As one of those �pieces of dead wood� teachers slated for riffing (reduction in force), but who smell the smoke and quickly retired last month, my short-term goals are thus:
 Adjust to a new lifestyle,
 Live on a new budget.
 Set my biological time clock.
 Finish my Bella training.
 Write two articles a week.
 Learn to write in a new format.
 Finish my doctoral degree this year.
 Breath.

My long-term goals are thus:
 Convince 5 teachers or lawyers a year to volunteer time with my nonprofit love-- Advocacy for Kids.
 Give 3 speaking engagements a year on the missing I in IEP.
 Continue to raise awareness on the inequality shown toward minorities in education and the need for early intervention.
 Fight for all tests in the native language of children.
 Fight for standardized, national tests in all subjects for all grades.
 Fight for national teacher certification.
 Fight for the federal government to pay for an advocate for all IEPs to represent the child.
 Watch both my granddaughters finish growing up to be whatever they choose to be as long as they are completely independent and happy.
 Earn a degree in education law.
 Breath.

Deanna -

I found I practiced a great deal more when the instrument was right there out in the main room all the time. I have it hanging on the wall in the living room. Can you leave your harp out so it's easier to get to?

RetiredTeacher - those are great starts on the goals!

We find goals do immensely better if you make them SMART -

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

So the key is you want to set a specific target for the goal. Instead of "fight for all tests" you want the goal to be (if you think it can be done) Have all tests. If you don't think that's possible in 5 years, then state as a goal what percentage you want to reach.

That sort of thing!

I was just reviewing my five year goals which were

FIVE YEAR GOALS
* BellaOnline at 90% Editor Capacity
* House Organized
* Native American Wedding Book Complete
* One Romance Book Published
* Earn a Bachelor's Degree
* Advanced Yoga and <130 pounds
* Proficient at Piano and Guitar

I am now at 120.2 pounds so the <130 pounds goal is not really a "goal" any more - which means it's lost some of its ability to motivate. I think I need a new measurement that goes beyond weight. My fat percentage is about 23% right now. So I think a better goal would be "fat percentage of 18%." That way it's something to strive for!

I'm not even working on the Native American book so I was giving thought to what I *am* working on. I'm working on catching up all my email backlogs. So it occurred to me that a new goal would be

Have Zero Email Messages in Backlog

This seems completely outrageous to me right now. I have literally thousands of messages in my various to-do folders. But that is a great emotional strain on me, to have them. So that sounds like a great long term priority!

That sounds like a very good switch, Lisa, on the book and inbox. I like the idea of you working more intentionally on ridding yourself of the life stress of having emails backed up!

And congrats on the stable 120 pound weight!

I definitely feel that making up goal lists and hanging them by your desk helps a great deal! It helps remind you what tasks are important to your life, and keeps you focused on them!

Once people have their long term goals set, it's time to break out short term goals that head you in that direction!

One Year Goal Setting

It's spring and a perfect time to review the long term goal lists!

I am working diligently on organizing the house - I just spent 3-4 hours last night digging through each room to find stuff to donate to the BigBrother BigSister group. So that got picked up this morning. I love driveway pickup I also got a free bulk shredder from Amazon's vine program so that will help me get rid of my old taxes that are past the 7 year mark. If it works of course

I am diligently working towards my bachelor's degree and maintaining my straight-A record so that is good.

I'm making slow but steady progress on my email backlog.

I have not been tracking my body fat really or working diligently on yoga. I've just been SO backlogged that a lot of stuff has slid. So I need to renew my focus on even some portion of each day being about health. Health is important. I'll stand on the scale and get my weight but not push the extra button to see the other figures for fat, muscle, etc. So the last time I saw my fat number was 3/28 when it was 17.2%. Which, as it turns out, is below the 18% I had set as my 5 year goal. Hmmmm. So I need a new goal I think. I suppose I have to look up healthy fat percentages for women in their 40s!

LOL it turns out my scale was broken. My fat percentage is actually 20%. But then I looked up what a woman should have in my weight range and they seem to say I should not go below 21%. That is, I should not be setting a fat percentage aim that is even lower.

I'll go discuss this in the exercise forum to figure out a healthy goal to set!

So that definitely is key - make sure your goal is a *healthy* one

It's good to review your five year goals every once in a while to make sure you still agree with them or perhaps you want to add in new items.

I still do want to do all the things in my five year goals but interestingly I look at the goal of "have zero email messages in my backlog" and it seems completely impossible. In five years!! That's pretty sad I think I need to be more proactive about working on that.

Part of my problem is that I use the to do lists as storage areas for long term projects. So let's say someone wrote me in at my wine site and suggested I make a new area on wine shipping laws for each country. I think that's a good long term idea so I leave the email in my to do folder as a reminder. But it can sit there for years until I get to that task. Now multiply that by thousands of messages on a variety of topics and you see my issue.

Maybe what I need to do is thank the person for the idea, tell them I'll do it eventually, and then in a SEPARATE project tracking program put the information in there with a priority. But really is that different if I have a gigantic project list or tons of email backlogs?

I'll start up a separate thread on this, in the organizing forum.

How is everyone else doing with their five year lists? Do they still seem like good items?

Fall is a perfect time to revisit long term goals, as we all go "back to school" in our own various ways!

I was just looking at my five year goals -

FIVE YEAR GOALS
* BellaOnline at 90% Editor Capacity
* House Organized
* Native American Wedding Book Complete
* One Romance Book Published
* Earn a Bachelor's Degree
* Advanced Yoga and <130 pounds
* Proficient at Piano and Guitar

I am thinking of self publishing my first romance novel so that may actually be done within the month! That's an exciting change of perspective for me. I have in essence given up on convincing Harlequin that my no-sex style is a good match for them I will find my own audience!

I'm doing well with daily yoga, an hour each morning, so I think I need to define the "advanced yoga" more explicitly. I'll go talk in the yoga forum about that.

Does anyone else have some tweaking to do on their long term goals?