SMART Goal 1: Early to Appointments

The "On-Time" clock.

Okay, recap:

On Monday, I set a goal to be 10 minutes early to each of my appointments. So far so good! Just to clarify, the 10 minute aim is a buffer, not to be held to as the goal itself. The true purpose of the goal is to arrive early to each of my appointments, so even though I've been only 8 or 9 minutes early sometimes (miscalculating Metro times, etc.), I still feel that I am accomplishing my real goal. What do you think?

Anyway, being early to my appointments has been AWESOME. You would think it would be boring, waiting for 10 minutes (give or take) for someone else to show up, but it's actually a great time for me to reflect, to pray, or even to jot down notes or look at my daily schedule to make sure I'm on target with my goals/plans. Sometimes I'll just listen to my iPod and get lost in one of my favorite tunes, watching other people rush about their days.

It's also been interesting being on the other side of this situation, when others are apologizing to me for being late--which happens quite frequently here in the Ukraine, I'm noticing. But I can be gracious and feel great because I know I honored my word. It's empowering to know I can do what I say! And it's easier to let people off the hook when I feel whole and complete within myself.

Some quotes I'm going to consider this week I found on a "How to Be Punctual" article:

"If you are 5 minutes early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, then you've got a lot of explaining to do."

Old military adage: If you're not 5 minutes early, you're 10 minutes late!

I'm beginning to feel the truth of these wise words.

Anyway, that's one small step for Shae. One giant leap for her future. Let's see how the rest of the week goes! Maybe I'll get to buy that sparkly pair of earrings I've been eying the past few weeks... ;)