Heard it on the Podcast - December 17, 2025

  

 

 

Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. 

17-DEC-2025

S5E51: Richard Webster: How to Write Your Own Magic (Part 2)

What does it really mean to “tell the Universe” what you want—and how is that different from wishful thinking? Drawing from Webster’s practical mysticism, we discuss intention as a living conversation, not a one-time request, and how clarity, belief, and emotional alignment shape what we attract.

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

Here are the links from this episode:

• Listen to Part 1 of Richard Webster: How to Write Your Own Magic
• Cultivate What Matters
• A brief announcement from us about Cultivate What Matters
• SMART Goals
• Insight Timer
• Om Mani Padme Hum - how to pronounce it

If you liked today's episode, you might like some of these episodes and blog posts:

• Listen to the Modern Musings Episode about SMART Goals
• Read our blog posts: 
• Amber: S.M.A.R.T. Goals for Everyone
• Christen: S.M.A.R.T. Start to the Year
• Cindy: Making S.M.A.R.T. Goals Happen: 5 Ways to Track Your Progress
• You can also check out our whole series called "Goals, Girl!" on YouTube and on our blog using the following tags:
• goal-setting
• goals
• goalsgirl 
• goalsgirlfriend 
• S.M.A.R.T. goals

Don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think! 

Heard it on the Podcast -- November 20, 2024

 

 

 

Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. Here's the links for this week:

20-NOV-2024

S4E47: End-of-Year Goals Wrap-Up

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

• The 70% Method episode
• The 70% rule blog posts
• SMART Goals on the Modern Musings Blog
• SMART Goals episode
• SMART Goals worksheet
• Big Hairy Audacious Goals
• Personal Values episode (October 11, 2023)
• Personal Manifesto Modern Musings blog post
• Personal Values Worksheet
• Backwards Planning: a great explanation on YouTube
• HARD Goals:  Summaries.com
• Bubble Map or Mind Map: Miro.com

Don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think!

 

The Ongoing Battle I Fight

Let me get one thing straight before I begin: I LOVE FOOD. My whole life I have been a foodie. I know this may sound weird because I grew up in a small town and the opportunities to try new things were limited. But I collected cookbooks and watched food shows dreaming of food adventures. We would eat at a “fancy” restaurant twice a year for my mom’s birthday and again on Mother’s Day, and I was always adventurous. Nowadays, eating adventurously is the norm for me, especially since my boyfriend of nine months is a chef. However, there’s one problem… I love food, but food does not love me.

Let’s talk genetics. Can we fight genetics? It’s similar to fate, right? I talked about my genetics in a previous blog and how unfortunate they were. For many years, being fat has been equated with being lazy or unhealthy. I can imagine people thinking “all she probably does is sit around and eat.” Until about 20 years ago, genetics wasn’t considered a reason some people were obese, especially healthy and athletic people. According to the article “Obesity and Genetics: Nature and Nurture,” about 43% of the population have the FTO gene that “predisposes them to gain excess weight.” In other words, if you are not careful to balance your life choices, you could easily gain weight. I used to joke that if I even looked at food, I would gain weight. If you looked at my family, you would see that many of them have fought the battle and lost.

These days, it is all about female empowerment and fat acceptance. Women are freer with their bodies, and they no longer feel like they need to cover up or wear a wardrobe that hides their curves. Growing up in small-town Texas, that wasn’t always the case. My grandmother saw early on that I had the predisposition to be a bigger child and she tried her hardest to steer me in the right direction. By the time I hit middle school, I had been through so many fad diets, and it grew worse as I got older. Aside from my weight gain, it was always a struggle to find nice outfits for a large female that weren’t geared toward an older woman. When I hit high school, I had no fashion sense. I wore “big and tall” t-shirts and bike shorts from the men’s section or oversized shirts with outdated flowers from the women’s department. The closest plus-size store for women was three hours away from where I lived, and we could only afford to drive that far once a year. A single shirt there usually cost around $50 and my family struggled financially, so, I made do.

Despite being overweight and bullied for it growing up, I was a pretty athletic child. The only sport I didn’t play (because it wasn’t offered) was soccer. I was even part of a running club in school called the “Elite Fleet.” None of this athleticism helped me lose weight. Aside from genetics, my family was poor, so we didn’t have the healthiest diet. My mom worked two jobs and oftentimes chose McDonald’s or cup noodles over cooking meals at home. If my mom worked late, I usually had cereal for dinner. Needless to say, my childhood was carb-heavy.

