It’s once again that time of the month where I gush over the goals I managed to meet and make excuses for the ones I didn’t. Maybe that’s a bit hard on me. I don’t know. Let’s not over analyze and get into it.
So, How’d I Do?
I’ve been trying to focus on the idea of commitment that I talked about in my last accountability post, and that’s been really helpful for accomplishing my goals.
I wanted to remedy my lack of a pet, and I’ve done that. You can read all about my new doggie companion here. Mission accomplished, and I feel so much more fulfilled than I did without a dog.
I also wanted to prep for my September Story Challenge, which I did. By September 1st, I had 19 stories either completely ready to go or close enough that they’ll need only a quick revision before submitting. I didn’t write these all from scratch in August. I’m not that much of a writing beast. I wrote three new stories that I’m pretty happy with and brainstormed or partially wrote three more that I hope to complete during September. I also got my submission spreadsheet set up and researched the markets I wanted to submit to. So gold star on the writing front.
No progress on the job front.
Some progress on the socialization front. My therapist recommended that instead of looking to make friends, I should look to have positive social interactions. Framing it that way has taken a lot of the pressure and anxiety out of socializing (I mean, there’s still a lot of that involved, I am an autistic person with a severe anxiety disorder, after all). To that end, I reached out to a writer I know in Perth, and we were able to get together (although we technically met in September, but still, the planning happened in August). I also made sure to read this month’s book club book, so I couldn’t use not having finished the book as an excuse not to go. I finished the book, and I went to book club, and I had a good time. Gold star on the socializing front.
I didn’t set any house goals, but I did manage to finish unpacking the last three boxes from the move. Yay me!
Establishing little rewards for each goal/subcategory of goal was also really helpful. They’re little things, like a lip stick or a funko pop, but it’s amazing how motivating those little things can be (there’s also the added side benefit of cutting down on my impulse buying. Instead of buying a thing, I set it as a reward for a goal).
So, September?
My writing goal in September should be fairly obvious to anyone who’s been paying attention (sorry, was that snarky? That seemed snarky). Anyway, I plan to submit thirty times in thirty days. To be clear, that’s not thirty stories. I may be a fast writer but I highly don’t that I’ll be able to write eleven additional stories from scratch over the course of the next twenty-six days.
My socialization goal is to attend choir every week this month and to reach out to one acquaintence/friend to meet in person.
My dog goal is to get Eugene signed up for training and register him with the council.
My house goal is to work on developing some organizational systems for the cleaning supplies, bathrooms, and my sewing room. My mom recently introduced me to Cassandra Aarssen’s four types of clutterbug and I’ve learned that I’m a Bee, which pretty much means that I function best with a visual organization system that’s been micro-organized. This makes total sense to me and also explains why I’ve been struggling with organizing certain parts of our house.
My job goal will be to apply for fifteen jobs.
Since I’m behind on my reading goal, I’m also going to set one of those. According to Goodreads, I need to read 2.5 books a week for the rest of the year in order to reach my reading challenge. That would mean reading 12.5 books in September. That’s a bit excessive even for me, so I’m going to aim to read 8 books in September.
I’d also like to get at least one sewing project finished this month seeing as part of the unpacking I succeeded in completing was to unpack the rest of my sewing supplies. I’ll need to do a little organizing and rearranging of my sewing space to make it functional, but I think I’ll be able to get at least one thing done.
Rewards
I haven’t yet decided what my rewards will be for each goal. For some, the completion of the goal is a reward in and of itself, such as my sewing goal and doing anything related to Eugene. But for other goals, I need a little bit more motivation.
But I do think I need to establish some guidelines for these rewards. The rewards can’t be overly expensive. They have to be something I actually want, not an impulse buy retroactively made into a reward. They can’t take up to much space. They don’t necessarily have to be a materialistic good, for instance maybe a reward could be taking myself to see a movie. Anyway, it’s something I need to think about. If anyone has any suggestions for rewards/rules about rewards let me know in the comments.
Thank you for reading.
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