Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Are Your Goals Just Goals?

When setting a goal you should also create a  plan of action.  I mean, what's a goal if you aren't working to achieve it?  A couple of days ago I shared my goals of the week and while I have  accomplished some them I have just as easily slacked on some.  Unfortunately, one of them happens to be  one of the most important of them all.  I said that I would attend live lecture everyday.  Well, so much for that.  I overslept this morning because I was up late last night doing absolutely nothing.  The crazy part is that as it got later and later into the night I was thinking..."maybe you should go to sleep so that you can wake up for class."   But, I didn't listen to my inner self.  Instead I ignored those thoughts and now I have to listen to lectures online...which I can't stand to do these days.

So, what's next, you ask?  Well, I'm not going to wallow in my current failure.  I'm actually going to make the proper corrections tonight and plan to wake up for lecture tomorrow morning.  It's called adjustment and there's nothing wrong with it.  The worse thing I could do is to say forget my goals and never follow through.  Doing this would never allow me to grow and it sure won't make me a better medical student or physician.  How you handle a situation, such as this one, will answer the question posed in the title of this blog post.  Are your goals just goals?  Or do they begin as goals that you later turn into action?

 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Weekly Goals (Jan. 27th-Feb 3rd)

Let the changes begin (Liter #1)
I've already posted about the importance of setting goals, and as such, I think it's time I start setting weekly goals.  Perhaps this will make life a little more fluid on a week-to-week basis while minimizing some of the pressure around exam time.  So let's get started!

1) Attend lecture everyday
2) Review lecture notes afterward or later that night (No exceptions)
3) Exercise at least 3 times a week
4) Drink 2L of water daily (I repeat DAILY) lol
5) Do something fun during the week (i.e. visit the museums...if it's warm roam downtown)
6) Take a lunch 3 out of the 5 days that I'm at school
7) Visit with my professor[s] at least 1 time this week
8) Attempt to pre-read the lectures the day before
9) Blog at least once per  week

Notice I didn't go to the extreme with my goals which is something that I often do.  I could have said, exercise everyday.  But I am realizing that that's a bit much, especially given that I don't exercise at all and I blame it on our busy schedules.  So easing into the process seems to be my best bet.  What do you think? The attending lecture everyday is an extreme.  However, it's something that I can do and it'll be better for me because I get restless when trying to stream lectures.  Oh and let's not forget that lecture streaming doesn't always work.  That's a real pain, let me tell ya.

So, now that you've read some of my goals what are some of yours? They can be daily, weekly, yearly, or some that you haven't implemented yet but would like to.