June and a Half

A dear college friend of mine, Erin Wunker, wrote an excellent post about reaching and setting goals yesterday on Hook & Eye. Although her post is targeted toward academic professionals, her words hit home to me too. Summer doesn't mean the same things to a stay-at-home-mom/writer/former-future teacher as it does to a current academic professional, but there are similarities. Both situations lack immediate pressure to actually accomplish anything, as well as immediate consequences for not accomplishing anything. Hey--you could even say SAHMs are on summer break year-round--although I doubt most of my SAHM friends would describe it that way. In any case, summer doesn't promise the juicy break it did when I was teaching, but since I finished my manuscript and sent it off I have felt as though I am on (a well-deserved) vacation from writing poetry for awhile. But as I posted at the beginning of June, there are things I want to do this summer.

I decided to follow Erin's advice to take the next step from posting about my goals and plans for the rest of the summer and actually write them down. All of them.



The list isn't terribly legible but I defined "summer" as today until the end of July. I included things I want to do between now and then under different headings: Amelia (learn about potty training); Writing (find books and brainstorm ideas for two writing projects I have been daydreaming about); Blog; Home; and Health. My favorite thing about the list is that it actually includes boxes to check. I think the idea of tracking progress for summer goals, or any goals that lack much outside pressure for completion, is a fabulous idea. It's easy to do but (hopefully) incredibly effective.

Although I just made the list today, my June plans have been progressing pretty well. I have been running and going to yoga about 2 times a week so I would like to up that a bit. I have posted every day of June except one. I have been reading a couple of times a week, not as much as I wanted but more than I was reading before. And I have not been cleaning! Much. The house is messier but not that bad. I am pleased with my June so far, and glad to have found an idea to help me get more specific with my goals for the rest of the summer.