Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a good time, I saw the 2020 watching the London Fireworks and digitally with family! With 2019 behind us and lessons learnt, we move forward to 2020 and a new decade unless you use another type of calendar and believe me there are loads around!
So with celebrations we move into the New Year.
My 2020 Goals
This time I'm just going to focus on three top goals though there is plenty I want to do. Normally I overwhelm myself with about ten but I think streamlining is the way forward for this year.
1. Complete my novel-in-progress fit for publication
This is carried over from 2019, and I'm committed to finishing it in May but it's something I want to complete this year. If you have been following my blog, you'll also know I've done a few workshops and courses. The last one was the Faber Edit Your Course where I got a reader's report with some comments.
2. Fitness and Weight loss
This comes up every single year, and I seem to grow bigger however for the last few months, I've been in excruciating pain because of my knee. I went for physio or as Americans call it physical therapy but nothing really worked. I think it's more about my weight, even my calves are larger. So I probably need to eat less - mostly bakery products - and perhaps cook a little more. My target is twenty pounds or about ten kilograms. I don't really know where to start but something needs to happen.
3. Keep My CPD (Continuous Professional Development) up to date.
This has been a bit hazy but I need to focus on keeping up to date, perhaps attending events and conferences and writing it up. However the caveat with my professional body is that members need to figure out how they want to develop so it's more progressive and proactive in that sense than some other professional bodies who stipulate a certain amount of hours of study and events to count. I guess I can do it in line with where I am at the moment.
How do I plan to get this all done?
Goal setting is one of those processes where one needs to find what works for one. There are plenty of resources on how to chose and achieve a goal but this is what works for me. I know they have to be SMART - specific, measurable, attainable/achievable, realistic/relevant, and time bound but that doesn't work for everyone. And also the words in the SMART acronym change depending on who you are speaking to or what you are reading.
Then again I guess time-bound is all about being commitment to achieving the goal within a certain time frame, however life also happens, so not to digress too much, I'll show what I use- which is probably a mixture.
I work backwards from the last point of achieving the goal to when I first start. It's very simple and basic but it works. At times you can do some steps before others, or have to breakdown steps but it's really gives a good outline. I got this from a now defunct coaching site, when life coaching was all the rage on the internet.
So rather than beginning at the start of goal just work backwards. I've successfully used this in job hunting. It may sound silly however it gives a focus on the stages and at times some stages take a little longer but there is a feeling of progression, which can be important in keeping morale and motivation up.
This is link to me discussing it with another new method I picked up and tried, called guilt-free planning. I used the plan for a while but generally I prefer the planning backwards. https://dabwrites.blogspot.com/2019/03/daily-writing-journal-guilt-free.html
There is an another method which I discussed but this is my go-to if I'm serious.
Reviewing the plan
I don't have a review stage as such as the plan is consistently in review because the stages will change: some altered, new ones added and others deleted. In a way it's a constant review because the plan can change.
However it's probably worth having an overall review at the end to see lessons learnt. I guess this is hardest because once something is finished, we are naturally on to the next thing.
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