Tag Archives: goals

Death by a thousand paper cuts

This is the term I use when too many small things come my way. I then spend my entire day successfully getting two-thirds of those things done, and creating an unruly ‘to do’ list for the next day, after staying at work a little longer than I hoped.

I haven’t done it yet this school year, but today I’m blocking some time in my calendar for a project I’m hoping to get done in the coming weeks. It was a September goal that never happened.

It’s quite apparent to me that unless I slot time in for visioning and projects that move my schools forward, the paper cut tasks win me over and consume my day. Blocking this time off won’t magically create more time in my calendar. I’m not going to suddenly have less little things to do… but I’m not going to go home feeling like I spent the day getting paper cuts. I’ll feel more like I had a productive day rather than just a busy day.

I know that when I do these things that I want to get done, (which I know are good for my school), then I don’t go home feeling like I want to describe my day as ‘death by a thousand paper cuts’. I know that I will feel a lot more like my day accomplished something beyond the many little (but important) things land on my desk.

Here comes the rain

It’s dumping outside this morning. That will happen when you live on the edge of a rain forest. It will happen a lot more as we creep into November, which is probably the wettest month in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, or maybe that’s February? The point is, we are heading into a whole lot of wet in the next while.

But today I have a walk up the Coquitlam Crunch trail planned with a friend, and we have a goal to do this trail once a week, at least 34 times, this school year. Today will be #3.

https://youtu.be/oMRU28bY14I

That will mean a lot of hikes in the rain. While it’s less than 30 minutes to the top, it’s almost an hour long. That’s long enough that if you aren’t dressed appropriately you are going to get soggy and cold. And I hate being cold!

So, I’ll bundle up, get sweaty in too many layers, and be happy to be outside with my buddy. Because when you live where we live, you either go outside and get wet, or you coop yourself up inside for several months of the year. It’s time to get wet…

Feed your focus

In my morning meditation’s lesson, as part of the Calm App‘s daily 10 minute meditation, this quote was shared:

“Starve of your distractions, feed your focus.” – Daniel Goleman.

This is a wonderful quote, but it is easier said than done. It’s challenging because our distractions often bring us joy or at the very least, entertainment. But this goes well with the idea that, ‘Your priorities are not your priority‘. What is your focus? If your focus is just getting work done, or completing a series of tasks, that’s not really something to focus on. It’s analogous to having many priorities, which in turn is not a priority.

What’s your focus? What do you want to accomplish? If you find that thing that drives you, that makes you want to wake up earlier in the day to achieve or that you will stay up late trying to finish. If you find that kind of focus, well then it’s easy to feed. It’s then easier to starve your distractions… or at least limit them.

Things that I do:

• A morning healthy living routine to feel a sense of accomplishment before I start my day.

• Time limits on apps that I enjoy, and that entertain me. (This way I can still get some joy out of distractions, but the time spent on them fit within a threshold that doesn’t suck my time away mindlessly.)

• Calendar time to do the thing I really want to get done, and not just the things I have to do.

All that said, I still go through times when I seem to lack focus, or forget what I truly want to focus on. I still have bouts of procrastination and distraction. There are times when I have to intentionally starve my distractions. But in combining teo ideas, if I choose a single priority that I want to accomplish, and I also feed my focus on that priority… I get stuff done, and it feels amazing.

In the gold

Last Friday was my first time shooting arrows in 5 and a half weeks. I was happy to score a 283 with my personal best being a 289. Further to that my best score, hit twice before, was using my fat, tournament arrows (known as line-breakers because they can miss a section by a fair bit and still touch or break the line for a higher score). Yesterday I got my 3rd 289, and this time with my micro arrows, that are much harder to score with. I’m using these arrows for the summer because they can be used outside for distance, without being blown around too much like the tournament arrows would.

Here are my scores yesterday and today with my micros:

August 16th: (tied personal best)

August 17th:

These are great scores, and on my way to tying my personal best I was able to stay all in the gold for only the 3rd time. Then today I almost repeated this, except for a mental lapse in the 9th end. Interestingly enough, my mental lapse was on the 2nd arrow, when I had a big movement of my bow hand just as I was shooting. I was lucky and got the shot off before the big move, so I managed a 9, but then I was still thinking about my luck and was angry at myself and the next shot was off, despite physically being more stable than the previous shot. This isn’t a sport where you can keep thinking about your last shot and still shot well.

This consistency staying in the gold is great for me. I hope to be able to be even more consistently ‘in the gold’ (scoring 9’s or better every shot). If I can focus on this in the coming weeks, I know that I’ll be able to beat 289 soon. The priority though is consistency rather than score. If I keep my ‘mistakes’ in the gold, a new personal best is sure to follow.