Because I was athletic and healthy, I maintained my weight throughout high school and continued to be pushed through fad diets by my grandma. For example, I was taken to weight-loss seminars, and hypnotherapists, and I was even taken to get my ear stapled once because it was said that the ear staple curbs hunger. According to the Mayo Clinic, “proponents of ear stapling claim that the staples stimulate a pressure point that controls appetite, leading to weight loss.” However, the Mayo Clinic says that ear stapling probably won’t work and it may cause ear infections. As I grew older, I developed a sense of body dysmorphia and depression that led to secret binge eating. I began to feel ashamed of my body, which worsened my depression and binge eating.

Throughout my life, I tried a few diets that did work, but they were never long-term solutions. For example, I tried Weight Watchers twice in my life, and both times it worked well. Weight Watchers is all about accountability and fellowship. If you are not familiar with the concept, you track your food using a point system. You go to weekly meetings and have weekly weigh-ins. The meetings and the weigh-ins held me accountable, and I lost weight doing the program. Unfortunately, programs like Weight Watchers can be costly, and after a time on the program, I wasn’t able to afford it anymore. I tried to keep up with the principles after I left the program, but the accountability was what originally kept me on the diet, and once on my own, I eventually lost my way.

Other diets/weight loss tricks I have tried unsuccessfully:

• Am 300
• Garcinia Cambogia
• Stacker 3000
• Adkins Diet
• Genesis Diet
• Juice Diet
• Herbalife
• Levell

 

In 2018, I started a low carbohydrate diet. The bane of my existence has always been sweets. Both of my parents were diabetic, and I knew I was headed toward that path. A low carbohydrate diet has been the most successful diet that I have been on to date. I don’t consider it a diet but more of a lifestyle change. I cut back drastically on eating sweets and added sugars, I focus mostly on getting protein in my diet and leafy green vegetables but that was only the stepping stone on my path to better health. I was slowly losing weight but not quick enough to better my health. 

 

My doctor suggested I have bariatric surgery and it was the hardest thing a binge eater could do, both emotionally and psychologically, which I will talk about in a future blog. Post-surgery I have consistently kept a low-carbohydrate diet and I have been successful at losing and maintaining since surgery, but every day is a constant struggle to go back to my comfort zone.

Things I do to try and maintain and continue to lose weight:

• Meal replacement shakes: This is mainly to keep my protein up, but a high protein shake in the morning helps me have a great start to my day.
• Small meals instead of large ones: Before surgery, I preferred to eat this way as well. If I eat small meals, I can maintain my energy and stay more alert.
• Limit what I drink to mostly water: I try to drink as much water as I can throughout the day. If I drink something besides water, it will be coffee or tea. Getting enough water is important to me because I feel crappy if I don’t drink enough of it.
• Cheat days are okay: One thing I’ve learned over the years is that an extremely strict diet will only backfire. So, I reward myself occasionally.
• If you fall off the wagon, pick yourself up: Every day is a new day! Don’t beat yourself up for gaining a pound or giving in and eating that slice of cake. You can start again tomorrow.
• Stay active even for a little bit: As a teacher, I move around a lot at work, which keeps me active. When I worked from home during quarantine, it was hard to stay active while sitting at a desk all day. Even if you just walk a little bit, staying active is important.

In conclusion, I am still learning the ins and outs of my body as I gain, lose, or maintain. There is never an exact science to weight loss that I have found. There also isn’t a quick fix. My best advice is to stay positive and always leave room for self-care. One of the biggest things I’ve learned throughout this journey is to love myself and the mess my body is and to strive for inner peace and not perfection.

I want to hear from our readers. What diets have you tried and failed at? Do you have any tips and tricks you would like to share? Let’s continue the conversation in the comments and on our Facebook Group: MMC Chat.

Out With the Old

It’s the summer of 2014 and I’m standing in the house I grew up in amongst the trash and remnants of my childhood. I feel sadness about the years of neglect as the last of the boxes are hastily packed in a moving truck and carted off to storage. When does a bit of clutter turn into the tendency to hoard?

