My 2022 Goals & Visions
In addition to the concrete goals I’m working towards this year, I’m also sharing the vision for why the goals exist in the first place. I find a vision to be much more motivating than a goal, but a goal to be much easier to act upon than a vision.
My 2022 Vision
I called 2022 my “Year of the Worksheet.” I wish I had made worksheets my priority sooner. This was one of my most prolific and profitable years yet. I published more products and produced more creative work than any other year before and I worked less hours than I ever have before in order to be present to the family. The focus on worksheets also let me to make connections with new people. It helped me stand out for a unique skill instead of being just any other author.
Professional Goals:
559,542/1,000,000 words for kids (A part of my #1millionwordsforkids goal) (+3,887 words)
I see a kid putting into action something they read in a book. They are trying to overcome a challenge in a new way with a positive attitude. She surprises her parents and explains where she learned it: that book by Jared Dees. (Or: that worksheet…that video…that exercise with Jared Dees.)
796/1,000 Resources (Videos/Worksheets) for Members of The Religion Teacher (+16 resources)
I see a teacher showing The Religion Teacher videos and using worksheets that get kids thinking and praying in class. They experience something with those resources that keeps them thinking the rest of the day: an encounter with Christ. The teacher returns to lesson planning feeling less overwhelmed and more excited to teach the next class.
Personal Goals:
11/24 Books Read (+4 books including Tattoos on the Heart, The Old Man and the Sea, Ego is the Enemy, and The Obstacle is the Way)
I see myself talking to friends and family about some of my favorite books.
14/100 Non-fiction Books Started & Skimmed (+5 including After Virtue, 1-2-3 Magic, Fast This Way, and Food Fix)
I see myself talking about non-fiction books on social media and during interviews because these books helped me improve my life and create my own work.
52/73 Books of the Bible read from beginning to end (+2 books read)
I see myself reading the daily readings with a new perspective remembering the experience of reading the entire Bible.
16/100 30-minute workouts (+7 workouts)
I see myself working out often and having more energy and happiness around my kids and at the computer for work.
22/200 word vocabulary to learn American Sign Language (+2 words)
I see my son and I having conversations in sign language during our one-on-one time during the day.
How I Spent My Time in March 2022
I track every minute of time I spend working on projects using an app called Toggl (here is why). Here is a list of the top ten projects I spent the most time on last month:
- 11:17 – The Religion Teacher Email & Customer Service
- 8:16 – Morning Preview
- 7:59 – The Religion Teacher’s Church History Worksheet Collection
- 7:25 – The Religion Teacher YouTube Videos & Member Videos
- 6:51 – Daily Review
- 4:28 – Weekly Review
- 4:17 – 2021 Taxes & Accounting
- 3:33 – Career Day Talk
- 3:25 – @jareddees Social Media
- 2:51 – Formative Fiction Worksheets
Total Time: 83:28 Hours
March 2022 Highlights & Lessons Learned
1 Worksheet/Day = 20+ Worksheets/Month
My vision for the year focuses on worksheets, which is why I am setting one simple goal for each day: one worksheet. While just one page seems like too little, I now have a large backlog of worksheets to publish. I completed a new collection of Church History worksheets, which has been requested often by members of The Religion Teacher. I also created graphic organizers for member classroom videos and worksheets based on books that teach life lessons. There will now be more than 800 resources available to members of The Religion Teacher.
I reread The Old Man and the Sea last month on a whim and then worked on a few worksheets for the book that I’m very proud of making. The book was one of my favorites as a kid and it was fun to revisit it with the perspective of a teacher and parent. It was fun to branch out and create a different kind of worksheet.
Social Media Planning without Posting
I spent a lot of time on what I categorized as social media last month, but I published almost nothing. This has been a constant struggle for a very long time now. I feel the pull to post more often, but I haven’t set up the system to make it work.
Much of this time was really dedicated to an idea I had to focus on habits and virtues. As I create more worksheets, I’m interested in branching out to other areas and virtues seem to be the most important and most logical connection.
Much of this work is spilling into some experiments with LinkedIn, which I will share in next month’s report.
Career Day Talk
I volunteered to speak at career day for my daughter’s school. It was a really fun experience. I led them in an exercise to think about a career in the “creator economy.” They picked a medium and then brainstormed ten ideas for videos, books, songs, and pictures to create.
As you might imagine from middle school students, most of the questions centered around YouTube. The kids have all seen my videos in their religion classes so they thought of me as a YouTuber. Video was the most popular content choice and they asked great questions about the creative process and how to make money from videos. I was surprised, but very few of them have dreams of becoming an author some day. Most of them were more interested in the kinds of content they interact with the most: video, music, and illustrations.
