GO DOG. GO!

Reflecting upon goals, the children's book, 'Go Dog. Go!' became an apt analogy for how to make and keep new resolutions (be advised I'm referring to the abridged board book).

Goal (The dog party):  I realize that a satisfied inner peace might suit some goals.  That being said, it IS much more fun to make the celebration of achievement a party.  Tell others so they can get excited for you as well.  

Game plan (mode of transportation):  "Go on skates or go by bike.  Go by foot- run, skip, or hike!"  How we decide to accomplish our goals is entirely up to us.  There's no use trying to accomplish our goals by doing it in a way we detest.  If there's no way around the detestation, try to lessen it at least :)

          

Prepare for trouble: "Go by skis- bundle up so you don't freeze."  There will be struggles in achieving your goal (otherwise it wouldn't be a resolution).  So you need to make a contingency plan.  "Blundle up" against the trying times where you don't want to achieve your goal.  

Make small secondary goals:  "Go, dogs. Go! It's not too far!"  Goals can seem overwhelming and too difficult to achieve in a lifetime, let alone a year! Make smaller goals that you can mark off to remind you that becoming who you want to become is attainable.

Be patient with delays (life happens):  "Stop, dogs. Stop! The light is red."  Sometimes life changes require us to shift our priorities.  It might be an illness that requires us to put our needs on a back burner to help us or someone else achieve their goal to good health.  There's no shame in this.  Our goals are not broken by our not achieving them NOW.  They are still there and can be taken back up again. "Go, dogs. Go! It's green ahead."

Keep the motivation as you approach the end.  "Your almost there!"  For those goals that DO have an end, sometimes we slack off near completion.  Keep that motivation!  Have people you have to be accountable to so you don't drop the ball (or whatever else floats your boat).

Enjoy your success.  "Climb that ladder to a dog party!"  Nothing is as sweet as hard earned success.  Take Eli's potty training for example.  The garbage truck he earned by learning to go potty was better received than most Christmas gifts and is still one of his prized possessions.  In a discussion about resumes, a professor once said, "it's NOT bragging if you actually did it."   So don't be afraid to let people know you accomplished something that was hard for you!  Let them take joy in your success too.  It makes it more of a party!

Now that my analogy is complete here are three of my goals for the year.

1- Become more "intimate" with the scriptures.  I know it's a life long quest, but I need to do better at actually attaining this personality trait.  So... I'm going to write a talk each month about a different gospel topic.  Yes, only one a month.  That might seem small, BUT it's a small secondary goal that I feel I can definitely accomplish.  Heavenly Father doesn't want me to fail, so I'm certainly not going to set myself up for failure by biting off more than I can chew, at the start.

2- Increase my drawing skills.  This is an extension of last year's goal.  I have most of the supplies for my "self taught" program (from the book 'Drawing for the Absolute and Utter Beginner' ).  I plan on doing one lesson per week.

3- Do more outdoor activities with our family.  Aaron and I like hiking, but haven't done it... well, since Eli was born.  We are going to start doing increasingly difficult hikes and hope to be able to do a 5 mile one (with Eli AND Anna mind) by the end of the year or summer (whenever it starts getting colder here).  We are going to make Saturdays our hiking days.  I have a website of different hikes in our area with their difficulties.  Some day maybe we'll get a babysitter and do the 22 mile hike listed :)

Wish me luck on my goals.  I sure wish you luck on yours!