Goal Setting

Several weeks (months?) ago, a friend of mine told me about system he uses for goal setting.  It has been so long since I've done any sort of organized goal setting - I think I gave it up around the time I gave up sending out Christmas cards.  And for the record, I'm not talking about setting goals at work, I'm talking about personal goals. 

I try to keep balance in my life now, and I probably overdo it in the "not doing enough" category sometimes - I could certainly become more active in the community, do some volunteering, and one of these days I will.  I'm just very possessive of my time, but what good is that if you can't seem to accomplish the things you want to accomplish in your own house?  

I usually have a to do list that encompasses what I hope to get done for any given day, and perhaps for the week if I've got something that absolutely has to get done.  But as far as long terms plans and tackling big projects?  I've been at loose ends for oh, say, the entire two years we've been back in LR.  I end up getting paralyzed because as soon as I think of one largish project, about five other ones come to my mind that I feel like I "should" do before I tackle the one that sounds fun.  And then?  Nothing gets done. 

So, back to the original sentence here.  Goal setting.  My friend uses a system that probably has a little more complexity than I want in my life right now, but the fact that he has one was intriguing to me.  I've pushed back very hard against too much organization in my life, but at heart I still have a pretty strong Type A personality.  I just try to ignore it as much as possible...

So I cobbled together a very basic excel spreadsheet at the beginning of the month to write down a few goals.  This is a very rudimentary spreadsheet - just a couple of merged boxes and Sunday through Saturday columns; new worksheets for each week.  My experience  has been that the KISS principle works best here for me.  I can get caught up trying to be too organized about being organized...and then the process breaks down, and you can imagine what happens next.   

That first week I listed three weekly goals - an exercise goal, a guitar goal, and a writing goal.  

 There were also 4 monthly goals.  Two monthly goals really just needed to get done (finalize my application to the Arkansas bar, and update ye olde resume).  These have been hanging over my head for far too long. 

The third monthly goal had a pretty high bar but was not a high priority (pertained to reading), and the fourth goal was pretty much a throwaway to see if I'd actually do anything with it.  Sort of jokingly, I put down "tackle the dining room."  I figured that this was the first stab at it, and we'd see whether any of this actually worked.

I updated the spreadsheet throughout the month, trying to take a little extra time at the beginning of each week to think about how I was doing, what needed to be changed, whether I wanted to add any new tasks, and thinking through how I was going to accomplish the things that remained for the month.

  

To be quite honest, I expected to create the spreadsheet, follow it for a week or two, and forget about it.  But that didn't happen.  I'm happy with how the weekly goals panned out, but the monthly goals was where I was most surprised.  I've got a couple of loose ends to finalize here and there (I have an appointment with a judge to get sworn in on Thursday so I can legitimately talk lawyerese in Arkansas), but by and large?  I'm pleasantly surprised.

Last week when I was looking at the last full week in February, I realized that if I really wanted to tackle the "throwaway goal," I could probably still do it.  I managed to muster up a bit of motivation (nice alliteration, eh?), and with some preliminary help from my mom in prep and color choosing, here is the result:

 

Please ignore the Windex in the piano picture.  On second thought - maybe you shouldn't.  It's actual evidence that I cleaned.  Don't expect it too often.

And can I say how very happy I am to no longer be working in a claustrophobic feeling tomb?  Yes, there is a table in that room where I work.  No, you don't get to see it.  Far too messy, and I don't feel like clearing it off. 

Now, what to tackle for March...