Tag: goal setting

The What-If List 2025

Let me explain why I created a what-if list instead of traditional goals – and why it might work better for fellow goal-setting avoiders.

An aversion to Goal Setting

As a former teacher turned instructional coach, I’m well-versed in SMART goals and their effectiveness. But let’s be honest – they’re about as exciting as those PLCs we all love to attend at 3pm, looking for cookies in the lounge to keep us awake.

These days, I’m more of a systems girl (thanks, James Clear). I’ve built habits that work, making traditional goal-setting feel like writing a grocery list of things I’m already buying.

Then comes January – gray, cold, and convincing me the sun has permanently ghosted my vitamin D-deprived skin. Cue the self-improvement podcast binge.

So here’s my compromise: I’m keeping my working systems (because they work), but I’m scratching that self-improvement itch differently this year. Forget goals – let’s talk about what-ifs.

Why What-If?

Last year, one of my friends called me an ask-hole, and it was one of the best compliments I’ve ever received.

In case your not twenty, an ask-hole is one of those people who keeps their hand up after the meeting time has ended, and prevents you from being able to escape, for eternity.

Asking questions is my calling card. You may notice the very name of my website is itself, a question. Meta.

Before you go pegging me as one of those dreadful types, I prefer to keep my what-if lenses rose colored. What-if’s can have a dark side, but those rarely lead to interesting solutions or creative new ideas.

The following are examples of regular What-If questions that randomly raise their hand in the meetings of my mind:

  • What if dinosaurs still lived in a swamp in Africa?
  • What if aliens landed in my backyard and wanted to hang out with me?
  • What if I have a magical talent, but no one could see it but me?

While the possibility of aliens choosing me out of 7 billion people feels exciting, I’m smart enough to know that I need to keep this within my sphere of control, so I ruled out any What-Ifs that would rely on other people, or aliens.

To take it to the next level of believability, I added the things I would have to believe and the skills I would need to develop to make these things a reality.

On to the list!

THE What-If List 2025!

What if I complete the first draft of my fiction novel by June of 2025?

What would I have to believe?

  • I will have to believe that writing fiction is actually more fun than it is hard.
  • I will have to believe that I am a creative person.
  • I will have to believe that as long as I sit down to write, the story will make its way onto the page.

What skills will I have to develop?

  • Remain consistent, writing at least 200 words every day until June.
What if I became so literate in AI that I could solve problems easily, and focus on elevating human skills as a thing of value?

What would I have to believe?

  • I will have to believe that I can learn AI in a way that is fun and purposeful.
  • I will have to believe that I can find AI tools that are built for solving the specific problems that I face.
  • I will have to believe that AI is going to change how we all work in positive ways.

What skills will I have to develop?

  • Learn which AI tools already exist and how they are solving problems similar to my own.
  • Practice using the AI tools in order to curate my favorites, while exploring new features.
What if I participated in a community of educational professionals working to make positive change in education at the policy level?

What will I have to believe?

  • I will have to believe that my unique perspectives and experiences are enough.
  • I will have to believe that I deserve a seat at the table.
  • I will have to believe that positive changes can be made in education at the policy level.

What skills will I have to develop?

  • Attend local meet-ups and events where I can network with local educators.
  • Participate in conversations on LinkedIn or other online forums with people who are already working to make changes.
  • Share insights and resources on this platform and grow my audience.
What if I started a podcast that was all about what-if questions, where I could talk about that time I really thought aliens did land in my backyard?

What will I have to believe?

  • I will have to believe that other people will want to listen to my crazy ideas.
  • I will have to believe that it is another way to build my platform and my creativity.
  • I will have to believe that it will be a fun way to learn and develop my skills.

What skills will I have to develop?

  • Learn how to podcast.
  • Ask other people to be on it.
  • Create a list of topics to talk about and a format for each episode.

How to Create Your Own What-If List

Step 1: Dream big. Try to imagine anything and everything that could possibly happen. If you can’t think of anything, get on social media. You will have a list of crazy things faster than you can say “Bigfoot made friends with my cat.”

Step 2: Narrow it down. Keep the funny ones for inspiration, but put them somewhere that you can look at them fondly, when you are procrastinating what you are actually supposed to be doing to make your what-ifs a reality.

Step 3: Dig deep. What are you going to have to believe about yourself and others to make your what-if possible? Be specific about the skills you need to develop in order to make the list easy.

Becoming Hospitable to Ideas for Writing

I am focusing most of my efforts this year on being hospitable,” the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, ” as defined by google. As the anxiety of what that statement will mean for me rises, I plan to practice this skill on ideas first, and people later.

May the Force be with you

Perhaps the reason I feel the need to be hospitable this year, is because I feel like something is coming. Something awesome. This is to be the year of the cinnamon roll, as I explained in my previous post.

On New Year’s Eve, I met a 7 year old boy, with a light saber, and a fresh padawan haircut. He told me to have a very happy new year. What happened next confirmed my suspicion that 2020 is going to be epic. I swear the he looked right into my soul and said, “May the Force be with you.” Oh yeah, and…. it was his birthday.

Now, there are too many incredible things about this to deny this was a specific message and blessing coming to me from a true Jedi in training. I mean, how is this different than if I had met a genuine medicine man, in Bali, reading my palm and proclaiming my future? It isn’t. Technically, only one of these things could actually happen in real life, as Elizabeth Gilbert described in Eat, Pray, Love.

According to Wookieepedia, a site I have recently discovered for all things Star Wars, when someone says “May the Force be with you,” they are wishing you well in the face of an impending challenge. I am wise enough to know that the year ahead is paved with boulders and sheer drop offs, so how to honor the blessing I received ?By getting organized and making a plan.

Creating a space

The writing nook formerly known as office closet

Goal setting reminds me a little too much about being SMART, and lets just say, I’m taking a little break from that for now. Instead, I’m choosing to focus on building habits. Creating a habit becomes so much easier when you set up a supportive environment.

Throughout life, I have always shared space with others. It seems like a luxury to have a whole room to myself. I mean a place to close the door and decorate the walls with whatever I want. So, I decided to give myself our office closet. It’s just big enough to be hospitable. Marion Roach Smith teaches that “being hospitable begins with preparing a clean, well-lighted desk, and reporting to it each day,” in her book The Memoir Project. The closet is all cleaned out, and ready to host lots of ideas.

My little closet will now and forever be lovingly referred to as the writing nook, which is just so much more inviting. For now, its an affordable space for ideas to stay on a budget. Hopefully, it will be renovated someday to a quaint cottage with a garden, or a mountain resort where ideas are making reservations in advance to make their way into my writing.

Value your work

Little ways of being hospitable to ideas

In spite of not having a “writing nook” over the past year, I have still established a writing habit. Spiral bound notebooks are the easiest for me to fill. They are cheap, and therefore less pressure, and they provide the space. I was being hospitable without even knowing it. It’s not like I was providing a bed and breakfast for ideas, but they could crash on my couch. I mean, I’m not a monster.

Most importantly, my new writing nook is not only a gift, but its physical proof of a promise I am making to myself. I can do this, my work is important. Heck, I’m using it right now to write this post. It’s quiet, and all my resources are handy. I know I don’t need the space to create. That in itself is proof that I can do this. I truly do have everything I need already inside me to become an author. Maybe it will even help me be more welcoming to people?

I am not a Jedi in training, nor is it my birthday. Maybe you are already hospitable to ideas and people. Still, I hope that whatever comes this year the Force will be with you.

Thanks for reading!