Your priorities are not your priority

I’m listening to ‘The One Thing‘ by Gary Keller and this concept hit me over the head.

For years, there was no plural for the word priority. This makes sense. If you have more than one priority the multiple things on your list are no longer your ONE priority.

I was talking to a colleague today, (we are holidaying at the same campground), on our morning walk we discussed how some days our jobs are such that the 3-5 things we started the day wanting to prioritize remain undone at the end of our day. Other people’s priorities (and problems) get in the way of our own daily accomplishments.

Keller states, “Purpose without priority is powerless.”

Priority, not priorities.

If I were to start my day planning and scheduling to accomplish my one priority, what would that look like? How successful would I be, compared to trying to divide my day between the many things on my ‘To Do’ list? Yes, those things still need to get done, but are all of them a, or my, priority? If I had a daily focus on my one priority for the day, would that change my sense of purpose on those days when things generally get in the way of what I intend to do?

Will the daily act of determining my one priority change my ability to plan and execute?

What’s my one priority for today?

Routine-less holiday

It’s almost 11pm and I haven’t written my blog post or meditated yet. How strange that before I started my sticker chart tracking my habits two and a half years ago, my pattern was: Get busy and don’t do anything for myself, then go on holidays and work like mad to get fit and meet my other goals.

Now, my pattern is: When busy, start my day with writing, meditation, and exercise, and then on holidays I flounder. I used to struggle to take care of myself when I was in work mode, and thrive on holidays, and now it’s completely reversed. It’s so weird to me to see this switch. My two weeks away with my parents were my worst weeks all year for exercise, and I did my daily meditation several times after midnight.

I need to routine-ize my holidays and be more dedicated and consistent. My strategy will be to put tomorrow’s well-being schedule into my calendar for the next day. Tomorrow morning I will take my car in for servicing. Before leaving home I’ll do my exercises, and while waiting for my car I will write my post and meditate. Then I’ll schedule my next day’s activities so that this too becomes part of the routine. It has become obvious to me that I no longer thrive on holiday time, if I don’t have self-care planned into my day.

Goals unmet

This is an observation, not me beating myself up. I’ve been on a good healthy living kick and in the best shape I’ve been in years. However today I looked at my healthy living calendar and I had a target weight written on it… I’m not close to it. I haven’t made any gains that I hoped to.

I’ve already realized that I need to reset goals, but now I think I need to just stop making goals beyond my calendar chart. That chart has been something that keeps me ‘on target’, while other goals leave me disappointed when I don’t meet them. There is a lot going on these days, with the school year ending and a visit home planned, and camping holidays booked… and yet I’m exercising 5-6 timed a week; I’m shooting arrows regularly; I’m enjoying writing every day; and I’ve only missed a couple meditations this year. These are mini celebrations that I don’t need to cloud with unmet goals that push me beyond what I’m prepared to do.

I’m getting stronger, I’m looking and feeling good, I’m meeting my targets I’ve places on myself. I don’t need to push, push, push, and add goals that are too much for me… I just needed to say that ‘out loud’ to convince myself.

Resetting goals

I have been very good at setting long term goals for myself. My healthy living calendar is an excellent example of this. Since January 2019 I have gradually increased my daily workouts per week, and I’ve also meditated almost every single day. My goal to read or write for at least 20 minutes daily has become read and write every day since July 2019. And my goal of shooting arrows 100 days this year will be exceeded because I have already shot on more than 60 days this year. My long term targets have been hit and surpassed.

My short term goals have not been as successful. A year ago I decided I wanted to do a 30 second unsupported handstand, but my shoulder kept bugging me. I recently wanted to bulk up 10 pounds, but my eating habits have not been healthy enough to do this. I’ve wanted to work my way up to 30 pull-ups, but was stuck at 20, and although I eked out 21 on Tuesday, these last couple attempts left my upper back extremely tight. My massage therapist thinks I’m undoing a lot of the progress I’ve made in moving away from chronic discomfort/pain.

Not many 53 year-olds can walk around doing handstands, or can do 20, much less 30, pull-ups. I’ve spent 2 and a half years slowly dropping 25 pounds, and I want to add 10 healthy pounds to that, at a time when I’ve already added more muscle mass than I’ve had in 20+ years. These goals don’t make sense. They are lofty goals for someone half my age, and not goals I should be setting for myself.

All that said, while I need a reset, I also want to push myself and make some improvements. I’m just not sure what they should be? I might go back to handstands but rather than trying to push too hard and re-injure my shoulder, I’ll progress slowly, tracking gradual increases in my ability to do the preparatory exercises. Maybe instead of 30 pull-ups, I’ll work towards 3 sets of 12. And I’ll stay happy with my current weight, and maybe do something healthier like add meditation time to each day?

