Our lives are composed of precious minutes, weeks, days, months, and years. The start of a new year provides a sterling opportunity to self-reflect and live a better story. EastLife asked a cross-section of high achievers what they look forward to most in 2024 and what they hope to achieve in the next three months.
The timing is perfect to start afresh with a new sense of direction that allows us to chart out our goals. Neuroscientists suggest that more than a New Year’s resolution that is too hard to accomplish, it may be easier to break them up into three monthly, bite-sized, more achievable goals.
Creating a vision board, overcoming limiting beliefs and having a more focussed action plan, can help us move closer to specific goals, anchored in a timeframe. As you commit to making your goals a reality, don’t forget to celebrate your success.
Ted Waters
- Restauranteur, Co-owner of The Apothecary, Daisy Chang, Piggy Bar and Dispensa
› I look forward to a more united Howick Village. Have all business owners more connected and to assist the village in being a more attractive place to visit business. Owners are the creatives.
› Create more events that Howick locals enjoy.
› Play better golf!
Alan McIntyre
- Principal Owairoa Primary School
My personal goals for 2024:
› Time to declutter and get more focus on work / life balance.
› People and memories are more important than physical things.
› Spend more time on creative expressions, and communing with nature.
› Understand and appreciate the importance of the family.
› Continue to show gratitude to others, daily, for what we have.
School wide goals:
› Welcoming new students and families to the school.
› Enjoy the inclusion of international students in our school.
› Provide a safe, stable, and well organised school for our students, parents and community.
› Provide support for families and the wider community
› Get students settled back into school and encourage full attendance at school.
› Grateful for our new 18 classroom block and excitement for the upgrade of a further classroom block happening now.
Yolande Franke
- Principal Somerville Intermediate School
My focus for the first three months of each school year is to ensure our new students (and parents) have a smooth and happy transition. When half of the school is new each year, the focus is on fostering our positive and inclusive school culture, developing shared ownership by demonstrating school values and encouraging students to embrace the many, varied opportunities available.
Our key goals are focused on authentic connections with:
› Local iwi, Ngai Tai ki Tāmaiki.
› Community groups and industries as we further embrace STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math). A group of students will be going to Space Camp in December which is a new opportunity, and all teachers will have access to Space Industry experts to create learning experiences for students.
› The Sir John Kirwan Foundation (Mitey) to strengthen our whole school approach to wellbeing.
› … and as it is each year, writing, particularly boys’ writing.
› I am excited about finally being able to take up a professional learning opportunity that came as a result of the NEiTA Leadership Award at the end of 2018. An opportunity that was delayed due to a shift to Somerville Intermediate and Covid. I’m looking forward to attending a conference in the UK where the focus is on principal leadership internationally and strategies to develop social emotional learning and a prosocial culture, something that over several years, our research has shown, is one of the key areas affecting student wellbeing.
Lexie Palmer
- General Manager Howick Historical Village
With the generous support of Howick Local Board and Auckland Council, as well as grant funding from Lion Foundation, Four Winds, Foundation North, R.A. Bell Trust, Arts out East, and NSTP, 2023 was a banner year for Howick Historical Village with our highest number of visitors in over two decades! In these first few months of 2024, we will:
› Roll out some of our redesigned educational programming in Term 1 to more robustly address relationships between and amongst tangata whenua and settlers;
› Install new signs around the grounds to provide context and background for our heritage landscaping; and
› Re-open our newly repaired Sod Cottage and Broidy’s Raupō Cottage to our visitors. Over time, their natural, unprocessed materials have been slowly decomposing, and they were thus closed to the public for over a year. With the generous backing of Viva La Dirt League, and the hard work of our Facilities Team and Board member, Ian Gibson, both structures will now be back online.
› In the year ahead, we are excited about upcoming collaborations, learning new stories, and welcoming new and old friends into our space!
Aimee Scott
- Owner Aimz Fitness Ltd
As a health professional I’m looking forward to assisting our community as individuals to help them find the best path to health and wellness. Every choice we make is a vote either to move us ‘Towards’ our goals, or ‘Away’ from them. It’s up to us to create meaningful goals that we can be consistent with. It’s all too easy to kickstart a ‘new year, new me’ mentality. The real challenge lies in creating sustainable habits that last a lifetime.
For bigger goals I’ll do the following:
› Get clear on the WHY – why do I want to achieve this goal.
› Work backwards – my overall goal is big, so what small daily habits do I need to implement to work towards that big goal.
› Make it easy – surround myself with the right people to make it happen, dive into the right environment to make it happen.
› Be resilient – challenges and setbacks will always come up. How am I going to keep working towards my big goal when those occur?
