tell, therefore - fingers crossed!

Tomorrow will be the last posting in this series (30): "This month's highs and lows"

5 comments:

Marianne said...

Sing more, yes! Here are mine.

Short term goals, I like these because they are attainable. In the next 30-days I must clean off my desk at work and finish all of the projects I should have completed (and would have completed had I not been laid up with this bad back for over a week). So much for a vacation this year, sigh. I want a clean slate when September rolls around and the craziness resumes at the usual pace. I also need to finish some painting projects in the house and need to seriously begin a diet and exercise program, both to commence as soon as my back can tolerate it. I now have two more herniated discs in the lumbar region along with osteoarthritis. Hello old age and damn you!

Sandi said...

Nice. Good goals.

Kim said...

I am going to eliminate the word "awesome" from my vocabulary and finish 3 wool felting projects.

Sandi said...

"Awesome" goals. ;-)

Kim said...

Oh, and I forgot, I am going to clean the guest room until it's actually usable as such.