Description: This week's invitation builds off of last week, motivating the Squad to get even more prepared for the new year.
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Transcription: Hi and welcome to Self Care for Educators. I'm your host, Tina Boogren. This is Season 4, Episode 18. This week's invitation is kind of building on last week's invitation where I invited us to think about a one word theme or phrase or guiding question as we move into the new year. I can't believe it's 2024. Have we gotten used to writing this yet? This week, I want you to think about creating your 24 for '24 list. Many of you are familiar with this prompt. This comes from Gretchen Rubin. She talks about this and has talked about this for years on her podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. And, I've been playing with this on and off for different years for quite a while. The thinking behind it is to create a list of 24 things that you want to do or see, or places to go, anything. It's very open. 24 things that you want to accomplish in the year 2024. So 24 for '24.
Now there's tons of ways to think about this. If 24 feels daunting, what if you did 2 plus 4 equals 6? What if you have six things that you want to do in 2024? Or, maybe you take your 2024 list and you kind of divide it up, and you create 12 things that you want to accomplish maybe professionally and 12 things that you want to accomplish personally. Or, maybe you kind of go down a really specific route of 24 books that you want to read in '24 or 24 places that you wanna take a walk, 24 movies that you want to watch, 24 adventures that you want to take. I mean, really the possibilities are endless. I just love thinking about this and what has been really helpful for me over the past few years is to let go of my perfectionist tendencies of not having to cross off every single thing on my list. For example, in reviewing my 23 for 2023 list, which I've got right here, I would say that I accom ... Oh, let me just count.
I've got you here. I accomplished 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, about 14 of the 23. And, you know what? That is just fine. I don't want the list to feel like we're adding something else to our to do list. That's where I get tripped up in some years. Instead, I want it to be like things that you look forward to. Maybe last week you chose a word or a phrase or a theme or a guiding question, and your list can kind of revolve around that. That's kind of what I'm playing around with right now. So, consistency is the word that I'm thinking about and that might have been updated since I recorded this, but as you heard me talk about in the last episode, episode 17, I'm leaning right now as I'm recording this, I'm leaning towards the word consistency. And so, I'm also thinking about making a list of 24 things that I want to stay consistent with, which is going to force me to really think about what habits work for me. What do I know makes me feel my best so that I can have this kind of guiding list. And, as I say this out loud and I've been thinking about it, 24 kind of feels like a lot.
So, maybe I'm going to break my list into chunks and like have, You know, six things that I want to stay consistent with and then use the rest of my list to include other things. I'm not entirely sure yet. And, that's kind of fun. I love just putting this out there and thinking about it as I move throughout the world without having to decide right now. That's what I'm going to offer up to you this week. And, if you want to hear more examples, if you go back and listen to Happier with Gretchen Rubin, her podcast, she and her sister, Elizabeth, that she co-hosts the podcast with, they kind of take a deep dive, they share their list, they share some other lists from listeners. So, that might be helpful. Maybe this is something you do with your family. Maybe there's 24 things as a family that you want to do or with your partner or with your friend or 24 restaurants that you want to eat at. I don't know. You could make this whimsical, maybe. You can make it concrete.
You can make it goals that you want to achieve. You can make it all fun things. If, if maybe as you move into 2024, you're looking for a little bit, maybe joy and relaxation and fun as you move into the year, maybe that's what your list centers around again, no wrong way to do this. And, if 24 feels like way too many, you are the boss. You get to decide. Do you want to do half of that number or do you like the idea of two plus four equals six, and you're going to do that or maybe you just do two things that you want to accomplish and four things, adventures you want to take. I don't know a gazillion ways to think about it, but I think it's fun to think about this if it appeals to you. Remember, I will remind you different strategies work for different people. So, this if this doesn't work for you. Let it go.
And, there's something that feels really good about that as well. Maybe this is something you could do with students, or with your professional learning team, or with your department, or grade level team that you meet with, or just a colleague, or a mentor mentee could do this together. Lots of ways to play with it. And, I know, I know this incredible squad is going to figure out some cool things to do with this. So, that's it. This week is about thinking about a 24 for 2024 list and being really creative and making that work for you. I'm cheering for you.
As always, thank you so much to Brooke who makes this happen for us. We are so grateful for you. Thank you to Marzano Resources and Solution Tree for this incredible job that I can't believe I still get to do in 2024. And, to you, my bad-ass Self-Care Squad. Feel my hand on your back. You are amazing. So proud of you. So grateful for you. Make it an incredible week.
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