Reflecting on How the Goal Setting Words I Chose for 2019 Worked (or Not)

What Happened?  

What Didn't?

In my last post, I explained a goal setting process I use that involves choosing one to three words for the year as a source of inspiration and anchoring.  In 2019, I chose the words "Expert" and "Support."  

I explained:

Expert tells me what I believe about my life. It also shows how I expect my work to change or improve the world in the coming year through my leadership. It will be about the books that manifest in 2019 and 2020, along with the related conference presentations and media coverage.

Support will remind me of two things. First, my support for friends, colleagues, and students. But, also the need to find support for my own well-being. I've already started that process when I felt overwhelmed in December. I hired a personal assistant. I also asked my housekeeper to come every week to reset my apartment. And, I once again got weekly massages.

Even so, I need more support from my exercise buddy, my doctors at Al Ahli hospital, and my menopause coach, Dr. Anna Garrett. I also need to think through my evening routine to find ways better ways to spend my evenings. Dinner at the vegetarian restaurant with a friend? Yoga at the nearby center? Walks in the neighborhood while the weather is nice? Grounding in the salt water at the beach?

I picked these words before I learned that I would be making an unplanned retirement to Thailand.  Despite that change, how did these words work for me?

 As I mentioned in my last post, entrepreneurial coach Christine Kane has invited her clients to take a reflective look at how the word for the year inspired action and achievement.  She asks:  "If you’ve ever chosen a word of the year, what was your experience during that year? What happened? What didn’t happen? And most important, how did it open you up?"

What was my Experience During the Year? What Happened?

My year included two semesters of teaching and three vacation periods, including winter, spring, and summer breaks.  Life as a professor is put into three buckets: scholarship, teaching, and community service.  As my list of the things I accomplished this year shows, see here, I had a very productive year.

Scholarship:  This morning, I put together my list of published book chapters, articles, and book reviews for 2019-20, and it blew me away.  I published five book chapters, one law review article, and two book reviews.  I have completed the manuscript of an additional law review article.

It was the most productive time in my life as a writer.  More importantly, as demanding and as difficult as the projects were, I was in flow most of the time.  I had to draw on resources of patience and persistence.  I did lose my temper twice during the book chapter writing process when the editor expected me to rewrite over 800 footnotes from the Bluebook citation format to two types of citation formats required by the Chicago Manual of Style.

The list I created this morning also had twelve works-in-progress for which I have done most of the research.   Looks like I will continue to produce books and law review articles in Thailand.

My publications clearly identify me as an expert in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Teaching:  I consistently get positive feedback from my students in student evaluations.  They know I work hard for them and expect them to meet my expectations.  This past semester, after getting the news of my impending retirement, I decided to make the semester easier on me and the students.  Structural changes in the Legal Writing program contributed to this new attitude.  Since joining Qatar University College of Law, the course I teach has gotten increasingly demanding.  Those changes included: cuts in faculty support; less writing time in the classroom; increasing enrollments in each section of the course; and a requirement that we teach three courses a semester for a total of 18 teaching hours per year.  We also offer six hours of office hours a week, which I expand as students reach the end of the course. 

At the end of this past semester, the female students sent me off with flowers, a red velvet cake, thank you notes, and selfies.

Taken together, this past semester was exhausting.  As a result, I plan to make my last semester at QU a better balance between the required work for me and the needs of students.

Support:  I kept my promises to support my well-being.  I took the Dutch Test and then worked with my menopause coach, Anna Garrett, to assess my hormone levels and re-adjust my supplement regime.  I completed all necessary medical visits, including a colonoscopy that revealed a pre-cancerous polyp.  Phew!

I also talked with my financial planner, Carrie Van Winkle, about my retirement plans and funds.

I kept my weekly massage appointment most weeks, even though my masseuse changed after Mena, my Thai therapist, found a job at a competing hotel.  My Russian massage therapist, Irinia, is taking good care of me and has resolved some hip and back issues.

My housekeeper, Kay, continues to come at least twice a month.

I lost 50 pounds.  I quit drinking alcohol and coffee.  I am eating a low-carb diet.  I feel great.

What Didn't Happen?

Community Service:  My focus on community service clearly suffered because my attention was on scholarship.  I have wanted to build a mediation community in Qatar, but have not done so.  I have made some smaller contributions to support mediators and arbitrators in the region.

Vacations:   I took only one vacation this year.  I used the winter break to work on my book chapters.  I also used the money I saved to pay the taxes and the last bit of debt I had.  During spring break, I went to Goa, India with my gym buddy and met with one of the Indian diplomats whose mother had been part of the Indian CIA-equivalent spy agency.  We stayed in a very posh resort, and I went to the adjacent spa for yoga and massage nearly every day of that week. 

I rested during the summer after some surgery.  I spent most of those summer months trying to figure out Medicare as an expat retiree.  What a brain twister!  To help me feel less wistful about my travel-free academic breaks, I kept reminding myself that as a retiree in Thailand, I would be taking frequent "vacations" to countries in Asia.

Support:   Sadly, a big part of my support system melted away this past year.  I lost my gym buddies, Andrea and Whitney, and never found a replacement.  Despite that, and my hectic teaching schedule,  I still got to the gym two to three times a week.

One of my best friends, Jessica, also left Doha after marrying a guy I introduced her to.

These departures came on the heels of the departure of my original gym buddy, Heidi, a very funny friend named Steve, and another QU friend named Kay.

Worse yet, my beloved book club blew up -- twice!  I tried to prevent the first blow up and was the likely cause of the second one.

Because of my impending move, I have not tried to replace these friends.  Instead, I have tried to take advantage of the friends I still have in Doha.

My evening routine is still not as healthy as I would prefer.  I will work on that in the coming year as my stress levels rise because of the impending international move.

How Did my Words for the Year Open me Up?

I am not sure what information this questions seeks, but I'll try to answer it.

My scholarly activity reminded me how much I enjoy the research and writing process.  It made me open to the idea that I will write what I want in retirement just for the sheer joy of it.  In the past few months, I thought of Aaliya, the 72-year old Lebanese protagonist in the book, An Unnecessary Woman by Rabih Alameddine.  I could live out my days writing just what I wanted to write -- about whatever sparks my curiosity.  No other demands on my time. No worries about any potential audience. 

My expertise as a teacher makes it easier for me to contemplate two post-retirement projects involving on-line instruction.  Supportive people keep me focused on these projects and will help me in the future.  More about those projects later.  

My loss of friends and community have made me more appreciative of my need for that emotional support.  I will be mindful in retirement to build the support system I need to thrive.  If I get it right, I will have quiet, productive time writing and teaching, interspersed with engaged conversation and entertainment.  I hope I get it right. 

All of which leads me back to my word for 2020: Transition.  A year from now, I'll assess how that word served me.