Hoarding is the difficulty of parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. When we think of hoarding, we often think of the popular television show that airs on A&E. Those, of course, are extreme cases of hoarding. I never thought that it could run in my family. However, according to Psychiatry.org, hoarding does run in the family, and I fight my tendency to hoard constantly because I love to shop. That summer, my dad was downsizing from a three-bedroom house to a two-bedroom apartment, and I discovered that my parents kept everything. They never threw anything away. As I was going through 20-year-old bills and throwing away food that was years out of date, I thought to myself that I would never become a hoarder to this extent.

Boy, was I wrong!

At the time, my mom explained to me the sentimentality of 40 plus years of marriage, and how one just “collects” things over the years. Yeah, I got that, but I only had a few possessions that I could never get rid of. I will admit that I am a book hoarder; I’ve kept every book that I ever read, and carried every book (including a dictionary collection) with me every time I moved once I turned 18 – and I moved every two years. I couldn’t fathom hoarding bills and receipts as my mom had done. I regularly shredded my mail. I have never been a fan of clutter, but it was something I dealt with growing up. I always remembered our house being so full of things that it was oftentimes hard to walk through.

As an adult, I thought I was done with the clutter and the hoarding, but then I married a hoarder. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my ex-husband did little things that bothered me, like never throwing away trash, and it reminded me of my dad in the sense that he didn’t throw away trash either. They say women tend to marry their fathers, and I felt like I was always picking up after both of them. Throughout our relationship, my ex and I also began to pick up clutter and possessions. After we moved from a three-bedroom house to a two-bedroom, I realized that we had become hoarders. We kept everything that anyone had ever given us, and it was hard to neatly organize our living space.

When quarantine hit in 2020, I suddenly had to teach from home, and I found I had no space in which to even set up a desk. My ex-husband and I had so much stuff that we were navigating through little trails to get through our house and the piled-up boxes. Deja vu. After our separation, I made some SMART goals that would get me through 2021 and one of them was to get rid of the clutter.

Christen gave me some sage advice when I started the process. She quoted Marie Kondo, “look at everything and ask yourself, ‘does this make me happy?’” So, I did. It took me three months and about 10 trips to the thrift store to downsize my life after my divorce. I went through every possession I owned and considered whether it made me happy. When I was done, I no longer felt like a hoarder. I felt great…accomplished.

So, why does getting rid of stuff feel so good?

According to the article “Why Getting Rid of Stuff Feels So Good” by Shifrah Combiths, there are several reasons why getting rid of stuff makes us feel so good, but the reason that resonates with me the most is that “separating from the past can heal” and that is what I did. I hung on to so many things because there was a sentimental value attached to them. I didn’t want to get rid of certain things because “my mom gave it to me” or “my dad used it” at this certain time. But, I realized that possessions aren’t memories, and I can still keep the memories of my parents within me without keeping every single thing that they owned. That, in itself, was freeing.

So, whenever I tend to hoard or my house gets to the point where the clutter is out of control, I remember that moment I had eight years ago when I realized that there is such a thing as “too much.”

Are you a clutter bug? Are there things that you keep and you don’t know why? Let me know in the comments, and let’s continue the conversation in our Facebook Group.

You can find Marie Kondo’s website here.

Inspiration in the Classroom

This coming week’s topic is about Vision Boards and this year I've used a different variation of a vision board in my classroom to inspire my students to realize their SMART Goals.

Inspiration Board

Several weeks ago I wrote about using One Word and S.M.A.R.T. Goals in the classroom. At the beginning of the new year, I like to teach my students about goal-setting. Goals have always been very important to me. If we don’t set goals, how will we grow?

I always start by having my students write a letter to their future selves. In their letter, they must describe some goals that they have for the year and how they want to achieve them. I encourage them to dream big when they are coming up with their initial goals. When they are done, I ask them if their goals are SMART.

At this point, the students have given me a random selection of goals ranging from becoming the next great ballplayer to becoming rich enough to buy the things they want in life. Some have more practical goals like passing math class for the year or doing well on their upcoming state tests. Asking the students if their goals are SMART usually stumps them until I explain that SMART means “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely.” Then I ask my students to make their goals more specific. 

For example, if their goal is to have money, I ask them how they can have more money. The answer is usually something along the lines of getting a job. After a series of questions (you can find them here), they are able to write a more accessible goal, such as finding a job by the end of May. Once they have written their goal, they can begin planning the steps that they need to take and measuring out how long it will take to achieve that goal.

