Real World Goal Planning
It feels like it’s been so long since I’ve sat down and written a blog post. I kind of don’t know where to start.
I guess I should probably start with a Happy New Year and wish everyone a happy healthy 2018!
It's been a busy few weeks over here, hence the lack of posting. While the second half of December was full of holiday festivities, these past few weeks of January have been full of organizing and getting back into the swing of things at school and getting ready to start the next phase of life. We are now just over a week into our final term at school which means we’ve got a little more than 3 months until we’re done and out in the real world - again.
Side: I’ve always hated the expression “wait until you’re out in the real world.” Does that mean that my nearly 2 hour daily commute isn’t real? That the assignments I have due weekly aren’t real? That the responsibilities I have now aren’t real? I’m pretty sure the answer to all of those questions is no. Telling students to “wait until they’re out in the real world” just feels like it discredits all the hard work they’re putting in at school. No they’re not working 9 to 5, but a lot of the time they’re putting in a lot more hours than that and they’re not getting paid to do it. So next time you’re tempted to tell a student “you think it’s tough now?! Wait till you’re out in the real world,” just don’t. We’re already in a world that is very real, thank you very much.
Wow. I didn’t even know I had that in me until I typed that last sentence of the paragraph above…
Anyway, like I was saying, there are just over 3 months until I’m done school which means my brain is constantly thinking about the future and where I’m going to be and what I’m going to be doing. We did a goal planning session in one of our classes last week and it really got me thinking about the coming year and how I want it to go.
It also inspired me to pull out my journal from this time last year.
A year ago almost to the day of our goal planning session at school I had done one very similar at the “Grow Your Online Presence” workshop at Picot. That session was a huge reason why I ended up moving home and going to school on the mainland. As I was reading over the goals I set last year I was blown away by how similar my life is to the way I had hoped it would be. I had completely forgotten about the goals I’d made last January and yet I ended up exactly where I’d wanted to.
As I’m sure you guessed I then sat down and really thought about where I want to be next year. I opened up to a new page in my journal, lit my favourite candle, and got to thinking and writing.
As I wrote I found myself feeling excited, overwhelmed, scared, and stressed out - feelings I remember vividly from last time. But as I kept thinking and dreaming I eventually built up a list of goals I hope to accomplish in the next year, the next 5 years, and the next 10 years. I considered everything from family, work, health, and personal goals and I must say, I’m feeling quite excited for my life!
While I can work towards reaching many of my goals by planning and setting smaller goals, others will come as a result of just working towards being happy and doing things that make me feel good. And really, that’s what all of my goals boil down to anyway!
Do you set goals? If you do, how far in advance do you set them for? 6 months? A year? 10 years? 30 years?