Dear September,
I'm well aware that I'm late in writing to you. We're six days together now, after all. However, belated is always better than never, and it just so happens that I want to talk.
I will begin with an ode to the past. August was, quite simply, beyond words. It was full of amazing people, fantastic happenings... I'm quite sorry to have left it. At the same time, however, I'm excited. I believe, like Augustus Waters, that I'm on a rollercoaster that only goes up. If that's what August brought, then I'm excited to see what you, September, will offer.
Currently, my diary looks strangely empty. I have quite a bit planned for next week, but after that it goes blank. However, I know from experience that this happens, and that come this time next week the following week will be pretty full, and so on and so forth. I am not really worried about having nothing to fill my time with. What I am more worried about is getting nowhere. Although I do a lot, I often forget to sit down, to look at where I've come from and where I'm going. It's far too easy to get caught up, and to leave no time to evaluate. This is the main reason I'm writing to you, September. I want to set some goals, to decide where I want to be by the time we part.
To do this, I'm utilising the 'SMART' framework. Each of my goals is going to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. This should make it easier to look back at the end of the month, and to decide whether I've completed my goals or not. Here goes, September!:
1- By the end of this month, I want to have increased my 'Branching Out' page to have five posts. One of these will come from PBG; the other two will require looking for other blogs that accept guest posts. This is important (and relevant) because it will increase my experience as a blogger, and will mean that my blogging presence expands slightly. I really want to make this blog into more of something, and guest blogging is one way to do that.
2- Come the beginning of October, I want to have survived the initial 'assessment period' of A levels. The first few weeks are used to decide whether all students are competent to take the course- if not, then transfers and dropping becomes relevant. I'm not seeing this as an option, and I'm determined to take all four of my subjects onwards. This is important for my future studies as it affects what I do for the rest of this year, and, ultimately, how many A levels I end up with.
3- Having literally just received my Level Two swimming certificate, I can now plan using this! I've found a website that will allow me to look for swim teaching jobs quite easily. However, this does require some work on my part as I'll need to have my CV up to date. Therefore, by the end of this month I want to have a working account on this website. I also want to have specifically applied for two jobs, though they needn't necessarily be swimming related. This will mean that I am on track to getting a job, which will hopefully eventually give me more independence, mean that I have a small bit of income and be my entry into the world of work.
4- As I'm catching the bus A LOT at the moment, I really need to sort out getting a monthly bus pass. This will be cheaper if I have a student bus pass, which requires a student card. Therefore, by the beginning of October, I am going to have definitely applied for my student card and, if that's come through, then also have applied for my student bus pass. It would be amazing if I could also get my monthly bus pass by then, but that's really dependent on how long things take to come through really. This will save money, and make my parents that little bit happier.
5- Sometime this month I'm going to have to have a bit of a difficult conversation with someone. I both want to have this conversation, and really don't want to have this conversation. Therefore, I'm putting it as one of my goals, so that I can be proud of myself for getting it done, even if I don't feel great about the rest of it. This is important for lots of reasons that I'm not going to go into, and it will be a weight off of my shoulders when it's done!
So there you go September. Be nice to me, won't you? x