Reviewing My 2019 Goals

Welcome to 2020!  I want to take a moment and look back at the goals that I set myself for 2019.  I'll write a separate post for my 2020 goals shortly after this post goes up.

Personal

1. Participate in and win National Novel Writing Month.  I definitely participated in NaNoWriMo this year, but I didn't win this year.  I attribute this to a few things.  First, I didn't have a plan going into NaNoWrimo.  I am not a good "pantser," or person who flies by the seat of their pants when it comes to writing a novel.  I did not prepare to the extent that I should have and that I asked my students to prepare.  Secondly, I was too rigid with my story.  When I felt myself slipping because I was losing interest in my story (why did I think it was a good idea to make my character part of the coast guard when I don't give a crap nor know the first thing about the coast guard?), I didn't switch gears fast enough.  This sort of relates to my third point that I was shooting too much for perfection.  I think I was floating into NaNoWriMo this year with the confidence that I have won the past two years, this year should be no different.  I thought that I had the fortitude to stick with whatever story I started no matter what.  But alas, it was not enough.  So, this goal is only half accomplished.

2. Travel 3 or more times this year.  I did accomplish this goal!  I went on a scrapbooking weekend in February, I went to Utah and New Mexico in June, and I also went to a cabin for a week with my family in July.  Mission accomplished!

3. Play a whole song from a musical on piano.  Nope.  Maybe in 2020.  I didn't put in the time that I needed to in order to accomplish this goal.

4. Exercise 3 days a week.  I have come to the conclusion that I am approaching my goals like this in the wrong way.  I don't think I've ever had a progression when it comes to accomplishing this goal.  I have always written goals like this and expected that I would immediately start exercising that many times in a week as opposed to saying I would reach this by the end of the year.  So by the end of 2019, I didn't do this.  I did have 2 full months where I did yoga with my partner as we followed Yoga with Adriene on YouTube.  I need to approach this goal with more grace for myself.  That'll be what I work on next year.  

Media

5. Read and/or listen to 70 books this year.  Yes!  It took me until New Year's Eve to accomplish this, but I hit 70 books this year!  Woohoo!

6. Read 20 books that are already on my shelves.  Mission accomplished!  I'd like to keep cleaning out my bookshelf in this way going into 2020 as well.

7. Write book posts once a month.  I will say that I half accomplish this.  I did get book posts written, but they were not posted once a month.  I want to have more of a blogging schedule in 2020.  I think the way I'm writing book posts is working for me, I just want to make sure that I'm writing them soon after the month is complete.

8. Write more about teaching and life.  Nope.  This didn't really happen.  I'll be working on this in 2020.

Professional

9. Set up website for classroom and teaching.  I have accomplished this goal in the sense that I set up the website, but I never actually used it.  I think this is something that I'm not very serious about doing at this point in time.  Perhaps in the future.

10. Go to 2 professional development opportunities.  I will consider this goal accomplished.  I went to one professional development opportunity by choice about trauma in students and my school is going through ongoing professional development with someone named Cornelius Minor out of New York.  We are continuing to work with him through this school year and I'll be reading his book this year too.  

11. Create higher level quizzes and tests.  This did not happen yet.  The school year is still going on, so it's not too late to accomplish this goal for this school year.  I don't think I'll keep this as one of my official goals for the year though.

12. Pass my GRE and apply to Grad School.  This is another goal that is half finished.  I took my GRE over the summer and I got a score that I am happy with (especially my writing score!), but because I am expecting a baby, I chose not to apply to graduate school just yet.  I thought it would be too much pressure to put on myself and too stressful to go through at the same time as other life changes are happening.  Luckily, my test scores are good for 7 years, so I will consider starting my Master's degree in a year or so.  We'll check in after the start of 2021, let's say.

Even though I didn't accomplish all of the goals I set for myself in 2019, I still feel like this was a good year.  There are many life changes happening and I think I'll be continuing my pursuit of balance, as I have for the past couple years.  This year I am working on boundaries and considering what that means to me and what it means for my life.  I'm hoping that 2020 will be even better than 2019.

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude