Goals for a Productive Summer
It's been nigh on three weeks since I've darkened the door of this here blog, and there's not much I can really say about that except that being a college student is a full time job. Luckily I only have to endure it for 21 more school days, and 31 more days total.
It's great to think about all the possibilities that summer holds. All the opportunities for spending time with the people I love and doing fun things, and also the opportunities to do nothing at all and just veg out. But on the flip side I know that every summer I can remember, I've gotten to the end of it and kind of wished I had still done more. I don't know if this is a problem that I'll ever really be able to solve. Once you get done with school for the year, the motivation to be a productive human is like next to zilch.
That being said, there's nothing I do better than make goals and lists for myself that I may or may not actually be able to live up to! So even though when the time actually comes, I may completely ignore all of these lofty things I want to do with my summer, I still like to write them down. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, or maybe I'm just hopeful. Anyway, here are some of my goals for this summer which is THANKFULLY approaching quickly!
One-time Goals:
1. Clean out my email inboxes
It physically pains me when I see someone with a red bubble on their phone's email app that says 4,598 unread emails...but then again, my email inbox is not the prettiest either. Just because I open all my emails so I can get rid of the notifications doesn't mean I actually delete them in a timely fashion...plus I've been flagging emails left and right all year, but I just discovered you can actually set up your email to have folders and files and all this super nicely organized stuff! So I want to figure out how to do that and actually utilize it.
2. Actually put away all my stuff from my dorm
I feel like I have totally outgrown my room at home. I'm telling you, I just need my own house. But I won't let myself use that as an excuse to just not put away anything because it seems like there's "no room" for it. I'll be so much happier to have all my boxes and suitcases unpacked as soon as possible once I get home.
3. Purge my wardrobe and donate/sell clothes
You guys. I have a problem. I love clothes too much. And I wear only a fraction of my wardrobe. It's really bad. And I honestly purge my wardrobe like, more often than most people!!! And yet still it accumulates something awful! There are so many great places I could consign or donate my clothes! I will definitely be enlisting some friends to help with this project, because I need their tough love.
Continual Goals:
1. Wake up at the same time every week day (and possible early)
My sleep schedule this semester is wack. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, I don't even know when I get up...I guess like 8 usually? But sometimes my body just naturally wakes me up around 7 and I don't feel like going back to sleep. On Wednesdays and Fridays, I get up at 6 for my job which starts at 6:30. On Saturday I usually sleep in until like 8:30 or 9, and then on Sunday I get up at 8. It's honestly kinda all over the place. I want to try and set a specific time to get up and stick with it instead of just getting up when I "feel" like it. In a perfect world I would discipline myself to get up at 5:00am every day over the summer-- just imagine everything I could get done in a day!!! But in reality I might have to set my sights at like...7am? 7:30? We'll see.
2. Read my Bible ever day
I haven't been reading my Bible, like, at all lately. Except in church. Last year I was in such a good routine and read every single day and read the entire new testament! I would love to get back into that again, because I know I'm way happier when I read my Bible.
3. Exercise
I'm hoping to sign up for a swimming fitness class this summer, which would be a few days a week, (hopefully in the mornings to help me with my wake up goal!) Then on the off days, it would be nice to at least spend a few minutes stretching or jogging or even just dancing in my bedroom. I know I really need to exercise but I just never get around to it. Urg.
4. Healthier cooking
The great thing about home is that there's no dessert bar readily available after every meal. The not so great thing about home is that shopping for and keeping fresh fruits and vegetables around the house is actually pretty difficult. Still, I want to get in the habit of doing it because over the summer I typically do a bulk of the cooking, which I enjoy, but I don't want it all to just be heavy, comfort foods, even though those taste the best and can be the most fun to make. My body will thank me if I give it some greens.
5. Practice Spanish!!!
You guys, I am so terrified of going to Costa Rica (oh yeah, I'm going to Costa Rica next January) and not knowing any Spanish and getting judged or shnookered or just having people be annoyed at me for not knowing the language. So I really need to actually make an effort to remember what I previously learned, and learn new stuff too.
6. Use planner
I would be dead if I didn't use a planner/calendar app at college. So why should I stop planning my life out over the summer? It's super helpful and keeps me organized, so I should extend that to summer even if I don't necessarily have as much stuff going on. It'll just keep all my ducks in a row! Plus I got a super cute planner a few weeks ago at WalMart, and I want to start using it now, and not just wait around until the school year starts.
7. Limit media consumption and tech usage
This is a biggie. I do not want to be a couch (or bed) potato this summer. I love movies and tv shows, so don't get me wrong, I'm not going cold turkey. I don't know if I really ever could...but I definitely don't want movies to consume my life this summer. And going back to practicing Spanish, it would be nice to try and watch Spanish movies and tv shows over the summer to help me practice. But I definitely need to be strict with myself and set a cap on my media consumption or I won't get anything productive done this summer.
8. READ!!!!
Summer is really the only time I actually get time to sit down and read whole books. There are so many I need to catch up on and I'm really excited about it. But I know how easy it is to say I'm going to read, and then just do something else instead. I don't want to do that.
Hopefully these goals aren't too lofty, and hopefully when I revisit this post at the end of the summer, I won't have to hang my head in shame. I really just want to get the most out of my summer as I possibly can, and there's so many little and big things I want to do! Here's to a summer of actually doing all the stuff I say I want to!
