Happy New Year! It is the time of year when we set new goals, new resolutions, and new energy.

According to my AI generated research, a New Year’s resolution usually lasts about 3 months.

I really thought it would be shorter than that even. I believe the second Friday in January is often referred to as “quitter Friday.” I am a big believer in goal setting and the positive impact it can have on me personally and upon the people I am with every day, so in this month’s superintendent’s corner I want to give a little of my own personal advice on how to set worthy goals and how to attempt to make it past quitter’s Friday. I promise this comes from my own life experience and not my Gemini tool.

I think the first problem we face is the old how do you eat an elephant issue. When you set your goal don’t make it something that your soul already tells you is impossible. Not that you can’t accomplish the impossible, but it happens “one bite at a time.” You have to be able to break the big problem down into smaller problems. An example, if I want my classes reading scores to improve for the spring NSCAS test I find smaller goals that I can accomplish along the way. Like, we are going to plan 10 extra minutes for kids to read each school day. Small goals stacked on top of each other will get you to the big goal. If I want to hit a certain number on the scale, I don’t just say I want to lose x-amount of pounds. Things like, I am going to stop getting calories from gas stations or I am going to stop eating in front of the tv are easier to track and will help with the bigger goal. Small goals will always lead to the big one. So as a school, when we meet to talk about our big goals our plan is always to identify the small steps that lead us to where we want to be.

The next problem I see is that we sometimes don’t focus goals on the actions we focus them on the result. If my New Year’s resolution is to have all of my credit cards paid off by next Christmas my chance of success is very low. But if my goal is to put x-more dollars toward card A and then when card A is paid off in March, I will add that payment to card B until it is also cleaned up. I may be wanting to accomplish a goal that is 12 months away, but I am making a plan based on small goals that I can accomplish and measure along the way. In the school setting, we have some long-range goals for our facility. If the board has a shared vision of what our school is going to look like in five years, we have to create a plan and a path that will get us there. The journey of a 1,000 miles begins with just one step. - Lao Tzu On to the next complication with goal achievement.

You can very seldom achieve your goal in a vacuum.

People by their nature rely on those close to them for support and accountability. If my goal is to walk two miles every day and I roll out of bed and the wind is blowing 70 miles an hour, the likelihood that I lace up my walking shoes that day is really low, but if I know my walking partner is waiting for me out there I feel obligated. Some of the best motivation is the desire to not disappoint those who are closest to us. In the school setting we never want to set a goal that boils down to one person’s effort, and we want to make sure that the credit for our accomplishments can be shared by all.

Case in point: why would the PE teacher think that our kids raising their AQUeSTT rating has anything do to with his efforts? Well, let me tell you… Kids who lift weights generate endorphins that give them sustained energy (way better than an energy drink). Kids who work out are less likely to be sick and attendance is the key factor in academic success. Kids that are in good physical condition are generally happier and more confident and way less likely to suffer from test anxiety. So, if you want to make it to the finish line with a goal, it has to be a community goal that everyone cares about.

Lastly, and most importantly, always give grace. We know that not every day is a step forward toward our goals. We are going to have setbacks, and we are going to come up short on many occasions. If our goal is to lose 80 lbs. and we only lose 45 did we accomplish our goal? No. But, are we better for having set a goal and made the attempt to accomplish it? For sure. In the school setting we want all of our students to read at grade level and we want all of our kids to be proficient in math. These are incredibly lofty goals, and we can celebrate progress just as much as we celebrate accomplishment. As we study our most recent data from the winter MAPS tests we truly celebrate the eight kids that were below benchmark in the fall, but have improved their scores to proficiency.

So here is our little secret at the school. Our main goal is to make Callaway the best community in all of Nebraska. Big goal for sure! How do we accomplish our goal? We focus on making our school the best it can possibly be. We strive to improve in all areas all the time. We try to move rhetoric into action. Small actions every day that make our kids feel safer, cared for, challenged, and supported.

I have never had elephant, but if we have to eat the whole thing I hope it tastes good. Happy New Year CPS!