Cheri Dixon: A Girl and Her Dog

Welcome back, y’all! As most of you know by now, I am definitely one of those GenXer’s! I was born in the 70’s, grew up in the 80″s, and found my adult self in the 90″s. As someone who longed for leadership opportunities and on a continual path of learning and bettering myself, it will not surprise you that I think I read all of the self-help books before self-help books were the thing! I did the Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Spencer Johnson, Dale Carengie, John Gray…the list goes on and on!

I remember one, however, titled “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”…which was purchased for me by a friend, but I will admit…I never read it. She meant well giving me this gift, as she wanted me to begin my journey to being a recovering perfectionist…and thought this would help. At the time, I guess I wasn’t ready to let that go, and the book got put on a shelf, eventually in a box, and did not survive the last few moves in my life. I am quite sure this is an excellent book…and I am sure that it would have been a great read for me. I really do wish I still had it on my shelf, as lately I have really been thinking about the small stuff…the small details that I believe you need to focus on at times in your life in order to make big changes later in life!

As you also know, I am currently an elementary principal. Being in the state of Texas, we must focus and ensure that our schools make the required marks in regard to the accountability system, based on student performance on standardized assessments. I have had years when my students have done amazing, and then I have experienced dips in performance that have caused us to receive embarrassing ratings that I have had to justify to upper admin and the community. Last school year, however, we saw something amazing happen…and it do not happen by chance! We spent time really thinking through the big things, especially after the pandemic years, but I switched gears a bit with my team and began to get them to understand how important the small things are…and they do really matter. Long story short, we hit a very high rating, which was great for us, as I lead a challenging campus, and now we are shooting for the top rating, again paying attention to the small details!

Which brings me to my point of today’s blog post…small details matter…especially when you are working toward big changes! Here is what I tell people all of the time. It is so hard to go 0 to 60. Change like that is not the most easily sustainable. I find, and use in my own life, if you make a big goal, give yourself some small steps/milestones along the way. This not only helps you stay on track with your goals, but it also gives you times of celebration along the way. This makes everything that much more attainable!

Let’s think back to when I decided to build my dream home. I knew I was going to have to make a few big changes in order to ensure that my savings account supported a purchase as big as this…and yes, I am an avid shopper, so that took work! I also knew that mortgage companies look at everything! Way back even 2 years…maybe that is because I was a “single woman”? Anyway, I needed to keep everything on track. I wanted the best interest rate…I wanted the best loan options…and I wanted my dream home. So, I put the big goal in place, and then each month, I had a milestone set that I knew would get me to the next level and keep me on track.

Half marathon training is not different. Once I know when I am starting, and when I am running, I can develop the plan to ensure I make my goal in the end, but also my weekly run mileage goal…my monthly goals…and feel good about attaining the final goal in January each year.

So, as you can see…I do use this method in so many areas of my life. Which makes me feel confident that I can recommend to you…sweat the small things…as the small things add up to the big things in the long run! This is your challenge for the week! Until next time! Cheri ❤️