A year ago... I set my intentions for the year ahead. While many people call this setting a resolution...I call it setting an intention. A former colleague and mentor of mine, Brian Heffernan wisely challenges his junior and senior high school students with the question:
Last December, I sat down and asked myself where I saw myself in twelve months. What are my intentions? Resolutions don't fail because because people don't try, resolutions fail because people fail to plan how they're going to achieve their goal. Intentions remind us what the goal is. The goal reminds us that we need a plan, and the plan helps us achieve the goal.
So did I meet the expectations set for my intention? More importantly did I make my goal?
My biggest goals for 2014 were as follows:
Becoming a Lead Teacher In June 2014, after two amazing years at Hingham High School, I resigned from my position as a TA, and accepted a full time teaching position at a school for Autism. While the experience helped me grow as an individual, it was not where I saw myself long term. I held it out through the end of September, when I accepted a full-time job teaching Moderate Special Education (Math) in North Carolina. While I miss my kids at HHS tremendously, it has been a wonderful experience, so far, teaching my own class. I learn just as much (if not more) from teaching my kids everyday, and it is a very rewarding career.
Run Stronger A lot of people probably wonder what the measure of achievement is for a goal like this. For me, it was to run strong, and not necessarily faster. Lucky for me, stronger did in fact mean faster. I PR'd my half marathon this year, running 13.1 miles in 1:55 minutes---shaving an incredible 9 minutes off my former PR of 2:04. Words can't describe how ecstatic I was crossing the finish line, and being able to share that experience with my roommate, Nicole who surprised me at the finish line.
Run 26.2 In October I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. While I didn't set out to achieve it in any specific time, I aimed (uninjured) at finishing in 4:00:00 & under, and (injured) 4:30:00. Just three weeks out from running the Marathon, I became injured. Finishing at 4:43 for a first marathon---injured, I'm feeling pretty good about next year's running season.
VERDICT
While I am not still actively training clients, and while I've transitioned from one teaching job to another in search for the "perfect" fit, I still feel great about all that I'd set out to accomplish over the last year. I feel good about the intentions that I set, and satisfied with having met the goals I set out to achieve a year ago. Intentions and goals are made to be realistic, if you have a goal and a plan, and the right amount of motivation--anything is possible. Don't be afraid of putting yourself out there and failing. Be afraid of not putting yourself out there without a plan and failing.
"Where are you going and how are you going to get there? It doesn't matter where you're going, you've got to have a plan, and then a back up for that plan when things don't go your way, and a back up for that back up."Brian always has a way of forcing people to think beyond the chaos. When a hell storm comes roaring your way, you've still always got to have a plan of what it is you're trying to accomplish, and what your plan of attack is going to be.
Last December, I sat down and asked myself where I saw myself in twelve months. What are my intentions? Resolutions don't fail because because people don't try, resolutions fail because people fail to plan how they're going to achieve their goal. Intentions remind us what the goal is. The goal reminds us that we need a plan, and the plan helps us achieve the goal.
So did I meet the expectations set for my intention? More importantly did I make my goal?
My biggest goals for 2014 were as follows:
- Becoming a Personal Trainer
- Gaining employment as a Lead Teacher
- Run Stronger
- Running my first full Marathon
Becoming a Lead Teacher In June 2014, after two amazing years at Hingham High School, I resigned from my position as a TA, and accepted a full time teaching position at a school for Autism. While the experience helped me grow as an individual, it was not where I saw myself long term. I held it out through the end of September, when I accepted a full-time job teaching Moderate Special Education (Math) in North Carolina. While I miss my kids at HHS tremendously, it has been a wonderful experience, so far, teaching my own class. I learn just as much (if not more) from teaching my kids everyday, and it is a very rewarding career.
Run Stronger A lot of people probably wonder what the measure of achievement is for a goal like this. For me, it was to run strong, and not necessarily faster. Lucky for me, stronger did in fact mean faster. I PR'd my half marathon this year, running 13.1 miles in 1:55 minutes---shaving an incredible 9 minutes off my former PR of 2:04. Words can't describe how ecstatic I was crossing the finish line, and being able to share that experience with my roommate, Nicole who surprised me at the finish line.
Run 26.2 In October I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. While I didn't set out to achieve it in any specific time, I aimed (uninjured) at finishing in 4:00:00 & under, and (injured) 4:30:00. Just three weeks out from running the Marathon, I became injured. Finishing at 4:43 for a first marathon---injured, I'm feeling pretty good about next year's running season.
VERDICT
While I am not still actively training clients, and while I've transitioned from one teaching job to another in search for the "perfect" fit, I still feel great about all that I'd set out to accomplish over the last year. I feel good about the intentions that I set, and satisfied with having met the goals I set out to achieve a year ago. Intentions and goals are made to be realistic, if you have a goal and a plan, and the right amount of motivation--anything is possible. Don't be afraid of putting yourself out there and failing. Be afraid of not putting yourself out there without a plan and failing.
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