2014 Goals

What are your professional and personal goals for 2014?

I debated setting New Year's Resolutions this year because, like most people (I think), I'm not very good about keeping them through the year. (Case in point: I've had the same quilt I've been working on for, um, 8 years now?) The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized there were definite ways I'd like to improve various aspects of my personal and professional life in 2014. After some time reflecting on these goals this week, here's what I've come up with:

 graphics credits: Graphics From the Pond

Personal Goal: Procrastinate Less
I'm a huuuuuuge procrastinator and always have been! In college and grad school, I found that I would strive when deadlines were looming and I could maintain the most focus when time was short and I didn't have any other option! However, now as a working professional I'm sick of it and I'm going to do my best to change!

SLP Goal: More Timely Paperwork
This goes along with my personal goal. No more finishing progress reports in between parent/teacher conferences or printing out student graphs as I walk into an IEP meeting. No more waiting until the end of each month and entering in all my data into student graphs at once! No more waiting until the night before a meeting to write an evaluation report!

Blog/Teachers Pay Teachers Goal: Average 2 Posts Per Week
My goal is to average 2 posts per week. Some weeks may be more, and some weeks may be less. I don't want this blog to take over my life. I want it to be a creative outlet for me. And with less procrastinating from now on (see Goal #1), I hope to start scheduling more posts in advance if I know work or personal commitments are going to amp up during a certain month and take away from my blogging time.

Organization Goal: Create an App Spreadsheet
The agency I work for generously provided me with a 16GB iPad, but this is nowhere near enough memory!! I am constantly downloading free apps, and deleting apps to clear more room, and then the apps I delete get lost "in the cloud" and it's difficult for me to find them again. Or, if I go back and look at apps, I can't remember what they're for! So, my big goal for the year is to create a spreadsheet with the names of the apps I download, and categorize them into goal areas. That way I'll have a quick reference to help me reload apps, and to find the apps I need when lesson planning. It seems pretty daunting right now to think about starting this process, but I know it will be super helpful for me!

Just For Fun Goal: Read 25 Books
This summer I got myself a library card and went to town reading just for fun. I don't think I've read recreationally since before college! I'm using Goodreads to keep track of the books I've read, and the books I want to read, and have set a goal to read at least 25 books in 2014. I've already read two so far this week! (If you haven't read "The Paris Wife", I highly recommend it!) What is the best book you've read lately?