Summer and goals – Making them work together

We may not have reached the calendar’s “first day of summer” yet, but the season is here in full force. It turns out that this season that many look forward to, is one of the most difficult times for staying on task with goals. When you start adding children being out of school, vacations, visiting friends and family and the many other distractions that summer can bring, it becomes more difficult to stick with routines. There are a few options that can help you get through the summer.

One commonly used option which allows you to keep your sanity is to take a summer break. This is helpful in that you don’t have worry about keeping up with a schedule while enjoying your summer. You have the freedom to go with the flow but unfortunately you are also falling out of your rhythm, which can impact your ability to get back on track after the summer. Another negative impact of this option is that you are not progressing toward your goal. While it is a tempting prospect, it may also result in having to restart on your journey and lose the momentum you that you have built.

The option that most people attempt to employ is to keep working with their schedule. What this does is place you in a position where you are likely to be over extended as you work to keep working toward your goal while keeping up with some of the summer fun. Unfortunately, since you are not getting any more hours in your day to attend to new activities, you’ll find yourself not fully partaking in any of the many activities you have to engage in.

Those who try to keep working and forego the summer fun are also doing themselves a disservice by denying themselves desired and needed social interactions. Would you really want to stay home while the family’s at the beach? This is likely to leave you frustrated and could even lead you to resent the goal you are working toward. Such decisions can cause you to lose focus or desire to pursue your goal.

Another option is to adjust the plan and make your objectives and activities more summer-friendly. Of-course this will often mean that you may be reducing the amount of work that you are doing during the season, but that’s ok. Stressing over missing summer would probably have reduced your productivity even more. By adjusting your plan, you can still set and attain specific benchmarks and make progress toward your goal while enjoying a fun-filled summer.

When adjusting your plan here are a few helpful tips to remember

• Set a schedule ahead of time. Know who’s coming, where you’re going, as well as what you want to do and when. By making a plan of activities and trips that you want to partake in, you will be able to organize your schedule for work around them.
• Don’t miss benchmarks. Once you start to miss your benchmarks for meeting objectives it becomes easier to miss other ones. When things come up and you have to adjust the new plan, do so, but ALWAYS reschedule missed work.
• Use alternating intervals and rewards. Instead of stacking all the work at once it’s most effective to have a balanced interchange. Using these summer activities as rewards for reaching your benchmarks is also very effective

Remember. While it is important to make sacrifices to reach your goals, it’s also important that you maintain your physical and mental/emotional health. Partaking in life affirming activities is a necessity just as eating is. Overexertion can lead to burnout, which may not fully appear until the dreary winter days. Burnout can even lead to clinical depression, which you really don’t want to have to deal with on your journey to success. The most effective method for preventing burnout is having and good balance of life affirming activities- yes, having fun. Take good care of yourself so that you can attain and enjoy the fruits of your realized goals.

I’m just saying though…
Dream Big… Live Bigger…
DrJudiC
www.DrJudiC.com