This speaks to me.
Tag: growth
Making Tracks
After an inspiring phone conversation with Emily yesterday, I gave some serious thought to my goals and my somewhat haphazard efforts to attain them. I have an hazy idea of my big picture, but wonder if I am spending my time in activities that will help achieve that. I felt a little anxious when I realized that my plan was vague, and my path leading to that plan was poorly marked and wandering. Because I work best in an organized environment, I knew I needed a tangible, visible method of tracking my progress.
First, I gave careful consideration to my goals and dreams for my life and wrote them down – because a goal without a plan is just a dream. Then, building on an idea Emily uses, I created a personal system to track the activities that are important to me and will lead me in the direction I say I want to go. A handy Excel spreadsheet – because who doesn’t love a great spreadsheet – allows me to see at a glance if I am making progress towards my targeted aspirations. As Nikki posted about exercise, personal accountability is key. One check mark on a list is gratifying, and a whole page of them can be cause for celebration!
In addition to my monthly tracker, I have created a list of projects I want to complete this year. That list includes things like painting the cedar chest, making Nikki’s Christmas stocking, and completing Mark’s scrapbook. Those will be added to my monthly list as I am ready to tackle them, but not all at once, because that just overwhelms me.
And last, but not least, I’ve created a list of things I want to do before I die. I dream about a visit to the villages in England that were the birthplaces of my Berrett ancestors. I get really excited at the thought of a cross country road trip in a small RV – check out the Roadtrek and you’ll want one too. Several other dreams have a place on this list; just seeing them written makes them more realistic to me. I’m excited about what I can accomplish.
So I’m on my way, and February promises to be awesome!
“Because how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
– Annie Dillard, author
Resolved . . .
to be
mindful
of
time
food
money
relationships
looking forward to a productive and rewarding 2010!
¡Lo hice!
If you had told me two years ago – or even two months ago – that I would teach a Relief Society lesson in Spanish, I would have questioned your sanity. My journey towards mastery of the Spanish language has been slow, laborious, and frustrating at times. And I am an eternity from fluency. But last Sunday night when Don and I were discussing possible teachers for this week, I casually mentioned that I wished I could do it – meaning I wished I was able to do it – had the ability to do it – spoke Spanish well enough to do it.
Well, Don jumped right on that idea, and before I really had time to consider what it could mean, he had me convinced that I could do it – because after all, “many of those women speak English, and they will help you.” As if that was all it took. . .
What followed that conversation was a week of intense preparation, prayer, and panic. I prepared a detailed outline – in Spanish and English, made some word strips to focus attention on important points – and remove the need for me to write in Spanish on the board, and chose a comfortable outfit to wear – because I could not be worrying about my clothes at a time like this!
Although my delivery was bumpy in spots and I had a hard time following some of the discussion, I did it! The hermanas were very supportive and complimentary, and even though I’m pretty sure that they did not understood everything I said, I came away feeling like we had had a successful meeting.
And next time it should be a little easier.
things that make me happy 