My Former To-do List

Summer is coming to an end, so I have looked back on my summer to-do list.  I accomplished those things, but I do not feel particularly accomplished.  So, maybe I need to separate my quick, to-do stuff (pick up laundry, buy milk) and things I need to accomplish.  So, clearly I need to do a better job at My Goals (which is my new, fancy, bold name for my to-do to-accomplish list).  I know that I tend to start a million things before I finish one, so maybe that is why most of my goals are "start this" and "start that".  (I blame to-do list makers as well for only leaving room for 2-4 words per line.)  So, this summer my two major to-dos were to "start a blog" and "start a TPT store".  I can mark off both of those.  AND then when I ignored the blog for weeks I didn't have to feel like a loser unaccomplished.  My third major to-do was to start a diet.  I have researched, purchased and prepared for the diet and plan to will start tomorrow (August 1), but all I have to do is start.  I could quit the next day and still legitimately be able to cross that goal off.  Seeing the problem?

As a Special Ed teacher, I am great at writing realistic, measurable, specific goals and objectives for my students.  I know when they need to accomplish the goal, what that accomplishment will look like, and all the little things that they need to work on to get there.  I am also very good at documenting progress for my student's goals and objectives.

So, I am going to put this knowledge to use for my own needs.  I am going to set goals for myself that are  measurable, specific and have short term objectives with them.  I am also going to track my progress by setting dates (nothing fancy - like the 10th or something (too much going on already for the 1st)) to monitor the progress I have made.  And then, because I am a nerd at heart (former software engineer) I am going to make useful spreadsheets to track this progress.  And then, because I am a teacher I am going to make those spreadsheets pretty and print them in color on cardstock.

So, my first new goal looks like this -

Goal: By August 12th (the day before I go back to school), I will set 3 goals for myself my non-school self that are measurable and specific and include a time period completion date and specific progress tracking checkpoints.

• Objective 1: By August 12th I will write 3 goals (see specifications above).
• Objective 2: By August 12th I will create a spreadsheet with these 3 goals and columns of progress monitoring dates of the 10th of each month.
• Objective 3: By August 12th I will insert the spreadsheet into the Teacher Notebook that I have created for myself this year and print it out.

If you are still reading this, I feel like I owe you something...so, leave me a message with your email and when I get the finish the pretty, functional My Goals page I will send it to you.

Christi