Skip to main content

Sometimes, It's Better to Throw Out the Goals List

 

    I have enjoyed creating monthly goals since May this year, and I even sat down to write September goals. For whatever reason, I really struggled to think of goals that felt meaningful or motivating this month. I wrote down a few, but within two days I decided to crumple up the list. 

    Right now, everything feels new. This school year is different for everyone, and will shift as we move to hybrid in the next month or so if case counts stay consistent. I think I'm resisting the idea of writing specific concrete goals for September because it feels arbitrary. Life feels uncertain now, and for me, I'm finding it easier to experiment with and explore different ways of connecting and growing in this back to school season. Somehow writing down a list for an entire month makes me feel anxious, whereas making daily or weekly lists of projects or ideas makes me feel creative and adaptive. Strangely, once I just started focusing on the next step, I found myself feeling a lot more motivated. 

    Right now my default ways of teaching, socializing, and parenting don't always fit life in a pandemic, and it feels very freeing to embrace possibilities and shift as I get more experience of what life is like right now. I love listening to the Truth For Teachers podcast, and I keep coming back to the Angela's question: what do I want to be like on the other side of this pandemic? What is possible now, that wouldn't be possible in a normal year? Asking these questions really helps me to feel grounded in this moment, instead of looking back and comparing it to what I've done in the past or what might happen in the next months. 

    I'm sure I'll go back to making monthly goals in the future, but for right now I'm doing a lot of daily priority lists and trying to figure out what ideas feel right in this context instead of trying to project what things might be like at the end of the month. I'm hiding my phone and starting  a new journal. We're spending lots of time at the park and watching Avi dig in the sand. I'm designing new projects, lessons, and ways of learning within the constraints of the virtual format, and I'm so grateful to have an amazing group of kiddos that are learning and adapting with me and each other. I'm grateful for less smoky sky this week and time outside with friends. I'm grateful to curl up on the couch with Joel watching Terrace House and eating cookies at the end of the day. I'm adding in a little more time reading after letting that take a backseat in the last month. 

 Shifting to a sense of what feels right or possible in this moment feels energizing and joyful in a way that trying to plan far off doesn't right now. Is anyone else feeling this resistance to planning ahead?  


Comments

  1. What a nice post. I really like the quotes you shared. Great gratitude list, too. :) I feel like I have quite a few "balls in the air" at the moment with a couple of household projects, my kids going back to school and just some other random personal stuff, so I am with you on taking it more day by day right now. I just don't really have the mental bandwidth to tackle my big monthly goals, either. I do have some that I'm eyeing, but for the most part I am also trying to focus just a couple days at a time. I have been finding that lately, even if I write down "XX" from my monthly list on my weekly or daily, I end up just not doing it. When I see that happening too often, it's a sign I need to just step back a little.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Adventures Big & Small

     Photos from a recent adventure       I just started listening to Tranquility by Tuesday  by Laura Vanderkam, and one of the ideas she mentioned was planning 2 adventures each week: one big and one small. As I was listening to her describe the rule, I thought about what I had planned this week and realized that I had a few adventures planned without thinking of them in that way. It really helped shift my mindset to realize that I do have some fun and novel things planned, and I'm curious to experiment with adding this to the routine, particularly as we are settling into a new city. I feel like I've plateaued a bit the last few weeks even though things are finally starting to feel settled down. I hit a point where I missed our Colorado friends and my old job, even if I feel like this move and taking time to be at home is right for us in the long run. Thinking through new adventures in this new phase of life is a way to balance some of this feel...

Two November Experiments

  Avi as a strawberry for Halloween.     Since I'm feeling a bit more in a routine work and schedule wise, I've decided to try two experiments this month. I've been thinking about both of them for a while, and I think I have the bandwidth to try them out this month. Experiment #1: The Seven Minute Workout     I struggle to get into exercise routines. It's not my highest priority, but I always do feel more energetic on the days I exercise. I've decided to do the seven minute HIIT workout everyday in November to see how it feels. It definitely gets my heart rate up without feeling too hard, and it's easy to fit in right before I shower in the morning. Although I've done this workout intermittently,  I'm curious to see what it feels like to make this a daily habit.  Experiment #2: Time Block Planning at Work Attempt #1     I read Deep Work  by Cal Newport earlier this year, and I've also been listening to his podcast  recently. In both...

What I Want to Remember (Avi at One Year)

     It's hard to keep up with our forever changing, on the move girl! Her first birthday was on Monday. I want to take a moment to capture what it's like to have a one-year-old, and what Avi is like at this age. In the midst of all that is uncertain in this moment, I want to hold on to some of these memories, especially because she changes so quickly!     I want to remember:    Avi's first word yesterday--Mama. ❤  how she loves to drum on everything and is constantly moving.  her love of all berries and the way she looks intently into your eyes when she signs "more."   the way she loves to take things out of containers (like drawers, boxes, cabinets etc.).  her love of the outdoors and fascination with pine cones, grass, and flowers.   her laugh and smile when she is on the swing.  the way she looks up to find airplanes and birds in the sky.   how much she loves to read, turn pages, and point to things...