Tag: 2013 Goals

Congruence: Goals for 2013

After a moderate amount of thought about the word resolution, I’ve decided that I prefer the term goal to talk about what I want to accomplish here. I think that’s more appropriate for me because it’s action oriented and not necessarily dependent on a new year beginning. I’ll be posting a short series on what my new goals are and how I’m going to implement them. This is the last in the series and I’ll be reflecting on being more transparent and congruent this year.

To a certain extent, I think I keep various aspects of my life separate. There are deep values that I hold that I don’t discuss or that I put off to the side sometimes because I don’t want to go out on a limb with whoever (friends, family, co-workers, etc.) it might be. I want to be more transparent with some of those aspects. This is both obvious and not so obvious. Right now these blog posts get shared to my tumblr and my twitter account but not to Facebook, I haven’t fully unpacked why that is (or if I should even change that) but it’s an obvious example. It’s also not so surface level, during conversations it’s about what I let go and what I engage with. I need to find a balance between having conversations to challenge people and understanding when to let things go because it won’t be an effective conversation. I also want to make sure I’m not rampaging through conversations with my privilege and my unending opinions.

I’ve also been thinking about how I’m working toward my long term goals. Is my lack of congruence and transparency holding me back from working toward the longer term? I figure it probably is because it doesn’t feel like I’m being authentic all the time when I

I talk a lot about equity and social justice being value. I’m openly critical of a lot of things that I perceive as racist, sexist, or heterosexist but not always when the conversations need to happen with people I love and care about because the conversations are harder with those people. That congruence will be tougher but I think it’s important.

I am who I am, there is no need to separate who I am from certain people. Way easier to say than to do so we’ll see how I do with this goal.

Projects: Goals for 2013

After a moderate amount of thought about the word resolution, I’ve decided that I prefer the term goal to talk about what I want to accomplish here. I think that’s more appropriate for me because it’s action oriented and not necessarily dependent on a new year beginning. I’ll be posting a short series on what my new goals are and how I’m going to implement them. This post is about some projects that I’ve been thinking of and what I want to finish.

Work related:

I’ve had some ideas kicking around about some potential research and assessment projects. I want to do some research around patriarchal masculinity and helping people make meaning of how to change their view on masculinity to be less violent, aggressive, and controlling and how to challenge that in their everyday lives. It’s really about redefining feminism for a lot of people because the definition has been hijacked by conservative media that talk about how radical the movement is. (It has also hijacked radical to be a bad thing when in actually it means to get to the root of something or a departure from tradition; progressive).

I also want to do some work around what meaning students take away from going to a cultural competence or social justice workshop. How much does a student learn and what do participants take away from their experience? I want to explore what makes the session more effective for students. Can the students identify the issues in their real life after the program? How does the information stick and what have they retained after about a month?

As a part of my resident director position, I create a community development plan that I’d like to development an assessment method to go along with it so I can measure how effectively my plan is being implemented. The focal points for my plan should be measurable so I’m going to incorporate an assessment tool in my RAs programming so that it’s easy for them to collect assessment data from their programming. Part of that will be creating new posters based on my community development plan so that the residents are aware of what we’re working toward.

Co-Curricular:

I’ve continued to be interested in web design and projects since my bachelors degree in Information Technology and part of that has been just reading some articles on the web about design. But I want to do more. I recently talked to a friend about creating a portfolio site for him which I’m way behind on. So I’ll be getting more going on that project soon. Another piece of that I’d like to do is work to brand that design as a freelance company type of thing that I could do other projects with. Which would mean creating a design for that page too!

I’ve always been enthusiastic about music and I’d like to get back to being more active with that. I’ve got some old songs that I’ve written that I’d like to re-record and refresh. I also have been playing with new apps on my iPad (mostly from Korg – the new iPolysix app is great! I know I need to explore audiobus too which lets you link up different apps.) so I want to explore more electronic music textures and ideas too.

One of the perks of my job is getting tuition remission and I’d like to use that to explore either design or music technology/production to learn more about some of these interests. Eventually I want to explore doctorate programs that I’ll start in the next couple of years. The problem is in what? Higher ed? Social Justice Education?

That’s what I’ve got on the to-do list for 2013. What do you have left undone from last year that you’re finally going to work on?

Cooking adventures: Goals for 2013

After a moderate amount of thought about the word resolution, I’ve decided that I prefer the term goal to talk about what I want to accomplish here. I think that’s more appropriate for me because it’s action oriented and not necessarily dependent on a new year beginning. I’ll be posting a short series on what my new goals are and how I’m going to implement them. This part is about what I’m going to do for cooking.

