I used to think that my lack of organization was only because of school, and how much I didn't like it, BUT over the past two years I've realized that isn't the case. My intentions are great, I try to be organized. Like the quote below says, I love all of those things that should add up to an organized life, so much so that either my family and friends pull me from office and school supply isles or I'll spend $50 on highlighters and portfolios without even thinking twice. Don't get me wrong it isn't that I forget the important stuff (school, work, volunteering, events, etc.), but I desperately want a way to avoid the daily chaos in my mind and the 20 to-do lists in my purse. After trying agendas, online calendars, printable forms, and just the good old scrap pieces of paper, I've decided to give a new idea a whirl.. goal journaling. So what is this goal journaling..and why am I trying it..? I think by now we have all seen the new bullet journaling and the creative "make your own" type journals/agendas people are using, and, well, I'm just not that dedicated. Nor do I want to take the time and creativity to literally color a picture around my to-do lists every. single. day. - I do like the idea of a journal though, they're smaller, they can be more personal, more creative, and they can be as broad or detailed as you want. My idea with "goal journaling" is to combine a personalized journal and planner and to get better at goal setting. Seriously, listen to people who set daily or weekly goals and how they think it's helped them. You'll want to join in on it too. Goal oriented people are better at managing their time and their priorities. Instead of just dealing with each day as it comes, they have a plan, or at least a few things that they want to accomplish each day. There can still be room for spontaneity and changing plans, but think of it in these ways.. Is writing a paper easier if you just wing it or if you have an outline of ideas? Sure, I've "winged" plenty of papers, but if I have an outline it's usually a better paper. Meetings can be another example. If you go into a meeting with a blank sheet and try to accomplish whatever comes to your mind, you're likely to miss some things, but if you have an agenda or topics to cover you get more accomplished and cover everything you need to cover. At least with my experience that's how it has gone. So, if I can get more accomplished, manage time better, & plan out my days, I'm all for trying it! My layout for my "journal" is pretty simple (I'm sure there will be edits to this template i've created). The date is at the top, then a list of 3-6 goals/to-dos for the day. After this list I've incorporated a motivational quote, or just a quote that I like for the day. The bottom third of the page is split and one part has "accomplishments", which I fill out at the end of the day when I make the next day journal page, and the other part is my blogging plans. I've kind of fallen behind with my blog posts and I hope that if I dedicate a single area to blog planning it will get me back on track. - Like I mentioned, I think I will do my goal journaling the night before. I'm not a morning person, there is no way I'm waking up early to do this, so i mine as well make it a nightly routine right? I can recap the day and fill out the "accomplishments" section and then set goals for the next day. I also like that I'll be picking a new quote each night before I go to bed. Trust me, it will stick with me better the night before than it would if I tried to remember something at 7am.. Again, not a morning person.. I'm betting that there are more people than just me who have every intention of being organized and are wanting to improve on this aspect of their life, so that's why I'm sharing this adventure (yep, adventure ;P)! I'll give it a try for awhile and then share what I like and don't like, learned, and have improved or not improved on, throughout the process! - UPDATE: Check out Goal Journaling, the First Update! for how my goal journal is working for me! If you try the bullet journaling and love it, props to you (and teach me your ways!!), but I'm hoping that goal journaling might be a good substitute for me! -- Click here to read a post from White Petal Travels about bigger picture goal setting! -- As always, have comments? Questions? Ideas?
Leave them below! I'd love to hear from y'all!!
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Wanting to go to Graduate School? Trying to make a decision on where to go? Been there, doing that! Here are some of the steps I've taken on my path to research and hopefully make a decision. 1. Program: What program do you want? For me, I knew I wanted something with sport in the title. I began my search for sport management, sport administration, and sport and entertainment management programs. - Google the program you want and find a list, I used an NASSM website for my search, but I also searched things like "SEC schools with sport management master's programs" 2. Location: I do not like the cold. Snow..ice.. winter weather of any sort.. yeah none of those things are things I enjoy. Therefore, every school I've looked into has been south of the University of Missouri. There are some really good programs that maybe I should have looked into, but I just don't want to spend 2 years in a cold place. - In addition to weather, I also looked at D-1 schools and as I narrowed down my search and decided I'd like to be a GA in an athletic department, my search became more geared towards SEC and Big 12 Schools. 3. Curriculum: Most of the schools I looked at had at least some of their required classes on their websites. Some Sport Management programs are within colleges of science and kinesiology, and had a lot more classes based on the science of sport. Not exactly what I'm interested in, so I put them toward the bottom of my list or removed them completely. 4. What do they offer?: Not that every school's website tells the whole story, but I would suggest doing your research online. See what they talk about on their website, how many faculty members they have, what it has to say about graduate assistants, do they host any conferences, is an alumni base mentioned, or anything else you can find. 5. Faculty: I didn't go crazy LinkedIn stalking professors or anything, but some people do. You can look at what kind of research they do, where they got their degrees from, and how many there are in a department. Instead of doing a lot of research, I emailed departments or visited them. Asked some questions and asked for curriculum lists, fliers, etc. It allowed me to introduce myself to faculty as well. 6. Spreadsheets: Spreadsheets have been helpful because it has been the way I have organized information and easily been able to compare schools. You can label them and separate the whatever way works best for you, no way is right or wrong! 7 Communicating: Talking to people about my interests and grad school has really benefitted me in a lot of ways. Not only did I get advice and different point of views, but I also learned about connections that I never knew were there. Many of my professors, mentors, bosses, and friends knew people at the universities I have researched and either gave me their names or told me things I never would have known otherwise. It was definitely one of those times that even though I didn't want to bother people, I am glad that I asked for help and discussed my interests with people. If you have questions leave them below! Or if you have done a grad school search and have more tips leave them below as well!
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