New school year's resolutions

Tomorrow is officially my first day back to work.

Not that nearly a day has passed over the summer that I wasn't doing something work-related for an hour or two. But for the most part, my attitude this summer has been "I am going to do what I want, when I feel like it". I am hoping to carry this over through the school year.

In reality, I got just as much done this summer by doing things when I felt like doing them, as I did the year before, stressing about my checklist of things that I had to do at such or such a moment. The kitchen and living room got painted and redecorated, the bushes in the front yard got replaced with flowers and a patio, I organized and actually made money off a garage sale, I wrote and published a book, planted and pruned the garden, listed to the entire collection of Jane Austen's novels and all the Hunger Games books on Audible again... and still had time to do some real "work" every day! So the plan now, is how to carry this care-free attitude over into work life. Hence the resolutions for the new school year. Feel free to start taking bets on how many I can keep.

Resolution #1: STOP SENDING NOVEL-LENGTH EMAILS
I can save my rants and ramblings for this blog. No one at work has time to read or understand half of what I type and send into the digital world. If I can't say it in 1-2 paragraphs, I need to get off my lazy behind and either pick up the phone or walk to visit the person I want to talk to.

Resolution #2: GET TO WORK ON TIME
No more hitting the snooze ten times, doing my makeup in the car, showing up 5 minutes after my expected time and scrambling to make last-minute copies before the school day begins. Heck, while I'm being totally unrealistic, how about arriving 5 minutes EARLY!?!?

Resolution #3: NO MORE UNSOLICITED OVER-PLANNING
I am NOT the team lead. I am NOT an island. I do NOT need to make xcel spreadsheets with eight million tabs, with data sorted and analyzed in ten different ways. I do NOT need to have every decision made and all my planning and copying done two weeks ahead of time. The time has come to accept the fact that things will change day-to-day, and to actually work with my team as a team.

Resolution #4: DUCT TAPE MY MOUTH SHUT DURING MEETINGS
My opinion and/or approval is not needed on every little aspect of every minute of the school day. The school functioned just fine before I got hired there, and will continue to function just fine, should I happen to drop dead tomorrow. Yes I would probably be missed for a while, but I'd eventually be replaced with someone probably equally as talented.

Resolution #5: CURB THE NEGATIVITY
I tried this last year and failed miserably. I hope that I am in a better place now. No one wants to hear my rants, complaining and sarcasm. Well, maybe the sarcasm... let's go with one obnoxious comment per hour. I'll start a checklist on a clip-board and put smiley faces when I stick to my goal :o)

Resolution #6: CORRECTING DOES NOT NEED TO BE DONE IN A DAY
It took God seven days to create the world, and no one was bugging him for status reports. If I program my students and parents to expect my portal and website to be updated on a daily basis, I'm going to be up until midnight every night. Oh wait, I am anyway. Maybe it can be doing something with my late nights instead of work this year. Like blogging!

Resolution #7: NO WORKING ON THE WEEKEND
This is going to be a tough one, but with more prep time and only one subject (math) to teach, it might just be doable. I am just waiting for my kids to go to pre-school and start drawing pictures of Mommy glued to the computer (as I am right now). It's not good for them, my eyes, my marriage, or my knees. (I am addicted to sitting cross-legged in my desk chair whenever I'm working.)

And on that note, I think it's time to sign off. Here's hoping I can stick to it! If any readers have additional resolutions for me to add, I promise I won't get offended. Comment away.