This month has been an exciting month for me. I had set a few goals for myself and have completed them! What an exciting achievement!
The first goal, as silly as it sounds, was doing 40 puzzles from Oct. 15 to May 1. I know, it’s an odd time frame, but it’s when we are home from camp and doing puzzles is my thing. I am happy to report that I completed 42 puzzles. Mostly 1,000 pieces, a few 750s and 500s. I even threw in a few 300s when I needed the feeling of completing one quickly. I have to give some credit to my helper, Piper. She was there every step of the way — biting pieces, knocking them on the floor, messing up my straight rows or breaking up sections I already completed. Then she would lay there looking at me with the beautiful golden/green eyes and want a tummy rub. Puzzles and Piper, it couldn’t get any better.
My next goal that I completed was taking a Biblical Storytelling class. It was a five-week course on Zoom, and it was fun. I learned more about storytelling and met a very nice group of people. We had to pick a scripture and tell it as a story. This will certainly help me when doing children’s messages at church.
My next goal was actually a very long one. It has taken nine months and I finished it on May 9t. I am now a Certified Lay Minister with the United Methodist Church. It was a long course, meeting in person almost every Saturday either in Manlius, Marcellus, Syracuse, or Cicero. There were six of us women taking the course. Not only did I learn so much about doing worship, presenting sermons, history of the Methodist Church, but I also formed a bond with the other five ladies. I can tell that we will always keep in touch with each other and give support to each other. Now what does this certification mean for me? I’m not sure. I can do pulpit supply at other Methodist churches, help Jim with his two churches or whatever else the Big Guy has planned for me. I am beyond excited for this new venture and continuing my faith journey.
I believe that goal setting is such an important thing to do in your life. There are so many things that you can set a goal for. Whether it is taking a class, going to school, learning a new hobby, getting healthy, shedding a few pounds, catching the biggest fish ever, joining a sports team, running a marathon, spring cleaning, having a garage sale, declutter the house, and the list can go on and on.
Here are some tips that I learned along the way to help you complete your goals.
1. Make it realistic. Say you want to run in a marathon but you have only been running for a short time, or only a mile or two. Don’t think that you can immediately jump into running 5, 10 or 15 miles so soon. Give yourself a realistic goal.
2. Keep track of your progress. When I was doing my puzzles, I was taking pictures of them and had what number it was and posted it on Facebook, yes to bore all of my friends, but it was great how much they really encouraged me to keep doing them.
3. Share your goals with others. I did this when I decided to take the nine-month class for the Certified Lay Minister course. I let my family and friends know how important it was to me, that most of my Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. would be taken up by this. Jim gave me all the time to do my homework and study and bounce questions off of him. It’s important to have all the support you can get.
4. Set a deadline. Set a target date for when you want to complete goal. If your goal is a larger, more complicated challenge, break it down into smaller steps and determine a deadline for each separate step. That is what we did for the ministry class, broke it down into four modules. Put these important dates into your diary or planner.
5. Celebrate the small victories. After each one of my classes was completed, I celebrated with the other girls in class. We went to lunch or brought snacks in to the meeting. After I completed 20 puzzles, I was so excited to be halfway to my goal that I remember Jim and I went to dinner. Maybe your goal is to do thorough spring cleaning. Celebrate when you get one room done. Then on to the next area. It keeps you motivated when you see progress.
6. Never give up. This is something that I am sure we all do at some point. I know it’s easy to give up on healthy eating, exercising, and cleaning the house. Those are all very easy things to stop doing. Whatever your goal is that you have set for yourself, don’t quit!
It’s never too late set a goal and complete it. Whatever your goal is, the first step is to set the goal and the second step is to get started!
This article was written by Diane Sokolowski.