How Many Months to Go?

7 Kamal 163 B.E. - August 7, 2006

At one of my e-mail address I receive a self-improvement newsletter, this particular newsletter gives journal exercises in each issue. I think that's why I requested the newsletter in the beginning. Sometimes I have problems coming up with themes or subject for my blogs (yes I said blogs, but that's another entry). Anyway, the newsletter that arrive today had an exercise concerning what I wanted to achieve between now and the end of the year. There are five months left until December 31, 2006. However, I don't celebrate January 1, 2007 as the new year, the new year I celebrate i Naw-Ruz, which falls on March 21, 2007 and on that date I will celebrate the year 164 B.E.

The exercise in the newsletter was a three part exercise consisting of stating what I wanted to accomplish between now and the end of the year. The first part of the exercise ask for a list of things to accomplish between now and December 31, 2006. I'm changing that to what do you want to accomplish between now and Naw-Ruz? Next it ask for what difficulties you need to overcome to accomplish these goal. The third part ask for what actions are you going to take to overcome the difficulties. So here goes my three lists. (There's nothing like posting your goal and difficulties on a blog where more then a million total strangers can see and comment on them.)

What do I want to accomplish between now and Naw-Ruz, March 21, 2007?

1. Complete my Masters Degree in Educational Technology.
2. Become a published author.
3. Complete the Ruhi Institute series of courses
4. Pay off my bills.

What difficulties do I need to overcome to accomplish these goals?

1. I am a procrastinator, so I must over come the tendency to put things off.
2. I am a worrier, I worry if i don't have anything to worry about and worry causes me to find obstacles where there are none.
3. I see the obstacles in the way of accomplishment rather than look for the path over, under, through, or around it.
4. I am inclined to focus on one thing until it is complete, this works well if one has only a single thing to accomplish, but it doesn't work very well with multiple deadlines or goals.

What actions am I going to take to overcome the difficulties?

1. Say the Tablet of Ahmad everyday, when I say this prayer I can handle difficulties much better and don't focus on the difficulties.
2. Write an action plan with the steps necessary to accomplish each goal.
3. Work on each item a little bit each day or each week rather than focusing exclusively on one goal for weeks or months at a time.
4. Step back from the obstacle and see if I can find another approach.