Last Monday Morning: Is it Worthy of You?

This will the last Monday morning in 2010, so let's make this the most worthy Monday morning for ourselves. After all, who cares the most how our life turns out besides ourselves? 

We've looked back on this past year and ahead to what will be coming in 2011. Now is the best time to consider whether we have structured our coming year to embrace our goals and aspirations. Let's look at five basic areas and see if we have included a goal plan for each of these areas. I will include some basic questions in each area to get your creative juices flowing regarding your plans in each topic area.

Finances: The Finances topic seems to make everyone's top 10 list of important goals or resolutions. Here are some basic questions to ask yourself.

• How much money do I want to earn next year? How does that break down into quarterly amounts? Monthly? Weekly? Daily?

• What are 20 different ideas I can come up with to earn more money?

• What will I do with more money? Be specific.

• What will I need to do (what first steps do I need to take) to start making more money?

Health: Health is the second most important goal that people have.

• What changes will I make in my health plan? Why do I need to make these changes?

• What steps do I need to take to improve my health?

• Are there any steps I need to take to substitute a new habit for an undesirable habit?

• What are 20 different things that I can do to improve my health or take me a few steps closer to attaining my health goal?

Home: Folks may neglect this area in favor of some other goal-setting topics, but home life is important to our overall emotional health and sense of well being.

• What changes will I make to improve my home life?

• What are 20 activities I can engage in on the home front that will improve my home life?

• Are there any steps that need to be taken first before I can complete the activities I listed above?

• Are there people I need to spend more time with, whether in person or by some other means of communication?

• What are some activities I can engage in that will improve my home life?

Work: Here are some things to consider regarding next year's work scenario.

• What are my plans for next year? What do I need to accomplish?

• Are there expectations or quotas related to my job that I need to fulfill?

• Are there any promotions or projects that I want to complete?

• What are 20 steps I can take to improve my work environment or position?

• Are there any steps I need to take first before I can complete any of the steps I listed above?

Spiritual: Perhaps this is the most important goal area to consider, but I saved it for last. After considering the other previous goals, sometimes the spiritual goals take on more significance or clarity.

• What spiritual goals do I wish to complete next year?

• What are 20 steps I can take to improve my spiritual life?

• Are there any steps I need to complete first before I can complete any of the steps I have listed above?

These are simple, basic questions, but often we don't take the time to ponder the answers to these questions. Starting with Monday, we have five days left in 2010. Ideally, we can think about the answers to the above questions in the next five days and come up with a goal action plan by Friday, December 31, 2010.

In addition to specifically teaching the Suzuki violin repertoire, I'd like to focus on the following topics in 2011:

• vibrato
• left hand position
• bow hold and the job of each finger
• shifting and position work
• how to practice
• how to learn a new piece
• five types of memory
• how to find a (good) Suzuki teacher
• better parenting
• performance anxiety
• bowing skills
• review program
• how to analyze repertoire for teaching purposes

Be sure to leave me a comment about any area of teaching that you would like to see addressed. I'll also be putting up new polls in the sidebar. We have five more days to vote. Right now the vote is 60-40 in favor of regularly writing down goals. I'd like to see that number improve significantly by the end of the voting in five days.

Happy New Year, Everyone!