The Goals And Dreams Project (Beta)
On Saturday, February 15th, 2025, at about 9:30 am, I sat at my computer and began to upload the podcast version of the previous installment, They Grow Up So Fast. As I completed this task, I thought back with pride on what had led me to this moment:
In 2018, I interned at my grade/middle school, Our Lady of Peace (OLP). My mentor was the middle school English teacher, Mr. Livingston. Mr. Livingston had a significant impact on my teaching career. So much so that now seven years later, I still find myself acting the way that he taught me to. Very early on in my internship, Mr. Livingston came up to me and said, “I want you to make a Google doc and list some goals and dreams you have for yourself.”
In 2022, after Gabby and I broke up and I had an ill-fated “situationship” with a girl named Lauren, my “sisters” devised a plan that we called “The Mitchell Project” that could help me better myself between my 25th and 26th birthday. The Mitchell Project would work best if I didn’t date anyone during those 365 days. Of course, I started dating Paige during that time, so while I wouldn’t say The Mitchell Project was a failure, it was not as successful as it could have been.
The success level of The Mitchell Project brings up a problem with Rules for a Greattastic Life as a whole. Each season, I set one pretty inflexible goal for myself to keep myself moving forward. Keeping it bound to one season, however, usually leads to failure. The clearest example of this is season four.
My goal for season four was to move out of my parents' house. While I did move in with Shane at the end of the season, and I was on the lease for 2 years, I would say I only lived there for about 6 months. In fact, I didn’t reach that goal until I moved in with Paige last summer. All of this to say, I have the ability to achieve goals, but hard deadlines are just a bit too restrictive.
After I had a discussion with my friend, Madison, my Grandpa (Pop-pop), and his partner Sara about how I was feeling about my success, back on New Year’s Day, I came up with a new plan. I Call it "The Goals and Dreams Project." I made a document called Major Goals and Dreams and included long-term goals and dreams (2030). I then made a Goals and Dreams document for this year. I have also added a color code. Black still needs to be done, green, completed, and red moved to next year. I think this will give me a way to track my goals but still be flexible enough that I don’t get overwhelmed. On top of that, I'm just keeping it in a beta testing phase right now, so if it fails, I can scrap it and figure something else out.
I got a new computer for Christmas because with all the moving I did last summer, my computer was the last thing that made it to Paige and my apartment, and by the time it got there, the battery was shot. When I posted They Grow Up So Fast, I smiled, pulled out my phone, opened Goals And Dreams 2025, and changed the goal “post more consistently to Rules for a Greattastic Life” from black to green.
Have a Greattastic Day and Be Safe
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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