If the five old August-to-August planners I discovered at the bottom of a why-did-I-save-all-this-shit box that has been at my parents for the last ten years is any evidence, I was once a very goal oriented person.
In addition to various to do lists and more homework than I can believe I accomplished, those planners contain many goals. Monthly goals, yearly goals, relationship goals, dietary goals. Some are long lists of things that I see now that I should have left to something other than my old fierce get-er-doneness, like the goal list I made at 18 which contained, among many other less ridiculous items: get married by 25 (I did, then divorced, which did not appear on the list), have first kid by 27 (I did not) and make $50,000 a year by 30 (does combined income count?). There is one list, made two years after that says "Life Goal" proceeded by a proclamation that I have only one life goal, which is to learn French by the time I am 30. One, single goal. Go ahead and try to speak to me in French. I can sometimes muster: "Desole, mais je parle un petite peu de Francais." But normally I just say, "Uhhhh." With a French Accent.
I used to write goals, then action items for those goals, and deadlines for those action items. And I used to meet a lot of them! The completed ones mostly had to do with school and athletic/physical accomplishments.
But sometime in the last few years, I've abandoned most of my goal setting ways. More accurately, I've abandoned my goal accomplishing ways. Because I'm not sure how much help that goal obsessiveness was. Most of the things I've accomplished by dogged willpower have been things that ultimately did little else than prove to me that I can accomplish something if I really want to. Now that I write it, that seems like a big positive thing, but mostly, it hasn't been. That tenacity has led me into staying in relationships I shouldn't have, on diets and exercise plans that made me miserable, and in jobs in which I was overworked and underpaid (aren't we all!) and bored.
All the good stuff in my life sort of snuck up on me. Something along the lines of Life is what happens when you're making other plans. But I still like to make plans because I have to keep myself occupied so I don't obsess about how life is happening, like, right now! Because I do that. Then I get all psyched out about it and end up watching a lot of TV. But I don't take my goals very seriously. Like last year's monthly challenges. We abandoned those halfway through, but oh well! The first half of the year was awesome!
I like these monthly challenges because I think it puts my competitive spirit to good use, and if I'm not putting that to good use, who knows what sort of havoc it might reek on the rest of my life. Tim and I sat down and made a list of monthly challenges which I already accidentally put in the recycling and had to dig out. Oops. Join along if you up to it!
Although I have a lot of things I'd like to do this year (take more pictures, upload said pictures to computer, work out more, write more, clean more, throw a lot of paper away, find a new job) my only real goal for this year is to become a more accurate typer. I normally just go at it and try to edit after, but normally I'm ready to be done with whatever I'm working on, so more mistakes go out in the world than I'd like. I'm afraid someone might read an email from me, or this blog, and think, "Someone should tell that girl the difference between to and too!" But I know! I really do! I've just been to lazy too do anything about it. But not this year. This is the year guys. I'm all over silly typos. I hope to no longer offend your grammatical or syntactical sensibilities.
In addition to various to do lists and more homework than I can believe I accomplished, those planners contain many goals. Monthly goals, yearly goals, relationship goals, dietary goals. Some are long lists of things that I see now that I should have left to something other than my old fierce get-er-doneness, like the goal list I made at 18 which contained, among many other less ridiculous items: get married by 25 (I did, then divorced, which did not appear on the list), have first kid by 27 (I did not) and make $50,000 a year by 30 (does combined income count?). There is one list, made two years after that says "Life Goal" proceeded by a proclamation that I have only one life goal, which is to learn French by the time I am 30. One, single goal. Go ahead and try to speak to me in French. I can sometimes muster: "Desole, mais je parle un petite peu de Francais." But normally I just say, "Uhhhh." With a French Accent.
I used to write goals, then action items for those goals, and deadlines for those action items. And I used to meet a lot of them! The completed ones mostly had to do with school and athletic/physical accomplishments.
But sometime in the last few years, I've abandoned most of my goal setting ways. More accurately, I've abandoned my goal accomplishing ways. Because I'm not sure how much help that goal obsessiveness was. Most of the things I've accomplished by dogged willpower have been things that ultimately did little else than prove to me that I can accomplish something if I really want to. Now that I write it, that seems like a big positive thing, but mostly, it hasn't been. That tenacity has led me into staying in relationships I shouldn't have, on diets and exercise plans that made me miserable, and in jobs in which I was overworked and underpaid (aren't we all!) and bored.
All the good stuff in my life sort of snuck up on me. Something along the lines of Life is what happens when you're making other plans. But I still like to make plans because I have to keep myself occupied so I don't obsess about how life is happening, like, right now! Because I do that. Then I get all psyched out about it and end up watching a lot of TV. But I don't take my goals very seriously. Like last year's monthly challenges. We abandoned those halfway through, but oh well! The first half of the year was awesome!
I like these monthly challenges because I think it puts my competitive spirit to good use, and if I'm not putting that to good use, who knows what sort of havoc it might reek on the rest of my life. Tim and I sat down and made a list of monthly challenges which I already accidentally put in the recycling and had to dig out. Oops. Join along if you up to it!
- January: No Questions (more on this later)
- February: No Eating Out (a repeat of last year)
- March: No Sugar
- April: Write a Poem/Page a Day
- May: No TV month
- June: Clean out Garage Month
- July: Something New Every Day (we will be on a road trip, so this should be easy!)
- August: NaAuWriMo (Because NaNoWriMo isn't the best timing)
- September: Go for a Walk Every Day (another repeat)
- November: No Buy Month (repeat, but this time before the holidays!)
- December: Volunteer Month (volunteer every week. Our plan is meals on wheels)
Although I have a lot of things I'd like to do this year (take more pictures, upload said pictures to computer, work out more, write more, clean more, throw a lot of paper away, find a new job) my only real goal for this year is to become a more accurate typer. I normally just go at it and try to edit after, but normally I'm ready to be done with whatever I'm working on, so more mistakes go out in the world than I'd like. I'm afraid someone might read an email from me, or this blog, and think, "Someone should tell that girl the difference between to and too!" But I know! I really do! I've just been to lazy too do anything about it. But not this year. This is the year guys. I'm all over silly typos. I hope to no longer offend your grammatical or syntactical sensibilities.