WINTER 2013: FOUR SIMPLE GOALS

On Tuesday, I shared a list of most of my New Year's resolutions for this year and one of those resolutions is to use Four Simple Goals (first shared at A Beautiful Mess) to keep myself on track throughout the year. I want to feel accomplished and productive when next New Year's Eve arrives, so setting smaller goals seems like the perfect way to achieve the larger ones. Also, I just love making lists. Here are my four simple goals for the rest of the winter (headed by a very summery photo of my faux flowers from Ikea... clearly, I am wishing for warm weather today since our heater isn't working).

1. Make yoga a part of my daily routine. Today is day three of hobbling around in pain because of a pinched nerve in my lower back, so I have decided that making my body stronger needs to be a higher priority for me this year. Hopefully the inflammation will go down enough for me to go to a yoga class at the gym this week. I think adding it to my daily routine, even if it's just for fifteen minutes in the morning, will make a big difference for me.

2. Practice photography. I am challenging myself to take 365 photos this year, so I want to practice and spend some time learning more about photography, especially over the next few months. I think it will be fun to see how much I improve when I compare these early photos to the ones I take later in the year.

3. Approach my lessons more creatively. This semester, I am helping twenty freshman transition from high school to college through lessons in the classroom and I am co-teaching a class on leadership. Rather than just presenting the information to them, I really want to be more creative with the lessons and discussions I lead. I want the students to be interested and engaged in the topics. I want them to see how each lesson can be applied to their life now and in the future. Any advice from the lovely teachers out there for my students' attention?

4. Finalize my blog's design and title. I recently made some improvements to my blog's design and chose a title ("Sincerely, Brittany") that I felt suited me and my blog at the time, but I am still not entirely committed to those decisions. I have a few other ideas for the design that I want to experiment with and I am still exploring different blog title options that might be a better fit for my blog. I want to make those decisions and implement them here by the time spring arrives.

Will you be setting four simple goals for yourself this season?