Hello new school year! This week I road tripped out to school with my brother who will be a freshman here. It was lots of fun to see our beautiful country and rock out to a custom playlist 🙂
With the new school year starting, I’m jumping back into my goal posts! I’ve been wanting to work constructively on improving parts of my life, so I divided my goals into five different categories. Welcome to my first goal post of the school year – I hope you’ll stick around for more and we can encourage each other!
Each “take” focuses on an aspect of my life. Since it’s nearly the end of August, these will be my goals until the end of September.
Category 1: Prayer
After reading this article, I was kind of dumbstruck. Duh. Keep yourself focused, self! So my goal is to eventually increase prayer time by establishing routines. Why? Because it will help keep me focused on what is really important.
1. Find a morning offering to say each morning and/or a good devotional to start my day with
2. Find a night time examination of conscience to say before bed.
3. Sign up for adoration twice a week and start going.
4. Do the Stations of the Cross on Fridays.
Category 2: Fitness & Health
Because let’s face it: Being in shape feels awesome. At this point in my life, I have no excuse to not be in shape and take care of my body. So, let’s do this!
1. Look for a 5k to do before Christmas.
2. Find two new healthy snacks to keep in my dorm room instead of traditional unhealthy ones
3. Work out three times a week, and find a consistent time that works. (Sub-goal? Get a new MP3 player and music!)
4. Since my commitments start at 9am M-F, set a consistent time to wake up.
Category 3: Academics
“It’s easy to procrastinate” says the girl who stayed up past 3am to finish a paper due in mere hours. I did it twice. I am not proud of that. But am proud to say I’ve never had to pull an all-nighter! The fact is that I need to be responsible. My classes challenge me enough themselves, so I need to rise to the challenge and take advantage of the opportunities to learn.
1. Write down assignments in my planner when I find out about them.
2. Check planner everyday.
3. Buy a stock of post-it’s to put each assignment on, and write them down. Why? It’s fun to tear it up when it’s done!
Category 4: Computer Usage
Being away from technology makes me happy. So why do I compulsively check my email probably 25 times a day? It makes me wonder if people really can become addicted to the internet and social media. My usage has improved quite a bit after cutting back on Facebook time by sorting “friends” into lists. Now I check those instead of my general newsfeed. There’s always room to improve, so here goes!
1. Put my laptop on my desk, and only sit there to be on it (unless I am taking it out of the suite to work on it).
2. Gradually check emails less. By the end of September, be checking them three times a day.
3. Check Facebook only twice a day.
4. Go to my Google Alerts for news instead of social media. Add two new alerts.
Category 5: Reading & Writing
We all have a lot to learn. I love reading, and it’s something I want to devote time to. Sharing my life and things I learn through writing my own pieces is a great way to develop my thoughts and connect with people. The goals?
1. Find 15 minutes a day to read a non-school book. Focus on one at a time.
2. Write one non-link-up post a week here or for Live Action News.
Have you read The Giver? I remember checking it out from the library a couple times, but never ended up reading it. The trailer looks really interesting, so I definitely want to see it!
What do you think? If you’ve read the book, would you recommend reading it before seeing the movie?
And to end these quick takes . . .
I know there’s a lot going on in the world right now, so please remember to pray for peace. Pray for strength for those who are being persecuted. Pray for everyone who is starting their school year too! And don’t forget: We are the Easter people, and alleluia is STILL our song.
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
To Life,
P.S. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin’ or by email!
P.P.S. Did you read about my new approach? Head over and tell me what you think!
A Drop in the Ocean 
Looking forward to some book reviews! 🙂
Your goals are so great! I’m excited for the exercise one, especially since you’ve got new capris 🙂
LikeLike
Bwahaha, capris are a must 😉
LikeLike
I read the Giver–one of my kids had to read it for school and I picked it up. It was thought-provoking and dark–and I ended up reading the whole trilogy (now a fourth part has been written). I don’t get why schools assign such dark stuff, because while the characters are teens, the story is much more adult (not in a sex sense)
LikeLike
Oooh, that’s interesting to hear. I’ll definitely read and watch it!
LikeLike