Goals for the Next Year

In the past I have had the custom of taking a couple of days to think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year. In a previous post, Resolutions and Other Acts of Deception, I listed new year's resolutions. I thought that this was a good idea at the time, though I admitted that I tend to resist resolutions. They seem weak to me. They are a list of things that I know that I will not do but will think about now and again. I do better with goals that have a plan attached to them. Last year I made resolves. This year I am making goals. Best to begin with last year's resolves, I suppose:

1. Employment: Locate a suitable job teaching special education
2. Music: Record my CD (vanity, vanity…)
3. Music: Formal studies! Theory and counterpoint?
4. Music: Resume gigging in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties
5. Financial: Debt free and living on a budget (How bourgeois can it get!!!!)
6. Spiritual/Emotional: Spend disciplined time in meditation/prayer, find a community of faith
7. Spiritual/Emotional: Do works of charity and peace that cannot be paid back (all anonymous)
8. Physical Health: Eat well and exercise

The resolves that can quickly be dismissed are numbers 2 and part of 6. I have no desire to join a church. I realized early on that this was a poor choice for me. I tried formal studies: time and funds don't allow for this.

Financial: I incurred more debt this year than I have for years. This was a flop. I think, instead, that living with a budget and working on servicing debts is a better choice. Fiscal responsibility and solvency is a better goal for me.

Physical Health: My health is OK, but I think that I need to pay better attention to my body than I have.

I will make no comment on number seven, just to keep it on the list.

I need to make a plan to get placed with this or another district. This has to be the primary priority. If I need to take another job to supplement what I am making subbing, that is fine. I need to generate another 1000.00 per month to be comfortable, closer to 1500.00 to be better off.

Thinking about what the priorities should be, the following come to mind:

• Financial: To live within a budget and to responsibly service my debts;
• Professional: To locate suitable employment that will allow me to meet my nut every month with room to spare;
• Music: Complete the CD and distribute, gig to support it and for personal satisfaction:
• Personal Relationships: Spend quality time with the important people in my life;
• Spiritual: Continue to do anonymous kindness for those that cannot repay me, improve my spiritual development.

That is a heady list. I think that I have to do some realistic planning that takes into account time necessary, resources, and who needs to be involved. That is the hard one for me; I need to be a bit more pragmatic here.

It is never enough to have goals without an action plan. I need to think about this and begin to set something out that is doable and to which I can commit. This means that I need a friend to help me by keeping me accountable to my goals. That is hard. It is much to ask of a friend.

More to do... More thinking.