Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a lovely break and had some time to rest. I certainly did!
And oo begins the New Year and with that resolutions to become the best student, teacher, parent, child, brother, sister one can be.
I have been wanting to write on the topic of the importance of setting realistic goals, and also about the importance of letting ourselves dream big for awhile now!! New Years seems to be the perfect time.
Warning: I’m going to absolutely contradict myself here as I delve more into these two topics. So, here we go:
Many many motivational speakers and coaches will talk about the importance of making resolutions that you can keep. This is indeed useful and important! But I think so often what gets overlooked when we talk about executive functioning is the importance of the imagination and of letting ourselves dream big. I mean there’s a good reason for this (hence the contradiction)! Often we set unrealistic goals for ourselves and then feel disappointed and angry that we can’t meet them. And thus sometimes a pattern repeats itself. So to the topic of setting realistic goals (or goals in general) use these guidelines:
- Start small.
- Choose the days of the week/times of the week that you are going to practice reaching your goal.
- Find a friend, parent, auntie, uncle, coach that can support you.
Now to the topic of dreaming and imagination!We have to complete tasks ,get things done and achieve certain milestones to get to the next step. And those tasks are sometimes fun! I love, what some might call the mundane ritual of making my bed (maybe because it is a struggle every morning and so I get so excited every time I do it)as much as I love and need to allow the process of my imagination to flow. It is, arguably, how we make sense of the world.
Furthermore, we need both. Life’s paths are not linear and I get a lot of comfort from the predictability of making my bed. But also, I can tell you that both as a neurodiverse person and also working with a neurodiverse population, we do not think linearly. And we need to be allowed the time and the space to imagine and write down the most biggest, ridiculous, most fun dreams without “planning” how we are going to get there. We will fly, obviously.
Looking for some support for both your imaginative and realistic goals this semester? Curious about coaching? Sign up for your complimentary destressify yourself session here.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!
Warmly,
Sarah Weidman
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