Normally, I also have my students choose a focus word for the year and we discuss One Word. This year, I decided to do something different and inspire (my word) my students to find ways to inspire others. One way I did this was to have my students find inspirational quotes to match their SMART goals. Afterward, my students made quote posters displaying their favorite quotes from their research. In the hallway outside my classroom, I made a huge quote collage (or vision board) to inspire other classes as they pass my classroom. The students, themselves, also enjoy looking at their posters in the hallway and reading what inspires their classmates. All in all, it is a fun activity to start the year off with.

I want to hear from my readers about what inspires them. If you have a favorite quote please drop it in the comments below or continue the conversation here on our Facebook group.

Meal Planning on a Budget

 

Hi again, Christen here…a long time sufferer of eating cheap. No, for real, eating cheap isn't always healthy and can also be lacking in flavor.  To make matters worse, I used to not plan or meal prep either.  All of that eating on the fly took a big bite out of my budget due to last minute purchases, and there was always some excess of wasted food.

I can’t eat a bowl of cereal for dinner out of convenience anymore now that I am married and have a child. Dinner needs to be prepared in a timely manner, and there are special considerations for our dietary needs. Travis, my husband, has to be extra careful due to the fact that he is diabetic.

A couple of weeks ago when discussing S.M.A.R.T. goals, I mentioned that Travis is now the primary cook in our household. I thought I would delve into the process that we have in place now that allows us to create delicious homemade food from scratch that is simple, filling, healthy and affordable.

Planning

There are several things that Travis and I do to ensure that we are on the same page throughout the week when it comes to dinners and getting the household fed. I am currently working 5 nights a week during the dinner hours. Luckily, I am able to have dinner with my family, but I cannot be in the kitchen preparing the meals; Travis really has to manage the kitchen as much as possible. Since I am an avid planner and he is still learning, we connect weekly to put our ideas together, and to plan and execute the shopping to ensure that there are no hiccups. Each meal that is prepared has an associated recipe. Having specific directions ensures that all the ingredients are purchased and used properly. Planning ahead also keeps us from choosing too many unhealthy options. When you give yourself enough time to consider your meals, you are more likely to make healthy choices. Don’t forget to plan for breakfast, lunch, and snacks as well. Having a plan for these meals will keep you within your budget, but also keep you from going back to the store, or ordering take out.

Timing

We connect on Thursdays, and Travis brings his recipe suggestions with him along with his day planner. We determine what meals we will be making for the following Monday - Sunday. We consider activities on our calendar and make alterations if certain activities require a quick dinner. Once we have the weekly menu planned out, we post it on the fridge and then go through each recipe to get a shopping list started. The key to this is consistency, you will manage this task more effectively over time, whether doing it solo or as a couple.

Shopping

Travis and I do not go to the grocery store to shop for our main weekly purchases. We do however visit the Vietnamese market for specialty items, and we use the flyers to purchase meats at specific stores if the price is worth the special trip, all other groceries are ordered through grocery pick up. This strategy limits impulse shopping. We have lowered our grocery bill considerably by not picking up those one-off snacks that catch our eye while going up and down the isles. Our grocery pick up order consists of just the items we need, and we are able to have more restraint and buying power. I can take my time and really shop by reading the labels and determining which product will give me the best value. I also like the fact that I can quickly click on the past purchases that are in my shopping cart on a weekly basis.

Budget

I can tell you that grocery pickup and online shopping is handy for lowering your grocery cost, however the most important factor in all of this is the budget. Your finances cannot be controlled unless you have the reins on them. If you wander around the grocery store without a clear plan, and without a budget, your cost will surely go up. Random items picked up in the store add to the cost of your cart, but you don’t see the impact until you are at the register. Determine the maximum you want to spend on your grocery trip, this is your budget for that trip. Also knowing the exact dates you are shopping for is essential. I recommend purchasing groceries once a week so that you can buy fresh produce, meats and bread frequently. Many fresh vegetables and fruits do not have a shelf life beyond a few days, so shopping more frequently ensures you are eating the freshest of foods. Sure, you can buy canned vegetables that last longer, but they are not as healthy, and not always as appetizing. So, to recap your budget strategy, ensure you know what days you are needing to purchase food for, how many meals, number of people being fed, and what you can afford to buy for that time frame. Use the meal plan to keep your shopping list within your budget. Know what you can spend, so that you don’t overspend. If your groceries for the week are exceeding your budget, consider either going meatless for a meal, swapping out a recipe, or doubling up on a recipe that can make enough for leftovers.

