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Welcome to Our Newsletter
by Dr. Jennifer Lagrotte, DMFT

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2010, what does this year have in store for you? Are you a planner or a procrastinator? I am a planner through and through and have noticed that the more I plan, the less stress that I have. One place that I notice this is when I am at the airport. I always get my boarding pass before and usually get to the airport with enough time to get through security and still have time to get something to eat if I need to. Then, I see the people that are running down the terminal with children in tow, yelling and screaming and even those people that miss their plane. What is the difference between these two examples? One is planning and the other is procrastination. Which do you want to be in 2010?

At this time of year, it is customary to reevaluate your goals and decide if you are on track or things need to be readjusted to meet your goals. Can you be a goal oriented person even if you are a procrastinator? I say yes and I encourage you to set your goals for this year in realistic terms so they can be accomplished. My own definition of goals is setting your mind to do something and getting it accomplished. Sounds simple enough right? Let's talk about an example:

Goals are dreams with deadlines.
-- Diana Scharf Hunt

Setting a Timeline
The first stage of setting a realistic goal is to set a realistic timeline. Let's say for example that your goal of 2010 is to go back to school. Great goal! Now, let's start the timeline for this goal. Yes, it would be great if you could drop everything and go back to school but for most of us out there it is not possible so let's set the timeline:

• Figure out what you would like to go back to school for.
• Find out if you want to take courses online or in a classroom.
• Look for schools that are in your area that offer classes.
• Evaluate your life and see how you will fit in school with work, home life, etc.
• How will you pay for school? If you will need financial aid then you need to look into guidelines for aid and how much money you will need.
• Once you have the finances, you need to enroll in classes and you are set!

Overcoming Obstacles

Now if that list was an obstacle for you in going back to school think of how many other little things could come up that will get into your way to accomplish your goals. Obstacles are just road blocks on the path to getting what you want. You can back track when one comes up, go around it or plow right through it. Up to you to decide how you want to deal with an obstacle. Some are harder to deal with than others. Say a family member gets sick and you have to take care of them or your children's education comes first or work becomes very hectic and you cannot even think about adding an additional stressor in your life. All of these things that I have described are just obstacles and each time you encounter one, you will need to decide how to handle one on a case by case basis.

Long Term verse Short Term Goals

Going back to school would be considered a long term goal and each step that I mentioned would be a short term goal within that step. In order for something to be a goal it just needs to be obtainable. Make your short term goals easy and obtainable and most importantly you will need to recognize that you are accomplishing a goal each and every day, even more than one. If going back to school is not a realistic goal for now, then do as many steps on your list that you can and feel good about accomplishing your short term goals for now.

May 2010 bring happiness, joy and everything you want it to be.

If you have any feedback for this newsletter or a topic of interest, please do not hesitate to email Jennifer@completecounselingsolutions.com.

Dr. Jennifer B Lagrotte, DMFT