After a moderate amount of thought about the word resolution, I’ve decided that I prefer the term goal to talk about what I want to accomplish here. I think that’s more appropriate for me because it’s action oriented and not necessarily dependent on a new year beginning. I’ll be posting a short series on what my new goals are and how I’m going to implement them. This part is about what I’m going to do for cooking.

Be more adventurous in cooking

Picture of my KitchenAid Mixer gift
My awesome gift from Laura

So for Christmas I got a KitchenAid stand mixer from Laura and I’m having a great time wanting to cook up some new things. Given this new addition to my kitchen arsenal, I want to learn to make a lot more stuff. I’ve got a few recipes in my regular repertoire but I want to expand those to include more things outside of my comfort zone. I’ve already been inspired to try out cooking some fresh southern style biscuits which turned out really well and tasted delicious with bacon and eggs. I also made some awesome pecan pie cupcakes. Croissants, pasta, sourdough baguettes, etc. I’ve already tackled some delicious pretzel bites that were for the New Years Eve party that I went to. I also made some pizza dough that wasn’t as successful but I’ll get better. I’ve also been looking up some new awesome recipes around the web and been pinning them on my pinterest account. I’m looking forward to attempting the baguettes and sourdough bread.

Other things I’d like to attempt are new meat techniques like aging my own steaks and buying whole tenderloins to cut into steaks. I also want to attempt some pouch cooking and cooking pocket pies. More braised meat, I’ve already made some pork shoulder a few times so now I want to try some barbacoa recipes. I’d like to make my own tortillas for taco nights etc. Trying new sauces. I’m looking forward to some great new cooking and recipes.

What about you? Are you trying out different cooking techniques or recipes? How are you deciding what to make?

Wellness: Goals for 2013

After a moderate amount of thought about the word resolution, I’ve decided that I prefer the term goal to talk about what I want to accomplish here. I think that’s more appropriate for me because it’s action oriented and not necessarily dependent on a new year beginning. I’ll be posting a short series on what my new goals are and how I’m going to implement them this is the first of the series about wellness.

a chalkboard with 2013 Goals written on it

After a moderate amount of thought about the word resolution, I’ve decided that I prefer the term goal to talk about what I want to accomplish here. I think that’s more appropriate for me because it’s action oriented and not necessarily dependent on a new year beginning. I’ll be posting a short series on what my new goals are and how I’m going to implement them.

Wellness

After a few small flings with running, going to the gym, and yoga last year, my overall feeling about my personal wellness is mediocre. With that in mind I want to have a better schedule about what I’m doing with my time. I know I’m busy with work and don’t always want to exercise in the evening after I leave the office. I’ve also been fairly terrible at getting up early because I stay awake later than I should and then I don’t want to get up because I haven’t slept enough.

Getting to one of my first action items, I want to get up between 7 and 7:30 AM so that I’ve got time for a run or yoga or the gym. Then I don’t feel pressure to work out after the day is over but if I feel like I need to squeeze in something else then I’ve got the option open. Part of this will be dropping 20-30 pounds this year so that I’m feeling better about what I look like (and also to save myself from buying bigger clothes, saving money!) I’d also like to do more yoga which will help me with my mindfulness and emotional wellbeing goals.

Next up, I want to run at least 150 miles this year. This is very attainable since it’s less than 3 miles per week which I can knock out in less than 45 minutes each week. Another running related goal is to bring my average time per mile down to less 10 minutes. Which means I’d like to run the Shamrock 8k at about 50 minutes (which reminds me to register for the Shamrock 8k!).

Part of both of the previous paragraphs have to deal with some kind of exercise, I’ve got a couple of new apps to help me with my goals and tracking what I’m doing. I joined Fitocracy yesterday to add some fun to my fitness tracking. I also downloaded the Gorilla Workout app for my iPhone and iPad to help with some calisthenic exercises for when I’m away from the gym or need to do something quick.

On to what I’m eating and drinking (which may conflict a little with one of my other goals…). I’d like to eat more balanced during from here on out. Less soda, more water. Staying hydrated is important to the rest of my wellness goals. Since I moved into a new apartment on campus, I’ve been a lot closer to the dining hall and which means that junk food has been more available to me (such as french fries and lots of dessert). So it’s time to resist those foods and eat more vegetables and non-fried stuff.

In addition to physical wellness, I’m going to work on my emotional wellbeing. To do this I’m going to think more about what I have control over and relieve my emotional investment in things I can’t change. Because if I can’t influence what’s happening then I need to think more about what I’m going to do in response rather than getting upset about what’s already done. I’d also like to journal more in order to help me think about what I’m doing and how it’s related to what my more long term goals are and to make sure I’m making meaning of my experiences.

That’s what I’ve got thought up for my wellness goals. Do any of these resonate with you? Are you doing anything similar for 2013?