Storage

If you are  going to be buying in bulk, you will want to have storage that will last. I can’t stand freezer burn or freezer flavor. In the past I would freeze things with good intentions, but oftentimes throw things away after a month or so due to the ice crystals! Travis and I now have a Food Saver,  Here and we love how well our food is preserved. This allows me to purchase the larger pack of chicken, and split the contents up instead of buying two smaller packs of chicken at a higher cost per pound. I also recommend some baskets or storage bins to keep your pantry and refrigerator organized. This helps keep things in order. When food items are stored willy-nilly, they get lost on the shelves and you may end up over purchasing or having items go bad before you get to use them. 

We keep our pantry sorted out into food categories and keep the most relevant items at eye level. 

• Breakfast items - like cereal and oatmeal
• Lunch/snack items - these are the free-for-all items that were purchased for lunches such as ramen noodles and soup
• Dinner items - these are kept separate so that someone doesn’t accidentally eat the can of tuna if it is meant for dinner
• Baking goods
• Excess condiments etc. - we go through certain ingredients more rapidly than others, for example olive oil. I have my opened olive oil out where I can reach it, but my backup is in a specific spot - so I know where to grab it when the other one runs out, or I can quickly identify what I have extras of or might need to stock up. This really helps when making the grocery list. 

When it comes to fridge organization, I can be a real stickler. I am the type of person that puts the condiments in the exact same spot every time, and I expect my family to do the same. This can be a challenge, but getting your household involved in the meal planning, preparation and the goings on in the kitchen is important. Once they are onboard and can see the importance of a neatly organized kitchen, they will be more willing to follow your lead. If you are condiment connoisseurs like my family, you probably have more food on your fridge door than anywhere else in your house. We have a sauce for everything, and it can get out of hand really quick. I limit the number of jellies and salad dressing that we open at any given time, I keep all the mustard, mayos (yes, we have more than one mayo), and ketchup in the same general place so they are all together, and I keep all pickled items in a spot together. It seems trivial, but I can guarantee you, if you go through your condiments, give them a good wipe down and take some inventory, you will find something that is about to expire, or is almost run out. Use that time to plan out ways to use that condiment, and get your money's worth.

Fresh is Best

We all know that junk food is cheap and healthy food is more costly. Here is a quick list of everyday essentials that are dirt cheap and as close to unprocessed as you can get. You can make countless meals with these few items. Another great thing about them is that their shelf life is long enough that you can keep plenty on hand.

• Green onions
• Yellow onions
• Garlic
• Celery
• Carrots
• Green bell peppers
• Cucumbers
• Eggs
• Dried Beans
• Apples
• Acorn and Butternut squash
• Old Fashioned Oatmeal
• Milk
• Butter
• Shredded cheese
• Jalapenos
• Cilantro
• Ginger
• Uncooked Brown Rice
• Potatoes

Left-overs

Let’s talk about the taboo topic of Left-overs. I am sure there are a lot of you that just don’t do leftovers - and there are just as many reasons why you might not like to eat them. I am not going to harp on anyone for not liking leftover or reheated food,  but consider the amount of money saved if you did not throw your food away, and ate what remained at another time. I will give you some suggestions as to how to overcome it if you are interested in giving it a try. 

• Some foods can get gross when reheated like lettuce, guacamole, coleslaw, and breading to name a few. So consider leaving those items out when wrapping up the leftovers.
• Reheated sauces like marinara hold up their consistency in the microwave, whereas sauces like alfredo break down when reheated, changing the flavor and texture.
• Overcooked vegetables get mushy when reheated. If making extra veggies to pack up, consider cooking the veggies on the firmer side knowing that they will get cooked further the second time around.
• Reheat your leftovers in the oven when possible to crisp up and prevent sogginess.
• Leave off dressings, sauces, and fresh garnishes when serving large batches, which can be added after reheating.

I know I have presented a lot of tips all at once. If I had to give just one piece of advice above all, it would be to plan ahead. All of the tips I provided today are actions that require thinking one step ahead and keeping control of what you already have (money and inventory) on hand. I hope that these tips are useful to you and are things that you would consider in order to help you improve your healthy meals on a budget. I know that I focused mostly on the budget versus the healthy, and I did that on purpose – if you can plan ahead, you can make healthy choices.

I would love to hear what you think! Leave me a message in the comments, if there is anything you want  to know more about, please reach out!

