goal setting – Page 4

January 3 in 30: Still Refining

January 15, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

This week wasn’t a total success because although I went to bed on time, I spent a lot of time awake in the middle of the night. I’ve narrowed the problem down to nutrition (the mineral formula I take was unavailable) or creativity. I’m in a discovery phase with my new writing project and very excited about it. I’ve been incredibly creative and productive in the middle of the night, but at the expense of productive early mornings, which meant that even though I was in bed on time, this discipline didn’t have the desired effect of resulting in time for exercise in the mornings.

Here’s how I did with this month’s goals:

Go to bed at 10:00 p.m. – I did pretty well with this all week long–my problems were in the middle of the night. I’ve taken steps to resolve this.
Spend at least an hour a day purging and sorting in preparation for our move. For most of the week, I did quite well with this, but flagged at the end of the week. I made up for it in the middle of the night one of my sleepless nights and went on a real blitz. Things are starting to take shape, and looking definitely possible.
Keep homeschool time sacred – My decision mid-week to simplify the homeschool even further on Tuesdays and Thursdays helped a lot with keeping this a realistic goal, but I still have room for improvement here.

How are you doing with your January goals? Did you make resolutions that will be hard to keep, or did you break your ideals down into realistic, achievable goals? Need some help? Check out the resources at 3 in 30.

December 3 in 30 Wrap-up

December 31, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Please also visit my heartfelt post about the Power of Forgiveness at Tina’s Book Reviews.

Remember how I was going to have a disciplined December? I didn’t. There are so many areas in which I feel I need to pull up the proverbial bootstraps as the new year rolls in. I agree with all the people who say making resolutions isn’t a good habit, since they lead to defeat. Goal-making is the better way.

But looking at all that I would like to see happen in January against what is stacked up for me there already (packing up to move back to China, and the continuation of the virtual book tour), it’s hard not to be just the teensiest bit overwhelmed (or to start hyperventilating). I’m aware of a weakness I encounter every time the task looks insurmountable: I freeze. The key, I know, is to take baby steps.

As I reflect on the old year, and in particular this last month, it feels as if the chaos is winning. So you’ll have to wait until next week to see how I plan to keep sane in the midst of it–even conquer it.

Here’s how I did on my goals for this month:

Take control of my personal routine – Well, I did manage to get up earlier and spend more time in my devotional life. To call it regular, however, would be seriously stretching things. I need to work on one key ingredient: going to bed on time.
Regroup in the homeschool department – Readers of this blog probably saw this coming long before I did, but the change needed here was mental, and I think I’m there. I need to pare down. After all, when we first move back to Asia, we’ll be living temporarily in Hong Kong before we take up residence in our home in China. JavaMan will precede us to arrange for our apartment and have our stored belongings moved in.
The blog tour is going well, and for my first one, I think I can count it a success–not that it’s over yet. There is a lot of work yet to do. I’ve had to make some mental adjustments here, too.

This is definitely a helpful exercise, because while I feel like a bit of a failure this month, when I look at what I set out to do and see what I actually did, I can see my successes too.

How are you wrapping up the old year? Did you accomplish your goals?

November Review and Reflection

November 28, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Ever have the urge to add something to your goals list, just so you can cross it off? I have that urge this month, because I actually accomplished quite a lot–just few of the things I set out to accomplish.

This month was more hectic than I anticipated. It seems I say this often. I’m not sure if I met my 3 in 30 goals, and I missed updating them twice, but something else happened: my novel is being published. And that was completely unexpected–at least so soon after I finished the last word.

And we found out we’re heading back to China. We now have an unofficial date (unofficial because flights aren’t booked quite yet) of February 7-ish.

I opened up two new blogs. I will continue to blog about homeschool here, but I’ll blog about our China adventures and begin our Mandarin lessons for children at www.holdthemsg.com and I made a website for After the Snow Falls as well as a Facebook page.

So it’s not like I haven’t been productive, I just didn’t quite achieve November’s goals. I’m definitely going to be moving one of those goals into December: work on my personal schedule. My days haven’t exactly been ordered this month. I want to work on getting up earlier, having my devotional time first and exercising.

Here were my goals:

Work on my personal schedule: I did fine on this goal for the first week, although I must confess I didn’t actually make it to the exercise portion. I’m trying to console myself in the fact that the Gluten-Free diet is making it easier to stay on top of my weight goals regardless of the lack of exercise.
Begin moving preparations: I didn’t do a lot on this, I must confess. Part of the slow-down was that we recognized we wouldn’t be able to leave in January because of the Chinese New Year. Since we’ve moved the move into February, there’s perhaps not as big of a rush as I’d originally thought. I did, however, make a lot of lists and start to buy the spices I’ll need. I also did a lot of weeding through homeschool books to start deciding what goes, what gets given away or sold and what gets packed away for the future.
Pull off a successful birthday celebration for Sweetpea and have a blast on our trip. Mission definitely accomplished! We have had a wonderful time. We head home tomorrow.

How was your November?

November 3 in 30, Week 1

November 7, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Wow. November. Time seems to have hurried up, especially now that we have an approximate target date for our return to China: January-ish. It’s still a little indefinite because of Chinese New Year, which begins on the 23rd of January. During the entire season, travel is next to impossible as the entire country is migrating, and then all business basically stops for a month. So we could rush to get there and be without a phone or internet for a month or so, for example. And we’ll need to have some time to find an apartment and get our things (now in storage in the south) moved across the country to our new home.

We’re hoping everything comes together quickly so we can book our flights and be out of here long before that, but we’re also trying to be realistic and not set ourselves up for disappointment.

This may cause me to adjust my goals somewhat for the upcoming months, but here’s how I’m doing on November’s goals so far:

Get my personal schedule on track. I’m doing better, but definitely not all the way. Most mornings, I’ve been up and had my devotional time, but definitely not as early as I need to. I’ve been about a half an hour late getting up each morning, and no, I’ve not exercised yet. Not even once.
Begin moving preparations. I’m a list-maker. So that has been my starting point with this move. I’ve begun making lists: things to assemble before we leave, mostly things we need to purchase such as spices that are unavailable in China, lists of numbers of suitcases (we use lightweight bins, like Rubbermaid but less weight), and what should go in them. I’m trying to look around at all we have and figure out how I can condense it. You just don’t realize how much stuff you have until you start to pack it all up to fit in 10 suitcases. Think about how much room five people’s shoes take up, for example! Next step: buy more bins and start getting a visual on things.
Pull off a successful birthday celebration for Sweetpea, and have a blast on our trip. All of this is yet to come. Sweetpea’s birthday is today, so she enjoyed a gift from Grandma on Saturday (video to come tomorrow), the official birthday party is on the weekend. Shhh! Don’t tell, Grandma & Grandpa and cousins are coming. She doesn’t know. And our trip is still a surprise, and has yet to be unveiled. The unveil will happen next week. I’m already getting excited!

« Previous Page