Two down and two to go!!

Time to reflect and review

 Despite my best efforts to slow down time, it's not worked; so here we are again, not only reflecting on quarter 2 of the year but also doing a half year review.  I mean come on, halfway through the freakin' year!!


I'll kick things off shall I, by bringing you up to speed on what's been happening in my life.  This is definitely a good way to keep accountable - tell someone your goals.  It's certainly worked for me as I knew I'd have to write this blog at some point and tell you lot!

 Woody's Goals
  1. Start a blog.  Obviously this goal is going really well because here you are reading it and thank you for all your lovely comments on how much you are enjoying it.  It's good to know that it's not just myself and Mr Bob who read it, although to be perfectly honest I'm not even sure he reads it - the support of a husband eh?  Actually, this should find him out because he'll either be highly offended that I've said he doesn't read it or I won't hear a peep and my fears will be confirmed.  
  2. Run a race every month during 2019.  A massive tick against this one.  May have gone a little bit overboard in June as I've done 6 races!!  Already got one booked in for July so need to find one for August and September.
  3. Learn how to use all the apps on my phone!  Still working my way through - I have quite a lot to get stuck into.  Over the last few months I've been finding out about Google add-ons and how to edit photos.  Being a total geek, I'm now slightly obsessed with watching YouTube videos on how to do these things.  
  4. Learn how to play the recorder.  I've decided that the signs were right and I'm not the slightest bit musical!!  However it's still good fun to belt out a tune every now and then, even if it does set off all the dogs barking within a 3 mile radius.  Still, it's not as bad as Mr Bob's singing (right, now we'll really see if he reads my blog!).
  5. Take my French to the next level.  Sadly, I've had no more trips to France since the last quarter so I'm patiently waiting for our holiday at the end of August.  I've continued with my lessons though and my French tutor has been emailing me homework like there's no tomorrow.  Sometimes she sends me video clips from French TV which I have to watch and then answer questions on - they really force me to listen and I have to watch them over and over before it starts to click in my brain.
Take a look back at my blog at the end of March about Q1, so that you can refresh yourself with how to do a review of the quarter and then you need to get stuck into doing a half year review.  Hopefully, your quarterly reviews will show that you've been making steady progress on your 2019 goals and, if not, then the half year review is a perfect time to re-evaluate and decide which ones to take forward and which ones you need to either put on hold or drop completely.


A few things to think about:
  • First of all, DO NOT use the word 'fail' or any such related words.  Some goals may not have gone to plan but under no circumstances have you 'failed'.  There's enough pressure in life without making ourselves believe we have 'failed' at something.  If you haven't achieved what you set out to do then there'll be a perfectly good reason why not, even if the plain hard truth is simply that you couldn't be bothered; in which case it's probably not the right time for you to pursue that particular goal.
  • Don't just look back at the times you didn't do something, ie, 'you didn't go to the gym for two weeks', 'you didn't make time to go for a walk at lunchtime'.  What DID you do?  It's so important to write down your achievements so you can look back at times like this and think 'oh yeah, I DID do that despite the circumstances'.
  • Where have you not made any progress?  Now is the time to delve deep into the reasons why.  There's absolutely no point in pursuing a goal if it's only making you feel guilty about not doing it.  Either re-evaluate and change the situation so you can achieve it or drop it completely and move on - without the guilt please!!
  • There may well be things that you've discovered over the past six months that you had no idea would happen when you set your goals.  For example, the training plan you set yourself in order to run a half marathon may have been too ambitious and you ended up with an injury.  Learn from this by focusing on quality sessions rather than quantity and ensure you build in more rest and recovery for the next time.
Only by looking back can you re-focus and look towards the future.  Write things down - I can't stress this enough.  You might feel a bit daft at first and self-conscious about writing down your achievements and the things that didn't go so well, but no-one needs to see this apart from you and it helps you put things into perspective.  When you look back at the things which didn't go to plan you'll either think "why on earth did I stress about that" or you'll have learnt important lessons on how to improve things going forward.  Likewise, when you look back at the things which did go well, you'll do so with a sense of pride knowing that you can achieve anything when you put your mind to it.  So don't be shy, write it down and get to know yourself. 


I'm going to leave it there this week and wish you all a 'happy half year' and see you next week in 'Jubilant July'!!

#jubilantjuly

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