S8: E161 Summer Health Series - 2021 Goals Check-In

Afternoon Ti Podcast

Season Eight

Episode 161

Summer Health Series - 2021 Goals Check-In

This is the third annual Halfway Point Goals Check-In episode.  If you want to hear more about goals and ideas for checking in at the halfway point of the year listen to episode 36 from 2019 and episode 109 from 2020.  In both of these episodes I share ideas for looking at your goals, considering where you’re at and where you want to go, and being honest about what is important to you right now.  

My favorite part of goal check-ins throughout the year is that it gives us the opportunity to make decisions about what continues to be important, what new things have come into our lives that we want to focus on, and what pursuits we want to bid farewell to.  It’s a way of organizing what is important for now, what we want to see come to fruition in the future, and what we want to let go of.

Goal setting has been something I’ve done for many years and has allowed me to accomplish things I wouldn’t have been able to do without having the final goal in mind and the steps leading up to it.  I love the pursuit of learning, growing, and seeing what is possible.  I love how goals help me stay positive, focused, and excited about life.  I love how goals keep me centered on the things that matter most to me.

The halfway point each year is always pivotal for me.  We’ve had six months to work towards goals we set in January.  Or six months to work on monthly goals and weekly goals or even daily goals.  It’s enough time to really evaluate where we are and what we want to focus on for the remainder of the year.  As teachers we’re in a better headspace to think through last year and what we’d like to work towards creating and planning for the upcoming year.

The past few years at this point I’ve looked at my goals through the lens of these three words:  Reevaluate, Refocus, and Reach.  I still believe in doing these things with our goals - reevaluating whether the goals we’re working on are worth continuing, refocusing goals that need tweaking and changing something about them (simplifying or giving finer detail to exactly what we’re wanting to do with them), and reaching (expanding goals that have already been met - maybe you’ve already run 100 miles and your reach goal might be to run another 100 over the remainder of the year.  These are great things to do, but in the light of 2020 and the start of 2021, there’s a piece that I feel is missing so I’m changing the three words for reflecting on our goals at our halfway point this year.

The three words we’re going to focus on include one new aspect and the words all start with C:  Celebrate, Consider, Continue.

CELEBRATE

Celebrate.  We need to celebrate what has been accomplished already at this point in the year.  It’s the missing piece.  Take time to find something that has gone well.  Something that you were able to complete, get started on, or enjoy already this year.  Celebrate the people who helped you.  Celebrate the good.  Celebrate what has brought you joy and kept you going.

My goals to celebrate:

1) writing and publishing my book “The Afternoon Ti Guide to Teaching Music”  this past February

2) Completed Soundtrap educator courses online - free, fairly short and easy, and helped a lot in creating new content for students

3) Daily crossword puzzles

4) At this point in the year I’ve usually checked off several completed goals already, but this is not the case at all this year.  In fact there are more goals that I haven’t started on than goals begun or completed.  I’m celebrating that I haven’t given up.  That despite the setbacks and the trials this year life is good and worth celebrating just because.  If you haven’t met a goal yet, don’t despair.  Consider what’s next and move forward.

CONSIDER

The second word is consider.  Think of this as a combination of reevaluating and refocusing.  It means considering what you want to let go of and what you want to tweak.  Consider what has changed in your teaching and how that might impact what you work towards as we start a new school year.  Consider what you want to prioritize.  Consider what’s important to you.

Things I’m considering:

1) Getting a cleaning schedule planned out

2) Website, Media, and Development of content… not just the how-to, but putting action behind it… I need smaller more manageable steps to help me get there

3) Writing another book

CONTINUE

The last word is continue.  This is a combination of refocus and reach.What do you want to continue using in your classroom from this past year?  What goals do you want to continue or expand upon?  What do you want to continue… and fill in the blank?

Things I’m continuing:

1) Reading (finished the Anne of Green Gables series - all eight books) and running- set back quite a bit as a result of my broken arm... but building up endurance again and thinking that my goal of 500 miles for the year is still very possible

2) Using my devotional to read the Bible over the year

3) Being more confident and bold in sharing teaching ideas in conferences, workshops, and on the podcast and blog

Take time to look at your goals, create new goals, and let go of goals.  Celebrate where you are, what you’ve done, and where you’re going.  Consider what’s important to you and what you want to focus on moving forward.  Continue to work towards the things you love and that bring you life.  Carry on friends!