#52 Stories of ME! (week three)

QUESTION:  WHAT GOALS ARE YOU ACTIVELY WORKING TOWARD RIGHT NOW?

While my children were growing up, there were lots of Family Home Evening lessons that they liked so well those lessons eventually became part of our “tra-NICHOLS-tions”.  One of them was our New Year’s lesson about setting goals. 

We each picked three things to work on as our personal goals, then together we picked three specific goals to work toward as a family.  I would type the goals and put them on the bulletin board so we could see them often.  Then, during the year we would review how we were doing and talk about some course correction.  Of course, we didn’t ever CALL it that, just some encouragement to stay on track of doing a little better every day.

It was surprising that by the end of the year when we reviewed how we had done, we had gone on that vacation.  Jeremy did climb a tree.  Harold did get an A in French….and so on.

Actually, it was the visual with this lesson which they liked so well.  And as the years went by, each of my children wanted to take a turn to manipulate the visual aid.  It was simple, really.  Just a reminder that goals are a written plan for our future, not a sculpture already set in stone.

First, I would show them a rubber band and make it stretch really wide then back again.  “Don’t choose a goal that has no set boundaries or parameters so sketchy you’re not exactly sure how you can accomplish it.”

Then I would show them a popsicle stick and break it.  “Don’t make your goal so rigid that you break yourself trying to reach it.”

Lastly, I would show them a piece of string and demonstrate how it could be tight but still have some flexibility.  “Give yourself some room in case you have to modify your goal.  You’ll still be able to accomplish it without feeling like a failure because you messed up by the end of January.”

Those were the old days.  Goals were the road to freedom and a feeling of satisfaction that something had been accomplished.

The old adage I was introduced to from a Relief Society Seminar in the 1970's by Daryl Hoole is still true:  "An ounce of morning is worth a pound of afternoon."

I used to get up, get moving, and get things done!  Just like THAT, every day. I don't know where along the way I started to slip a little here and there.  Maybe after those bone-wearying four-day trips that start out early on the first day, fly all day for four days with sits between flights, minimum layovers each night, and finally get home late on the last day.  

I would allow myself to sleep in.  Maybe get up but go back to bed.  But the worst was finding myself around noon still in grubbies and having done nothing but brush my teeth.  Then that process of getting ready for the day seemed even MORE daunting.

That has just about done me in over the past few years.  I HATE that routine of exercises, walk, shower, make up, etc.  Sometimes it seems like too big of a job.  

And those "to do" lists I used to jot down from advice by President James E. Faust who never went to bed without writing out a list of things to accomplish the next day--all went by the wayside.  Why write the same stuff over and over and over.  I even tried Faye Nix's method which I heard from her when we lived in Berlin:  three things ONLY on the list.  If they don't get done, put them at the top of the list of three the next day.  Three sounded doable to me, too.  But there have been days NOTHING got done.

I don't watch TV.  I don't even read any more.  That used to be a time user upper.  So, what excuse do I have other than non-motivation?  NONE!

I got into a habit of reading the Book of Mormon each year ACAD--a chapter a day.  Even though I saw new insights every year, that just wasn't qualifying for feasting on the word of God.  

I went back and read some of the note entries I made when I read the Book of Mormon a few years ago and decided to do an online journal.  I am surprised at some of the insight I had--and there was often a comment or two about current events in my own life.  But it was SO VERY time consuming because I don't have talented thumbs.  Everything has to be pick and click.  I was glad when that year was over!

After hearing President Eyring's Conference talk a few years ago about his writing down where he had seen the Lord's hand in his life on a daily basis, I promised myself I was going to do the same.  I am the recipient of many, many tender mercies.  But that, too, went by the wayside after a few entries.

I loved writing the Nichols Family News newsletter for ten years! I love to write.  I fancy myself a decent "essay" writer--never a novelist, etc.--but a chronicler of events in an interesting way. So, I said, "Two Blog entries a month.  That's a doable thing."  Lots of months I didn't even write one.  

With all that in mind, I made some goals for 2018.  Not too stretchy.  Not too rigid.  Just enough give and firmness to keep myself in line.

United has an incentive posted all over the airline, "What isn't measured can't be improved."

I'm sharing these goals with you so I feel more accountable.  Who knows?  Maybe I will succeed in moving the needle back to the productive side instead of hovering around the lazy bum side.  Let's hope so....there is a lot that needs to be taken care of!  And I ain't got THAT MUCH time left.....

Ready, set, go!