On Everyday Goals

via tumblr

Yesterday, my friend came over at around 10 PM and asked me what I'd been doing since we last talked at 5 PM, and I listed the following:

did an hour of yoga, wrote two blog posts, made two miniature chicken pot pies, watched a DVD on public speaking techniques (while doing some crunches and arm exercises), took a shower, researched graduate school programs, looked up new job opportunities, negotiated for work, hung out with my roommate, and planned my recipes for my baking contest on Sunday

Some people think I'm crazy and would never want to live in my oxymoronic organized dissaray, but other people ask me how I get so much done. It's quite simple though really: set goals for yourself over your lifetime, once a year, once a month, once a week, once a day, every few hours. I kid you not. It is as easy as creating a mental checklist for the daily goals, but it's as complicated as reflecting on the narrative your life has taken on for your lifetime and yearly goals. 

But let's start easy here: At the start of each morning when I get to my office, I reflect on the day before, read my horoscope (yes, I give into that one new age-y thing), go through Twitter quickly, look at pretty things on Pinterest, and then concretize what I have to get done that day both at work and during breaks. Only then do I really take the time to go through and answer my work emails. 

I couldn't do any of this each day if I didn't have larger narrative arcs I wanted to follow throughout the month and year. For instance, this month is the month of my birthday, but it is also early fall. For me, that means clearing out the old things I have and making room for new opportunities. To that end, last week I held a garage sale and I obviously set my yearly goals during my birth month. I have several concrete goals in mind for this month: make travel plans, clear out the clutter in my room, do more yoga and run every other day, and begin studying for the new GRE. I make sure that I have the time to do at least a bit of this each day. It helps me sleep better at night, what can I say?

So, okay, I'm a little bit crazy about these things. I don't know how the people close to me can stand me sometimes because I can be so adamant about accomplishing so much in an afternoon. But the people who make plans to make things happen are the people who get shit done and change things and are in control of their own pathways in life. And I want to be one of those people. 

One of my goals this month is also to relax about the goals and let things unfold in their own time. Which is why I love a good cocktail in the late evening to wind down and take life slowly again. Sigh. Life is beautiful, but only if you are determined to make it so. 

And, to finish, some words I live by:

via public school