A new year is a great time to set a resolution and begin anew. We love new beginnings (especially when we don't like the place we are at, the habits we are living, or the direction we are going). What do you do though when a new beginning isn't what you need? What do you do when you just need the simple courage to continue on the path that you are on?
Over the last couple of years the "one word" has really hit a crescendo and I can understand its appeal to people. It is simple and can help people find focus in a world of quite a lot of clutter. It also rings similar to a belief that I follow myself: that we should be vision and mission driven in our work and life. That said, I'm not the biggest proponent of the one word mentality because as someone who likes to achieve... a lot... I find it kind of limiting. Why just do one thing when you can do many things? Maybe I just hadn't found my one word though.
This year I find myself focused on a mantra: incremental. incremental. incremental. Do just a little bit more than I did before or do something just a little bit better than I did it before. Incremental makes a lot of sense to me. About 8 years ago, after the birth of my second child, I decided it was time for me to get my weight and my weight-related habits under control. I set small goals and said, "what if I just counted calories?" That question turned into: "could I reduce my calorie intake just a little so that I might lose a pound or two in a month?" Slow and steady. Incremental.
Running started that way too. My husband was going to train for his first marathon and a friend of mine had just started and was raving about Couch 2 5k (c25k). If you've done c25k, you know that the program is all about incremental. You start with running little bits of time, then add more, then add more, until you are running a 5k. Slow and steady. Incremental.
This year, I certainly have health related goals as well. I'm going to run a little more, get better about tracking my calories (again), etc. But I also have other goals. 2020 is the year I'm going to do most of my dissertation work. Slow and steady. Incremental. It's the only way I'm going to get it done as the mother of two, a wife, a high school principal, a runner, etc. Incremental is also how we have thought about our professional learning this year as a campus. What is something small you can do overtime to create a change and grow students in an area that they need? Slow and steady. Incremental.
What are you plugging away at? You can do it. Slow and steady. Incremental.
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