VaughnDL
It's great to think about all the possibilities that summer holds. All the opportunities for spending time with the people I love and doing fun things, and also the opportunities to do nothing at all and just veg out. But on the flip side I know that every summer I can remember, I've gotten to the end of it and kind of wished I had still done more. I don't know if this is a problem that I'll ever really be able to solve. Once you get done with school for the year, the motivation to be a productive human is like next to zilch.
That being said, there's nothing I do better than make goals and lists for myself that I may or may not actually be able to live up to! So even though when the time actually comes, I may completely ignore all of these lofty things I want to do with my summer, I still like to write them down. Maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, or maybe I'm just hopeful. Anyway, here are some of my goals for this summer which is THANKFULLY approaching quickly!
One-time Goals:
1. Clean out my email inboxes
It physically pains me when I see someone with a red bubble on their phone's email app that says 4,598 unread emails...but then again, my email inbox is not the prettiest either. Just because I open all my emails so I can get rid of the notifications doesn't mean I actually delete them in a timely fashion...plus I've been flagging emails left and right all year, but I just discovered you can actually set up your email to have folders and files and all this super nicely organized stuff! So I want to figure out how to do that and actually utilize it.
2. Actually put away all my stuff from my dorm
I feel like I have totally outgrown my room at home. I'm telling you, I just need my own house. But I won't let myself use that as an excuse to just not put away anything because it seems like there's "no room" for it. I'll be so much happier to have all my boxes and suitcases unpacked as soon as possible once I get home.3. Purge my wardrobe and donate/sell clothes
You guys. I have a problem. I love clothes too much. And I wear only a fraction of my wardrobe. It's really bad. And I honestly purge my wardrobe like, more often than most people!!! And yet still it accumulates something awful! There are so many great places I could consign or donate my clothes! I will definitely be enlisting some friends to help with this project, because I need their tough love.
Continual Goals:
1. Wake up at the same time every week day (and possible early)
My sleep schedule this semester is wack. On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, I don't even know when I get up...I guess like 8 usually? But sometimes my body just naturally wakes me up around 7 and I don't feel like going back to sleep. On Wednesdays and Fridays, I get up at 6 for my job which starts at 6:30. On Saturday I usually sleep in until like 8:30 or 9, and then on Sunday I get up at 8. It's honestly kinda all over the place. I want to try and set a specific time to get up and stick with it instead of just getting up when I "feel" like it. In a perfect world I would discipline myself to get up at 5:00am every day over the summer-- just imagine everything I could get done in a day!!! But in reality I might have to set my sights at like...7am? 7:30? We'll see.2. Read my Bible ever day
I haven't been reading my Bible, like, at all lately. Except in church. Last year I was in such a good routine and read every single day and read the entire new testament! I would love to get back into that again, because I know I'm way happier when I read my Bible.
3. Exercise
I'm hoping to sign up for a swimming fitness class this summer, which would be a few days a week, (hopefully in the mornings to help me with my wake up goal!) Then on the off days, it would be nice to at least spend a few minutes stretching or jogging or even just dancing in my bedroom. I know I really need to exercise but I just never get around to it. Urg.4. Healthier cooking
The great thing about home is that there's no dessert bar readily available after every meal. The not so great thing about home is that shopping for and keeping fresh fruits and vegetables around the house is actually pretty difficult. Still, I want to get in the habit of doing it because over the summer I typically do a bulk of the cooking, which I enjoy, but I don't want it all to just be heavy, comfort foods, even though those taste the best and can be the most fun to make. My body will thank me if I give it some greens.
5. Practice Spanish!!!
You guys, I am so terrified of going to Costa Rica (oh yeah, I'm going to Costa Rica next January) and not knowing any Spanish and getting judged or shnookered or just having people be annoyed at me for not knowing the language. So I really need to actually make an effort to remember what I previously learned, and learn new stuff too.
6. Use planner
I would be dead if I didn't use a planner/calendar app at college. So why should I stop planning my life out over the summer? It's super helpful and keeps me organized, so I should extend that to summer even if I don't necessarily have as much stuff going on. It'll just keep all my ducks in a row! Plus I got a super cute planner a few weeks ago at WalMart, and I want to start using it now, and not just wait around until the school year starts.This is a biggie. I do not want to be a couch (or bed) potato this summer. I love movies and tv shows, so don't get me wrong, I'm not going cold turkey. I don't know if I really ever could...but I definitely don't want movies to consume my life this summer. And going back to practicing Spanish, it would be nice to try and watch Spanish movies and tv shows over the summer to help me practice. But I definitely need to be strict with myself and set a cap on my media consumption or I won't get anything productive done this summer.
8. READ!!!!Summer is really the only time I actually get time to sit down and read whole books. There are so many I need to catch up on and I'm really excited about it. But I know how easy it is to say I'm going to read, and then just do something else instead. I don't want to do that.
Hopefully these goals aren't too lofty, and hopefully when I revisit this post at the end of the summer, I won't have to hang my head in shame. I really just want to get the most out of my summer as I possibly can, and there's so many little and big things I want to do! Here's to a summer of actually doing all the stuff I say I want to!
VaughnDL
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