I recently saw a post on social media about how setting goals in January for the new year can be a tall order for some. It recommended checking in with yourself throughout the year or to set goals that are small and more manageable. 

The winter months, as we all know, typically feel “blah”. It’s challenging to crawl out of our cozy space and go to work, do the dishes, make dinner…let alone start a new habit or work towards a new goal. It’s also daunting to make goals we might not complete.

 After my two-week winter break, I was excited to get back to school and teach a mini lesson to my newspaper students about setting SMART goals for the new year.  Recently, having set my own goals for the New Year, I thought I was prepared for this mini-lesson. My students could set goals related to school and our newspaper, or the goals could be personal. They all seemed to take this assignment seriously, which was a relief. It felt almost symphonic to hear their pencils scratching across paper and the click of their computer keys in a silent room. As they diligently worked, I realized I hadn’t set “smart” New Year’s goals for myself. I scrapped my original resolutions, and in the spirit of testing out work I give my students, I sat down with them and created three new goals for myself. 

My first goal was to cook my way through an entire cookbook by the end of 2026.  Baking and cooking are necessities because my husband and I have to eat, but I have also found they are activities I look forward to. I partially think I enjoy it so much because it is science and formulaic. If school is crazy and I feel I have no control over what is going on, I can rely on the knowledge I get to go home and control what I create for a meal. If I brown some ground beef, boil lasagna noodles for a set amount of time, and then start layering tomato sauce, basil, cottage cheese, the noodles, ground beef, and sour cream, I can make my mom’s lasagna. I crinkle the tin foil over the pan, press “START” on the oven timer, and listen for the oven’s chime that its contents are now ready to eat. The outcome was completely in my control. This goal also provided me with two quick wins. Win number one, I had an excuse to go to Prairie Lights in Iowa City to browse the cookbook section. Win number two, I was fueling my body and my joy of cooking. I thought this fit SMART goals perfectly. I’d given myself a specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound task. By the end of 2026, I would cook my way through one cookbook of my choice, attempting new foods and recipes, to fuel my body and my joy of cooking. 

My second goal was to do something new or different once a month. I based this goal on the realization that I was rushing through life, reaching for the next “phase” or step. I’m twenty-six, which I know is still young, but I often feel like the years are flashing by, and I’m not always spending time enjoying the moment I’m in. During my second year of teaching, on an ordinary day, a sage 7th grader said to me, “Time is slower when you’re young because everything feels new. As you get older, it speeds up because you have more memories to look back on and compare life to.” I have to say I agree with him! I always thought time would slow down as I got older, yet every year seems to pass more quickly than the one prior. Sitting with my newspaper students that day, planning out my resolutions, I thought of an article I’d read the night before (and my sage 7th grader from Lone Tree). The article had said it was an investment in yourself to “rewire” your brain and try something new once a month, or if you’re ambitious, once a week. This helped you create “pinpoints” throughout the year that would slow you down and break up the monotony of day-to-day life. Much like when you are a young kid and have these new experiences all the time to make each day feel different and new. Trying something new each month would create that “pinpoint” I could look back at, get me out of the box I was comfortable in, and enjoy the “new”: a recipe (could tie in with my first goal), a restaurant, a hobby I’d been dying to try, hanging out with a colleague at work, or even just changing up the type of tea I drink in the mornings. Each month of 2026, I would push myself to try something unique and different, and by the end of the year, I’d have at least twelve wonderful new experiences to reflect on. 

The last goal I set (and maybe the most vague and difficult to follow through on) was “Be more patient and present. Don’t rush!” This fall, I went in for my annual check-up and was shocked to see my blood pressure much higher than usual. Considering my age and how I’ve been fortunate enough to never have any major health issues thus far in my life, I thought, “I’m too young for it to be that high; it must just be a fluke.” High blood pressure runs in my family history, though, and again, as I sat with my newspaper students thinking about goals I could set, I realized I often rush myself through tasks. This is especially true at school. I create self-imposed “deadlines” and worry about things I have little to no control over. Usually, I just did this at work, but I noticed it starting to bleed into my personal home life. During the summer, I slow down and rarely experience the stress I frequently feel during the school year. I recognized I needed to figure out how to slow down now, or my time spent in the profession I love will be short-lived. I will burn out. I’ve started to mindfully remind myself that if it doesn’t get done today, it will be there tomorrow. I still take work home more than I should. I still get worked up when the printer inevitably jams when I’m trying to make last-minute copies. I also still get a bit worked up when I’m running behind (I detest being late.) I’m not perfect, but I can proudly say that thinking, “Be more patient and present. Don’t rush”, every time I start to get worked up, honestly, has been wildly successful so far. Now, it’s only February… I still have the rest of 2026 to go, but I plan to keep mentally checking in with myself once a week to see if I am being present at home, more patient in general, and not pointlessly rushing myself. 

With two months of 2026 almost gone, my students reported their progress on their goals: solid. I was pleased to share with them that my progress was solid, too. I think the social media post I saw in January is right. Although setting goals can feel stressful from time to time, I’m thankful my new three goals so far this year have helped me find balance and joy again at school and home. All it took was doing my own assignment!