12 January 2010

Setting S.M.A.R.T. goals for '10.

Happy New Year to all! I took an extra week to regroup, hoping you don't mind. I figured I'd best practice what I preach, right? Remember way back early summer when I talked about assigning a weekly to-do task to my calendar each Monday, giving myself seven days to accomplish? Well, look below! The pantry was one of them! While it took me more like seven months instead of seven days, boy, do I feel great! And this is an important lesson to remind yourself, especially now, at this time, a new birth of another year when we are feeling so ready to tackle the world and all that awaits these next 365. Sometimes things happen in their own time, and that's ok too, just so it happens; and it did! I'm soooo happy with my clean pantry. So, thank you for allowing me a few extra days to get back to you, we all need extensions when we set deadlines that sometimes just aren't realistic. Well, seven months is not a realistic window for cleaning out a pantry so instead I like to think of it as a long term project! When you are setting good intentions this week for what you'd like to accomplish don't be too hard on yourself but definitely hold yourself accountable. This was actually our topic of discussion at this months Beyond The Bus Stop meeting; www.beyondthebusstop.com; setting goals and how we intend to follow through with them. How we allow ourselves to stumble, if we beat ourselves up when we fail and how we get back on the wagon and move forward with greater dedication to our goal. We must set our SMART* goals to stay focused on even the smallest tasks. We also must give ourselves permission to fail. Failure is not a sign of weakness but of strength. It shows that we are putting ourselves out there in the unknown and striving for something never before attained. Failure means we are attempting something new and that that route may not be the direction we should be focusing and that we need to try again with intention and energy. Find yourself a goal, it's not too late to set a New Years Resolution if you'd like to label your goal. Give yourself a start date and a completion date. But if you don't make it, don't fret. Implement an extension and rededicate yourself to your goal and go get it! Write and tell me what you've decided to accomplish in 2010 and how you intend to get there. Sharing knowledge is inspirational, even if it's a simple design for a re-organized pantry! * The SMART goal stands for S: specific, M: measurable, A: attainable, R: relevant and T: time-oriented. Thanks for reading! Miriam