These are just thoughts right now, I need to think about what I really want to do, then set realistic timelines that allow me to see injury-less progress. Setting goals that stress my body out too much don’t seem to work well for me, but setting long term minimum expectation goals have worked amazingly well, and so I should really stick to what’s working.

Over before we know it

In some ways this has been a long, challenging school year. Covid-19 has made the year a shadow of what is normally expected. That will happen with a global pandemic’s agenda undermining activities, events, and plans usually completed in a school year. Yet here we are at the start of May, with just two months of school left before the year is over. Normally at this time of year, I start thinking about what I’d hoped to accomplish in the year, and reflect on if I’ve met my goals. I also think about what I want to accomplish before the school year is over.

My mind goes to our Grade 12’s, thinking about our grad ceremony, that I want to be special for them despite greater restrictions than what was possible last year. I find myself thinking about our June PAC barbecue that usually comes after grade 8’s spend a day at our school, organized by our students, to help our future grade 9’s learn about what September will be like at our school. Holding this virtually doesn’t give the incoming students the experience we want, and doesn’t give our current students the leadership experience they want and enjoy.

I have never before entered the month of May thinking about what I can’t do, rather that what still needs to be done. No year end field trips, no student organized pot lucks, no gatherings of any kind. It’s hard to look towards the end of the school year without thinking first that it won’t be what I hope it to be, and second that it will be over before we realize it. It’s also hard to think that September will likely be quite similar, with few restrictions being lifted.

I’ve been saying since before the Christmas holidays, ‘Things will start to return to normal by January 2022″. This has given me some solace because I don’t find myself disappointed when the vaccine rollout is slower than I had hoped, or when there are promises of things being normal by September when I know that won’t be happening. The long horizon of waiting for the start of the next calendar year before we see movement towards normal has kept me from holding unrealistic optimism that would surely end in disappointment.

But here at the start of May, the disappointment is hitting me a little. I want to see an exciting year end. Our grad is usually an epic year end annual celebration, student run, with entertainment and performances by our student body. But for the second year in a row this won’t happen the way we wish it could. If I’m honest, I’m starting May without the excitement I normal feel. Normally I would see so much to do ahead and realize the year will be over in the blink of an eye, but this year I’m just hoping to end the year positively. I’m hoping everyone stays healthy, and I’m hoping my expectations for January 2022 come a little sooner than expected.

On fire

Before yesterday, my personal best in archery, on a Vegas 300 score card was a 281. (10 ends, on 3 targets, 30 arrows total with 10 being the highest score of an arrow, whether you hit the X-ring or 10-ring, for a maximum score of 300). I had hit 280 three times and 281 twice. Yesterday I scored a 285.

Today I shot two more rounds. In round one I got a personal best again, and I also achieved one more goal too… 30 arrows all in the gold (scoring only 9’s and 10’s). I thought I would have to practice a lot more before doing this. In the process, I scored a 286. I was on cloud 9!

I took a short break to prep some targets. Then on my first practice arrow back on the line I did this:

It was the ‘perfect’ return to the archery line because it stuck a little humble pie into my growing ego.

Then in my second round, I got a couple 8’s in my 4th and 5th ends. I knew that I was shooting well beyond that, but wasn’t sure how well? My final end started with an 8 after I struggled to keep my bow steady and stubbornly didn’t let down and reset. I was shooting alone and a profanity might have crossed my lips in a rather booming voice. Still, I took a deep breath, reset my breathing, and hit two 10’s to finish off my scoring. I still had no idea what my score was, and thought maybe that last 8 stopped me from tying my 286. I was wrong. I scored a 289.

TWO-EIGHTY-NINE!

A couple stats that I’m blown away by:

1. 22 of 30 arrows scored 10. For perspective, when I shot my 286 I only had 16 arrows score 10.

2. Although I scored three 8’s, my score on those ends were all 28’s, with me getting two 10’s for my other arrows, and those were my only 28’s. All other rounds were 29’s with two 30’s. That means I scored at least two 10’s every round!

Add these to the fact that I scored an all gold round, and I have to say that I’m on fire! I thought I was a month or two away from an all gold round, and many, many months away from a 289. So now my goal is consistency. I’m more focused on another ‘all gold’ round scoring in the 280’s than I am on a 290. That won’t come without consistency, and so reducing the bigger errors now will get me to both ‘all gold’ and 290 sooner than worrying about the difference between a 9 and a 10.

But that’s all in the future, right now it’s time to celebrate. I scored an ‘all gold’ round today, and then I crushed my personal best and got a 289!

Oh yeah!