Making S.M.A.R.T. Goals Happen: 5 Ways to Track Your Progress

All this week, we’ve been talking about SMART goals and how to make the most of them. We’ve talked about setting goals, making sure they are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic/relevant, and timely. One thing we have not talked about is how to measure, or track, those goals.

There are many different ways to track your goals. One of the easiest is to keep a simple list and check off each step as you complete it.  This is a great method for tracking the number of days you got 8 hours of sleep or that you went for a walk every day. But what if you want to get more specific? What if you want to make it more creative or fun? That’s where bullet journals (also called BUJO’s) can come into play.

The most popular form of BUJO is a notebook with graph lines or a dot grid. In these types of journals, the user draws their own trackers and charts. These can be a lot of fun for creative types because you can make them as simple or as fanciful as you like. I thought it would be fun to share 5 different trackers to help you with your SMART goals. You can draw these yourself into any notebook, or you can create them on your computer to print out and add to a 3-ring binder.

Daily Task List

This little tracker is one I made to help me manage my daily tasks. I used an 8.5” x 11” dot-grid paper made for the BIG Happy Planner and cut it down to the size I needed.  After penning in the list items, I laminated it and punched the disc holes again, so it works as a dashboard in my planner. The lamination allows me to use a dry-erase pen on it to check off everything I complete each day. I also did the backside, so my list is visible whether it’s flipped to the right or the left in my planner. You can easily make this planner yourself using your own supplies. I’ve linked what I used at the bottom of this post.

Reading List

I made this fun page to document the books I’ve read (or started reading) this year. The fun thing about a page like this is that you can put as many or as few “books” on the shelves as you need and you can color it or leave it black and white. I like to use either my colored pencils or watercolors on mine. Again, I used the 8.5” x 11” dot grid from Happy Planner, since most of my BUJO pages go into my BIG Happy Planner.

When I’m making trackers like this, I usually draw them lightly with a pencil first, then go over my design in pen before erasing the pencil marks.  I wrote in the names of every book I started and colored in the ones I actually finished. I will keep adding to this throughout 2022 (or until I fill it). The plants and other accessories on the page can also be colored, or used to track something else…it’s entirely up to you.

I’ve linked my preferred supplies below. 

Work Week Tracker

This versatile tracker is laid out to document or track 20 facts or details like tasks associated with work/school days or something similar. You can also add more hexagons or make them larger or smaller to accommodate whatever number of data you need to track. You could even make 365 little hexes to track something for an entire year. I haven’t decided what to do with mine yet.

Household Projects List

This is more of a list than a tracker, but I included it to show you that, oftentimes, they can be the same thing. By simply changing the bullet points into checkboxes or blanks, any list can become a tracker. A small blank could be a spot for a date, or a box could be a space for a checkmark when the task is completed.

Monthly Task List

This task list is probably one of the most complex I’ve ever used. It took me several months to perfect the design and get the order of everything exactly right. I use this tracker every week to log all my household and business-related tasks as well as a few personal goals (please don’t judge me by my failure to clean out my fridge all month!). 

I draw this one by hand onto the opening page for each month in my BIG Happy Planner. The page is pre-printed with some dot-grid, lines, and graphics.  I just use correction tape to “white-out” any parts I need to cover and then draw over it with my pencil/pen as if it wasn’t there. 

As you can see, I have used several different sections and styles on this same page, and I love having all my trackers in one central location.

There are also lots of ready-made worksheets, goal planning workbooks like PowerSheets®, and stickers and add-on pages for the various brands of planner notebooks.  Whatever style you like, we’d love for you to share your SMART goals with us over in the Facebook group. Let’s set some goals and carry on the conversation with some mutual support for one another! I’ve even posted a BONUS tracker idea in the group for you!

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Here are some of the products I use to make my trackers:

• Tombow Mono Eraser
• Fudenosuke Hard Tip Brush Pen
• Bic Velocity HB#2 Mechanical Pencil
• Bic White-Out Mini Correction Tape
• Happy Planner Dot Grid Paper

*As an Amazon Affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases:

SMART Goals for Everyone

This week on our podcast we are continuing our discussion about goals. Having goals, I think, is an important aspect of life. My goal setting and organizing can be attributed to my mother and my best friend Christen, who pushes me to broaden my goal horizons. I also believe goal setting is an important aspect of teaching and I try to convey that to my students as much as possible. 

