Goals: October 13 2025-December 31 2025
Well, it’s been a while. The Season of Change (SOC) blueprint I created back in 2023 floated out of my mind and dissipated into the atmosphere like an early morning fog. The project has been given little thought over the past year, but with the recent change in my schedule I’ve decided it was time for a revival.
Following a disappointing SOC Season 2 in early 2024, I dropped many of my daily and weekly goals and relaxed (a bit too much) which had a two-fold effect: I stopped posting on this blog and my personal projects mostly faltered. It would be a lie to state I’ve made no progress on any of my goals, but I’m definitely not as far along as I could be, nor wish to be.
Although I haven’t been performing a SOC, some of my earlier goals and habits have stuck around to varying degrees of success (TickTick app still a huge help). Lifting weights, reading, and studying Spanish have proceeded steadily and a few others such as learning chess and brushing up on mathematics have been added. Improvement has been slower than I expected but I’m moving forward none the less. I’ve also had success with turning off the screens NLT 8pm to allow myself time to read and limiting my screen time during the week and weekends.
A realization also occurred in this downtime-I may have overestimated my abilities and underestimated my idleness. I should have noticed this years ago when change always took longer than expected, but my eyes were opened wide when I started a book club with my husband. We simply share a book (two bookmarks) and discuss when we’ve arrived at the same place. We’re now on book six but early in book one I noticed his reading speed is more than twice as fast as myself (I timed when he turned a page). He also just gets concepts faster than I do. This isn’t too surprising as I married a very smart man, but it revealed a known fact about life: some people are just born with different, and often better, abilities and aptitudes. Such is life. The only fair in life we can all share in, is the one with funnel cakes and carnival rides. I can’t control how fast my mind processes information but I can control what I do with the capabilities that I do possess and basically “work with what I’ve got”.
The other eyeopener was when my friend was able to completely recomp her body in a matter of months using basic nutrition and exercise principles that I was already familiar with, but hadn’t implemented successfully enough. Her change was super impressive and was done with sheer willpower and hard work. This proved to me that there’s nothing magical about personal improvement and that it basically comes down to priority and effort.
It may be frowned upon to compare oneself to others, but in these situations I was able to discover some truths about myself. Perhaps my husband has a more natural ability to process and store information quickly and my friend has rock-solid willpower that I don’t (yet) possess and maybe these “deficiencies” require more from me for the same result, but watching those close to me be successful inspires me to do better. I regard both personal growth and self-discipline as essential to a strong mental and spiritual human life which is why I strive to put so much effort into my goals. I also like testing myself.
It’s not lost on me that I may be asking for too much from myself with each SOC, but there’s also a possibility I’ve not yet discovered how far I can go since my effort and discipline hasn’t been fully tapped yet. I always did well in school and got above average grades, but much of that success could have been from simply completing the assignments and studying for the tests. As long as I did the work and memorized the material on the tests, I was good. Back then I didn’t care much if I actually absorbed the material or got something out of it; class and studying were solely to get to the next grade, the next admittance, and finally graduate. The act of learning was secondary. I understand that mindset (particularly at that time in my life) but I’m disappointed that I didn’t try harder and I think I did myself a disservice by never seeing how well I could advance. This applies not only to learning but also physical goals. I either gave up too easily, quit, or never started.
After possibly being a little too hard on my past self above, I did read the Virtues and Vices section on the original SOC blueprint and can state with total honestly that I have overcome some of them. I still prefer to frontload my hard tasks to earlier in the day, but I now face little self-resistance with doing hard tasks later in the day when required. Much of my laziness has vanished and I can put down the phone and pick up a book or a weight. I give much of the credit to this change to building self-trust by keeping small promises to myself, and focusing on better nutrition. My diet is far from perfect, but by prioritizing healthy foods for most of my meals, my energy has significantly improved.
Before I planned out SOC #3, I went back to my original blueprint post to see what worked and what needed to change. Lessons learned and changes from SOC blueprint for SOC #3:
- Allow myself more rest time in the schedule. In the original blueprint I only allowed myself one full rest day every two weeks and a half every week. It’s now changed to one full rest day a week and one day with a minimal schedule to do any ‘catch up’. On my rest day I plan to still do Bible study, read, and light exercise such as a walk or stretch
- Assume that the work may expand further than the time allotted or expected to complete. Use my free time to catch up when necessary
- Don’t expect a 100% success rate, but every little bit gets me a little closer
- Renamed “Arts and Crafts” to “Creatives”
- Goals broken down into ‘How’ and ‘Planned Result’ so I can measure
- I switched from my Notes app to OneNote for any necessary brain dumping and organization
List of things to prepare for SOC #3:
- Reread SOC blueprint Steps 1-5
- Starting pics and weight to track physical progress
- Setup TickTick app based on goals
SOC #3 Goals:
Health and Physical:
Goal #1: Increase my strength, lower body fat, and increase physical fitness and health (no change from SOC #1)
How:
- Strength train 3 times a week
- HIIT 3 times a week
- Basic calisthenics 2 times a week
Planned Result:
- Able to perform more than 20 pushups in a set
- Ability to perform 5 chin-ups in a set
Goal #2: Be able to perform side splits
How:
- Do a mild stretch daily
- Perform an intense stretch routine 3 times a week
Planned Result: Able to do a side split
Goal #3: Eat at least one serving of fruits and vegetables each day
How:
- Eat a Whole-Food Plant-Based (WFPB) diet for 80% of my daily calories
- Meal prep when needed and keep fruit and vegetable in the house
- Complete a blood test to see if biomarkers improved
Planned Result: Healthier overall body and improved biomarkers
Studies:
Goal: Study U.S. Government and Politics
How:
- Read college textbook which is 700+ pages and AP study guide
- Assume 2 study sessions a week which breaks down to 24 study sessions total
- Plan 20 weeks of textbook learning and 4 weeks of AP study and exam
- 700 pages breaks down to ~35 pages to read each session
- Write a summary report of what I’ve learned at the end of the season
Planned Result: More knowledgeable in American government and achieve a passing score on an AP exam (based on study guide)
Creatives:
Goal #1: Teach myself basic piano
How:
- Minimum of 17 minutes piano practice 4x a week when my husband isn’t home so I can surprise him
- Practice Music skill in Duo app daily
Planned Result: Able to perform Greensleeves
Goal #2: Creative writing
How:
- Build in a minimum of two creative writing sessions a week (separate from blog writing)
- Goal of 500+ words for each session to hit 10000 word goal
Planned Results:
- Three new poetry drafts
- 10,000 new words across novel drafts
Goal #3: Read the next Pulitzer Prize (PP) in fiction book and complete a matching blog post
How: Outside of study sessions and book club, read the next PP novel
Planned Result: Book and essay complete
Continues:
- Build in more time for God (same as SOC #1)
- Goal to memorize one of my favorite passages of the Bible each week using flashcards
- Read Biblical study guides and non-fiction texts
- Continue Book Club
- Read at least 15 minutes a day or at pace of my husband
- Language and Skills Study
- Practice Spanish in Duo app daily (continue 1500+ day streak)
- Practice Chess in Duo app daily
