Creative Changes Blog

In my last post, I promised tips to help keep our kids organized. Today I have a different plan. I feel that there are many sources of these tips, and I will list a few links at the bottom of this blog.

My GOAL today is to impress the importance of teaching the life skill of Goal Setting to our children. Wouldn't it have been great if we had known these skills when we were seniors in high school, looking towards our grown-up future?

I know that much of my indecisiveness as a young adult could have been alleviated by understanding that there was a process I could follow to gain insight to my deepest desires. I just needed to learn the steps necessary to achieve my dreams. At the age of 19 I had lots of ideas about things I would like to do, but no real tools to figure out how to achieve my dreams.

Many years later, as an aspiring entrepreneur, I have learned (am still learning) the art of setting goals and achieving real results because of specific planning and following a series of steps to reach a desired result.

This is what I know about Goal Setting:

• Before you can write down goals, you need to do a little introspection. Figure out what you really, really want. What do you love? What are you good at? Just dream a bit, and don't let objections, perceived or real, money issues or self-doubt get in the way of the dreaming.
• Write it down. Don't worry about the order, just write down all your goals and dreams, no matter how far-fetched they may seem.
  
• Prioritize the list. Perhaps you could use symbols (*, !, $, etc) to designate the most important items, things that excite you and the ideas that will need funding. Remember that this list is not a static document - it will shift and change with time. That's why we need to re-visit our goals on a regular basis.
  
• Begin with those goals that are most important to you.
• Now comes the planning, because a goal without a plan is just a wish. What will it take to achieve your goal? List the steps, and break down the steps into manageable chunks.
• Take action. What do you already know? Who do you already know? What will you need? What can you do today? Give yourself 90 days to work on a goal, then evaluate where you are.
  
• Be open to new and unexpected ideas to reach your goals. There is never just one way.

Understanding our strengths and weaknesses is essential to moving forward with our dreams.
Working on the things that you are good at will give you more energy, motivation and ultimately more success. Of course, you will work on your weak areas too, but that is not where you focus your time and energy.

Now here are the links to help with keeping the kids organized:

http://www.smead.com

http://www.smead.com

http://www.simplify101.com/back-to-school-organizing-tips.php


I am going to review my goals list!

Until next time,

Sandra

Labels: Goal Setting, Setting Goals

This is my youngest child's last year of high school, and I am not sure how I feel about all the lasts that will happen this year. I took a first day of school photo of my children every year from kindergarten on, and I took the last one this Tuesday. I have made lunches every school day for 16 years, and I thought I would be delighted to be done with the task, but now that it's the last year I have developed a new interest in lunch making! So much of our child rearing, and our lives revolves around school and the related school activities, and some of it seemed like kind of a pain, until now - the last year.

Keeping life organized with multiple kids going in multiple directions is no small task for parents, but on top of our own organizational challenges, we need to teach our children how to manage their time and belongings as well. These are the major life lessons that they will take to college and on into their adult lives.

It is not that everything has to be perfect - the goal is to make life easier. If you know where your stuff is, where you are supposed to be and what time you are supposed to be there, much stress can be avoided. Learning how to manage time so that you can get where you need to be on time is a HUGE life lesson that is much easier to learn while young.

My son, the youngest, is the disorganized one, but he is of an age that is not inspired by parental advice - to say the least! My challenge has been to try to give him the guidance he needs without him knowing that is what I am doing. If it is a direct suggestion, it will automatically be rejected. Instead of suggestions, I offer questions with options for him to choose from. Sometimes, he has to feel the consequences of his sloppy habits, to appreciate a different way to do things. It is a fine line between being too controlling, where he won't learn for himself, and allowing his room to look like HE would like it - something like the aftermath of a natural disaster!

Each precious child is a unique individual with their own path to forge. As parents we can show them how to clear the path, how to read the compass and assure them of our love and support every step of the way, but we cannot walk their path for them.

In my next post I will give a few tips to help keep life, school and various kid activities organized.

Until next time,

Sandra