I started implementing this in the classroom back when I taught seniors because I believe you have to have goals when you exit high school. I always tell the kids that goals and plans change. Most kids get overwhelmed because they think they have to know what they want RIGHT NOW but that’s not the case. In high school, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I loved (and still love) animals and science. However, as I took journalism and English classes in college, my plans changed and I knew I wanted to be a writer, and later an English teacher. So, what you want right now, will change as life experiences set in. 

At the beginning of the year, I ask the students to tell me what their future goals are and ask them how they plan to achieve them. Since I teach 8th and 9th graders, most of them don’t know how to set goals or have never been asked what their goals are at this age. There is a strategy called SMART goals that I like to teach my students every January after we pick our One Little Word for the year. 

What are SMART Goals?

SMART is an acronym that you can use to guide your goal setting. Its criteria are commonly attributed to Peter Drucker's Management by Objectives concept. The first known use of the term occurs in the November 1981 issue of Management Review by George T. Doran. Since then, Professor Robert S. Rubin (Saint Louis University) wrote about SMART in an article for The Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Doran explained that SMART has come to mean different things to different people.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound

How can we use this?

(S)pecific

Write down a clear and SPECIFIC goal that you want to achieve. When thinking about this, answer the five “W” questions:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• Why is this important?
• Who is involved?
• Where is it located?
• When do I need this goal accomplished?

(M)easurable 

Your goal must have some data/statistics to track it. For example, you can use your PowerSheets to track your goals. You can make a goal-setting notebook. In my classes, students have goal charts glued in their class notebooks. Ask yourself these questions:

• How much?
• How many?
• How will I know when my goal is accomplished?

(A)chievable

Your goal must be achievable, for example, drink 44 ounces of water per day, or, n a student’s case, make an “A” in English class. Your goal should stretch your abilities but also be something that you can easily work toward. Ask yourself these questions:

• How can I accomplish this goal?
• How realistic is this goal?

(R)elevant

Your smart goal must have a relevant purpose to advance your quality of life. Your goal should be realistic. This is a goal that matters to you and no one else. Ask yourself these questions to figure out if your goal is relevant:

• Is it the right time for this?
• Does this goal seem worthwhile?

(T)ime bound

This should be a goal that you can achieve in a certain amount of time. You don’t want to set a SMART goal twenty years in the future. You will need a workable target date for your goal. Ask yourself these questions?

• When will this be accomplished?
• Where will I be six weeks from now?
• Where will I be six months from now?
• What can I do today to work towards my goal?

How do I apply this in my classroom? 

At the beginning of the semester, as I stated before, students pick their One Little Word to drive their year. Next, students think of one goal they want to achieve by the end of the school year. The goal can be, make all “A’s” for the semester, get better at a certain sport, or even get up the courage to resolve a problem they have with a friend. They have a goal worksheet that they put in their notebooks that tracks their progress. First, they have to answer a series of questions like I mentioned above that follows the SMART guidelines. I like to check in with my students periodically throughout the year and let them reflect on how they are reaching their goals. Do they need to take a step back and reevaluate?

How do I apply this in my life?

I have long-term and short-term goals like everyone else. For example, I want to finish grad school. That is a long-term goal, and it will take me a few years to complete. A short term goal I recently had was to get my cholesterol down. My doctor contacted me and told me it was on the high side. I thought to myself, “okay, how can I accomplish this?”

• Specific: Get my cholesterol down within six months.
• Measurable: Incorporate more servings of fruits and vegetables each meal.
• Achievable: Hold myself accountable and keep track of the food that I consume.
• Relevant: This is relevant because I want to be healthy.
• Time bound: The doctor wanted to see me again in six months.

One way I accomplished this SMART goal was by doing research on the calorie counts of certain foods that I like and lower calorie substitutes. For example, I replaced my milk consumption with almond milk and oat milk and I began to eat less red meat and more chicken. I began meal prep and measured out my fruit and vegetable consumption. I kept a daily log of what I ate and I did all of this for six months. My doctor recently called me and congratulated me on the significant amount I lowered my cholesterol in six months by setting measurable goals, making smart choices, and sticking to those choices. Did I have a cheat day in the last six months? Of course, I did but those days became few and far between when I rediscovered my love for vegetables.

Using SMART goals works for my students and it helped me lower my cholesterol. What is one measurable goal that you wish to set for yourself in the future? Let me know below. Also, head on over to our Facebook page to continue the conversation in our Facebook group.