Goal setting

A friend of mine had a link to this article on his facebook. I found it to be of particularly good timing for a couple of reasons. First, we have 1 1/2 weeks left of practice school, and 2 weeks until the official departure to Varatic. Then there's 2 weeks until class begins. Time is just flying, and I feel it is important to set some goals. Also, I sometimes I feel like my blog isn't read. Through google analytics I can see that it is- but then I remember that while I am writing for you, I am also writing for me. I'm not keeping a personal journal (except for the notes I make in my moleskin throughout the day) so these posts are what I will have to look back on and remember my trip.

What I learned with this article when it comes to setting goals:

Getting rich doesn't have to be fast. While you may think the writer was talking about making money, that wasn't necessarily the case. What he means is that in order to accomplish a goal, it has to be realistic, and it doesn't have to happen as fast as possible. When I am teaching, I can't expect the students to understand my style of teaching or my dialect immediately. Nor can I expect them to understand a grammar concept immediately. It takes times. When they do understand (finally), it will be great. But it may take an entire until, an entire semester, or maybe even the entire year. Learning takes time. Accomplishing goals takes time. You have to take baby steps to get there- it can't just be done overnight.

Building a foundation. This totally relates to my blogging. Even if I know that no one is reading my blog, I still need to keep going. If I stay in the habit of it, it won't be a fail. My goal before I left was to update it everyday. While I now realize that was unrealistic, as long as I am able to post every few days, I am building that foundation. He says, " I write because writing is the foundation of my work, and it comes before everything else." While writing is not the foundation of my work, it is helping build my foundation for remembering stories in the future. And sharing my stories with you now, and also my photographs. He states that it is important to figure out what you want to do every day of the week in order to maintain the main goal. I can apply this when working with my students... what do I want them to get out of learning for the week- and more specific, for each day (yay 4MAT lesson plans).

Aggressive goals with realistic deadlines. I think this is one of my favorites. It goes with not getting rich fast because he encourages us to set huge goals- lifetime goals- and deadlines to achieve them. But it's not just about lifetime goals and deadlines. It's also about taking that leap to set a goal that you know will take you a long time to achieve. Something I have learned through working with children is how important it is to have patience. If you set a goal (a realistic one) but you know it will take decades to achieve it, take your time when pushing forward with it. Be patient- because one day the goal will be achieved and it will be a wonderful feeling. (Think makes me think of the Dennis the Menace movie for some reason when Mr. Wilson is waiting forever for this plant to bloom because it only blooms once in "x"amount of years- and unfortunately in his case, Dennis messed it all up. But that's besides the point- the point is he was patiently waiting for this!)

Be fully committed. Don't commit to a goal if you're not willing to let the time pass in order to achieve it. I think this will come to play when I work on my secondary projects. I tend to like to start doing things and then when it takes longer than I think it will, I stop. This won't be possible with my secondary projects. I will need to keep trucking, and realize it will take time.

With all of this said, it is important to not forget that there are such things as short-term goals and daily goals- this is just focusing on the long-term goals and realizing long-term sometimes means a few months, years, decades.

Short term goal for tonight: think of some long term goals. ;)