Monday, November 26, 2012

Regroup and Reassess Monday

I realize I'm supposed to reassess every first of the month, but I decided it's time to do another reassessment on how I'm doing with the goals I set for myself. I feel like I've been really slacking, so I want to give myself an update to determine where I need to work on things, and how to go about doing so.

As a reminder, here are my "big" goals
Financial: Buy a house someday
Spiritual: Live in and for each moment, appreciate, breathe.
Career: Become a professor at a university
Health: Eat well, mostly plants
Physical: Wake up earlier. Be strong.
Organizational: Be organized. Don't miss meetings, big dates, tasks.

And here are my smaller goals for the month of November and how I've been doing:

Financial: Put $200 away in savings this month. Pay off my one credit card bill. Bring my lunch to work each day.
Reality: The $200 this month is not gonna happen. However, I did get a little bit of birthday money, so that is going directly into savings.
I was able to bring my lunch most days - this is a manageable goal and I'm going to keep it up. When Dec 1 rolls around, I might add to this a little bit more.
I was not able to pay off my credit card, but will continue to chip away at it.

Spiritual: I'm stealing this one from Liz: meditate 5 mins every morning. Read a little bit in a book (for pleasure) every night.
Meditation? Not happening. I need to figure out a way to make this a better goal (more realistic) for Dec 1.
I have been reading a little bit each night, though. I finished two books (granted, one of them was Harry Potter, but...) this month, which is a great accomplishment, in my mind. I also got a new book for my birthday and I'm enjoying that.

Career: Attend my future faculty seminar class. Get my pilot experiments up and working before the end of November. Read more science papers.
I did attend a seminar, and I went to a couple career guidance seminars as well.
Pilot experiments are on the "to do" list, I am currently waiting for some equipment to arrive so I can get started, but a pilot experiment by the end of the month is likely.
Hmmm...more reading? Haha, I have been trying, but this is another area I need to concentrate on.

Health: Get used to biking 100 miles a week. I am still adjusting, but I would like to add in a little bit of time doing something other than biking, so maybe running once each weekend and stretching every morning or evening.
This has been a challenge. I've been struggling with my hands, so I stopped biking since it was bothering me so much. Now, I've got weak hands that hurt somewhat and I'm unsure whether I'm damaging them further or what. I've also completely give up on running, even though when I did run this past week, my hands felt better. So, again, I need to refocus.

Physical: Set a sleep/wake schedule and stick to it. Pushups every day.
Yeah, my sleep/wake cycle has been a little screwed up. And pushups are out of the question with my hands being so screwed up. Another situation to change come Dec 1. 

Organizational: Make a To Do list every day. Allow myself to not accomplish it, and put tasks on the list for the next day. Each week, reassess my To do list and make sure the goals are accomplishable (is that a word?). Get house under control!
 The To Do list has been a great idea. I find that I am fairly effective when I have one, and I feel lost without one. However, I do find that I avoid my to do list when I'm feeling down or tired or unmotivated. I also find that it's hard to keep track of my to do list (is it at work? home? in some pile on my desk?) And when I lost my to do list, I felt like there were a million things I forgot to do. I realize I should put my list on my computer, and send it to the cloud, but writing things down and crossing them off (excessively, I might add) makes me feel so much better than just checking a box on a program. So, this is something to think about....
The house, however, is coming along great. We've got the 2nd bedroom almost together, and just three boxes left to unpack. We've also got a couple areas to organize, but that's OK. I am hopeful we can get things done by the end of the year.

Some other things I would like to maybe add for December:
Holidays: there is so much to accomplish for the Holidays, and it so often flies by. I would love to be able to get my things accomplished and have some time to enjoy the season. Here's hoping...
Relationships: from my husband to my friends and family. I would like to focus more on my relationships with people, and making them better. I would also like to work on making some new friends here in my new 'hood.
New things: I would also like to "try new things" whatever that means - sometimes life gets dull, and there's not a lot to look forward to. I'd like to make things more interesting by "trying something new" each week. Could be a recipe, a hike, a museum, or a restaurant. Anything, really.

Well, that's what I have to show for my accomplishments. I'm actually quite pleased with my progress, looking back at it. I am also starting to realize that I can succeed, I just need to make smaller goals. Even if my "Meditate 5 mins every day" becomes "Meditate 1 min every day" that's OK. I feel more centered and more balanced and that's the best part!

1 comment:

  1. Hey this is great! We should talk about lists sometimes, because I'm not sure if you know this but I am the Queen of Lists.

    I got a fairly thin Moleskin notebook and put on the first page 2012 goals. Then, each month, I lay out my big picture goals of the month. Then, each Sunday I do a week list. Then, I often do a list for each day. When you use a nice thin notepad, you can carry it every where and also include personal reflection. Its SO NICE when you get to cross of a thing from the year list and totally satisfying to do so every month. At the end of the month, you just roll it into the next. Or not, if you think you're never going to do it. (Earthquake kit is on each of my month lists, for example.)

    I could go on and on.

    Good luck!!

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