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Making Goals

19 Feb

So this self-esteem book has a whole section on planning to achieve your goals, whether they are very short-term goals at work, at home, etc., or longer-term ones in life. What I liked is that it tacked the stumbling blocks to achieving the goals and offered suggestions for overcoming them.

Stumbling Blocks to Achieving Goals:

1) Insufficient Planning: you must break down your large goals into small, discreet steps. Trying to achieve a major life goal all at once is like trying to swallow a whole loaf of bread in one gulp. You must take one bite at a time or you will choke.

2) Insufficient Knowledge: a very common stumbling block that requires overcoming a fear of asking for help.

3) Poor Time Management: if you are already juggling more balls than you can comfortably keep in the air, adding even one new goal may be one ball too many. Either become a better juggler or decide which balls to drop.

4) Unrealistic Goals: This is a form of self-sabotage. When you set unrealistic goals, you guarantee failure and continued low self-esteem.

5) Fear of Failure: While normal for everyone, this can be a huge stumbling block for people with low self-esteem.

6) Fear of Success: This is more rare but it’s actually a fear of delayed failure. You fear becoming successful for fear that ultimately you will fail. “The higher you climb, the farther you fall.”

Deconstruction Exercise

Overall Goal

1. What information do I need?
2. How much time do I need each day or week?
3. How much money do I need?
4. Whose help do I need?
5. What resources or services do I need?
6. What would be the earliest sign that I was starting to accomplish my goal? (first step)
7. How would I know I was well on my way to accomplishing my goal? (middle steps)
8. How would I know I had fully accomplished my goal? (final step)
~ Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem

There are so many other great tips in this book and the accompanying workbook. I’m trying to get through it all but I found this especially helpful for me in not catastrophizing situations and getting stuck/overwhelmed.

1 Comment

Posted in Health

Help me do some good – day three!

17 Dec

On Monday I told you about this week’s charitable mission to give a little bit of money away each day to a nonprofit that could really use the help. A little goes a long way and I may not have a lot to give but you all can help. Comment on this post with your ideas for other charities to support so that other readers can get ideas. The top five suggestions will go up in a poll Friday for you all to pick who the last $25 goes to. Plus every comment to each day’s post earns the organization another 25 cents in donation (up to a max of $40 for each day’s post – can’t afford more than that guys). And please feel free to go back and comment on posts from past days (I really need more recommendations for Friday’s five picks).

Now here is today’s selection, which I have chosen in honor of my late Nana, an amazing woman who was a dedicated reading teacher and literacy champion in New Zealand her whole life: First Book

First Book is a nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. We provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs.

First Book was founded in 1992. The First Book model was developed to leverage the work of local heroes who reach children through existing literacy programs in a variety of settings, such as Head Start centers, libraries, soup kitchens, churches, housing projects, and afterschool initiatives. Working through this vast network of organizations, First Book plays a critical role in transforming the quality of preschool and after-school programs nationwide.

First Book’s model is national in scope and local in impact. In our first year, First Book distributed approximately 12,000 books in three communities. Since that time, First Book has distributed more than 50 million books to children in over 3,000 communities around the country.

The awesome news is that since I will make the donation before December 31 (and if you would care to donate as well), First Book’s partner, Random House, will match every donation, book-for-book, up to a million books.

To read more about First Book’s costs and expenses or to research any potential charity, visit Charity Navigator, a non-profit that reports on charitable organizations so you can make sure that you drive your donations to the organizations that will best utilize those funds.

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Posted in Blogging, Politics

No time for this

11 Dec

Well before Chapin called and I got all fired up about the attorney, I was in a fairly good mood. I had just arrived home (late, of course, because since I took yesterday off of work for my final I came back to a bazillion tasks today) and had opened the mail.

I was psyched to find this*:

But also disappointed because I first have to get through reading this (and then some) and writing a huge research paper:

And then there are these piles sitting around my room waiting for finals to end (yes, I know, waaayyy too much chick lit and self help, but I haven’t bought a “good” non-works/school book in probably two years):