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Category Archives: Goals
Girls, Boys and Magazine Covers
What happens when you click on a Facebook link, then work backwards clicking on links in various blog posts? You find yourself thinking about things that hadn’t crossed your mind in a long time – like marketing and stereotypes and what we’re teaching kids. Here’s a picture comparison of current magazines at a county library, posted originally on Facebook: Just what is that telling our girls? As writer Michele Yulo said at Women You Should Know, “You can read the copy and pretty much figure out that according to this magazine—a girl’s top priority is to “Wake Up Pretty”, and a boy’s is to “Explore Your Future.” A colleague of hers, graphic designer Katherine Young, was just as appalled. So Ms. Young re-did the Girls’ Life cover to encourage girls in things far more important and life-altering than hair and fashion. (The new cover girl is Olivia Hallisey, who won the … Continue reading
Posted in Awesome Womanhood, Goals, Home & Family, Misc
Tagged gender stereotypes, Girls Life cover, girls' goals, Jennifer Jensen, Katherine Young, Michele Yulo, stereotypes
3 Comments
Time, Habits & Investing: Are We Undermining Ourselves?
Like most of the world, my life is filled with good and bad habits, which lead to good and bad situations. Awesome things like writing a book or helping someone through a tough time are inevitably counterbalanced by things like a chaotic house or the pressure of not enough time. A recent blog post by social media guru Kristen Lamb really struck home with me, not just with writing, but with many of my daily frustrations. Here’s an excerpt, with Kristen’s text in green: Are We Undermining Our Own Writing Success? I rarely reread books, namely because there are so many new titles I want to consume and only so many hours in the day. But, there are a handful of books I read and reread namely because they are areas I struggle in and so reinforcement is tremendously helpful. The three books I seem to cycle through the most are … Continue reading
Posted in Goals, Guest Blogs, WRITING
Tagged habits, Jennifer Jensen, Kristen Lamb, prioritize, stupid tax, time management, to-do list
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Graduation Day: A Son Finds His Road in Life
My best Mother’s Day gift this year was the realization, once again, of the joy of watching my children find their passion. This is what we did yesterday: Bryan, my oldest son, received his Bachelor’s in English – a long first step on his way to becoming a university professor. It’s been hard to watch sometimes – after exploring Chemistry Ed, English Ed, English Lit, Accounting, Poly Sci and who knows what else, I sometimes despaired that I would ever hear the passion in his voice that he needs to have for his life’s vocation. And he despaired of taking so long and still not knowing what he wanted to do. Through these years, though, he found he does want to teach, just not high school. And he’s discovered that he’s definitely not into 19th Century Literature enough to do a doctorate in either American or British Lit. On the … Continue reading
Posted in Goals, Home & Family, TAKE JOY!
Tagged Beowulf, Bryan Jensen, career choices, college, Dante, English degree, English literature, IUPUI, Jennifer Jensen, Life goals, parenting, Shakespeare
4 Comments
No 2015 New Year’s Resolutions for Me!
I love lists, and always have. I love goals, and always have. Which means that I grew up thinking New Year’s Resolutions must have been created with me in mind. (The phrase “it’s all about me” was also probably created with me in mind!) I don’t think I ever included reading books in my childhood resolutions because I read constantly anyway, but my lists did have things like Earn Girl Scout Badges and Win 1st or 2nd at Horse Shows. As a young adult, I included things like Lose 10 Pounds and Keep a Journal. (Hmm, I’m still trying to do those!) Parenting school-age children, my goals were Keep School Papers Organized and Have Family Home Evening Weekly. Last year made a change. I realized that because I’m easily motivated, I’m setting goals like these all through the year – New Year’s Resolutions were just another occasion to set new … Continue reading
Posted in Goals
Tagged 2015, balance, Jennifer Jensen, life balance, New Year's Resolutions, power of words, word for the year
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2015 TBR Pile Challenge
I’ve never included reading goals in my new year’s resolutions because I read voraciously anyway. (Which is how I know words like voraciously.) And I’ve never followed a reading list challenge because I like to read what I’m in the mood for at the time. I also like re-reading books. I’ve seen some interesting reading challenges, though. One started as a “Read England” challenge and spawned a “Read America” challenge, the idea being to read a book set in each English county or American state. I might do that someday, but the one that caught my eye for right now is one that focuses on my TBR Pile. For the uninitiated, TBR means “To Be Read,” and most readaholics have full e-readers and piles of unread print books. “So many books, so little time” seems to be our slogan. My bookcases are often double-stacked – no surprise there – but … Continue reading