9:00 to 10:00am: Get to the office, check email, send out responses 10:00 to 11:30am: Meeting with George and Sue 11:30 to 12:30pm: Project #1 12:30 to 1:15pm: Lunch (eat healthy!) 1:15 to 2:30pm: Review project #1, meet with Sam and discuss Project #1 2:30 to 4:00pm: Project #2 4:00 to 5:00pm: Start Project #3, set things up for tomorrow 5:00 to 6:30pm: Leave the office, head to the gym 6:30 to 7:00pm: Pick up groceries head home 7:00 to 8:30pm: Make dinner, relax 8:30pm: Go to the movies with Cody
Sometimes you will need to leave a project and come back to it later. Make sure to make a note of where you left off. This will make it easier to return to the project later on.
Keep in mind that some projects will take multiple days or weeks to complete, and that is okay. Try to think about what you accomplished in terms of increments rather than as a whole. If necessary, learn to plan your week in addition to your day to get your project done on time.
These roles could include (among many, many others): Traveler, student, daughter, writer, drawer, employee, glass-blower, hiker, grandchild, thinker, etc.
Your list might look something like: mother, daughter, wife, traveler, glass-blower, mentor, volunteer, hiker, etc.
One way to help you define the purpose of your role is to imagine your own funeral (yes this is rather morbid, but it really works). Who would be in attendance? What would you want them to say about you? How would you want to be remembered?
Career/vocation; Travel; Social (family/friends); Health; Finances; Knowledge/Intellect; Spirituality Some example goals (in order of the categories listed above) include: Publish a book; travel to every continent; get married and raise a family; lose 20 pounds; make enough money to afford to send my children to college; get my master’s degree in Creative Writing; learn more about Buddhism.
Send book manuscript to 30 publishers by June 2018. Travel to South America in 2019 and Asia in 2020. Weigh 120 lbs by January 2019.
Your goal is to publish a book and have the manuscript sent out to publishers by November 2018. Right now, you have half of the manuscript written, and you’re not totally sure you like the first half.
From now until Nov. 2018 you will need to: A. Re-read the first half of your book. B. Finish writing your book. C. Rework aspects of the book you don’t like. D. Edit for grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc. E. Get several critical friends to read your book and give you feedback. F. Research publishers that you think would consider your book for publication. G. Send your manuscript out. After you have written out your steps, consider which ones might be more difficult than others. You may need to break down some of your steps even more.
Your mom isn’t letting you go to your friend’s mountain cabin in four weeks. This is definitely a problem, but what you need to do is determine the root of this problem. The fact is, you are getting a C- in your algebra class, which is why your mom doesn’t want you spending the weekend skiing. Therefore, the problem is that you are not doing well in your math class. This is the problem you need to focus on.
Your goal is to raise your grade to at least a B in your math class. Along with this goal, you are hoping that by raising your grade, your mom will let you go to your friend’s cabin.
Your problem is that you are getting a C- in math. Look at what you are doing that is affecting this problem: you talk to your friend in that class… a lot, and you haven’t been doing your homework every night because you recently joined a soccer team and after practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, all you want to do is eat dinner and sleep.
You are getting a C- in math, which needs to change. A barrier to your success, however, might be that you truly don’t understand the concepts being taught in the class–not just because you are talking in class, but because you have never really ‘gotten’ algebra. On top of that, you don’t really know where to get help.
Solutions for talking to your friend in the class: A. Force yourself to sit on the opposite side of the class from your friend. B. Tell your friend that you are getting a really bad grade in the class and you need to focus. C. If you have a seating assignment, ask your teacher to move you so that you can focus more. Solutions for not doing your homework because of soccer: A. Do some homework at lunch or during your free period so that you don’t have as much to do at night. B. Keep yourself to a strict schedule–after practice you will eat dinner and then do homework. Reward yourself by watching an hour of TV after your homework is done. Solutions for not understanding algebra. A. Enlist the help of a classmate that can explain the concepts to you (but only if you both won’t get distracted while going over the problems). B. Ask your teacher for help–approach your teacher after class and ask if you could set up a meeting with her because you have questions about the homework. C. Get a tutor or join a study group.
Your plan for raising your grade in math should look something like this: Plan to raise grade in four weeks: Talk to Peggy about how I can’t talk in class. (If she keeps talking to me, change seats) Do homework during lunch every Tuesday and Thursday so I can keep going to soccer practice but don’t have much to do when I get home Go to my school’s math tutoring center for help every Monday and Wednesday; ask my teacher if there is any extra credit I can do to raise my grade Goal: By week four I will have raised by grade to at least a B
If you find that something you are doing really just isn’t working, modify your plan. Swap out one of the solutions you used in your plan with a different solution you came up with during your brainstorming session.
