18 Goals for LSL Professionals

Setting significant personal and professional goals enable us to continue growing as LSL practitioners. Read the 18 goal suggestions we’re encouraging for LSL professionals to implement for professional and personal growth!

It’s been said that winning at work and succeeding in life go hand and hand. Goals concern the things that matter most to us including our health, wealth, relationships, and professional development and service. We know from our LSL practice that setting goals is the first step in meeting our professional goals, and, just like with the LSL families we guide and coach, the best goals are measurable and have clear metrics to track. There is power and confidence in accomplishing the milestones we set for ourselves!

Here’s a list of goal suggestions for LSL professionals to aim for!

1. Set BIG goals. Big goals require peak performance. Challenging goals are far more likely to generate sustained enthusiasm and higher levels of performance. Simply stated, we get more out if we put more in.
   
   
2. Do less to achieve more. If we plan to actively contribute and interact in a professional community, attend a conference, take an online professional learning course, declutter our office, get in shape, get out of debt, AND get ready for the new baby all at the same time, we'll fail. Prioritize and set deadlines to increase focus. Tackle only a couple goals to make real progress. And then, give it all you've got for that task until it's done.
   
   
3. Commit. As LSL professionals we choose “One day or day one.” - Unknown
   
   
4. Track progress. It’s wise to choose a tool to record our goals, hold us accountable, show progress and serve as a place to check off completion (which is highly motivating in itself). A digital or paper planner keeps us on track whether our goals occur yearly, monthly, weekly or daily.
   
   
5. Celebrate accomplishments. A simple way to stick with new professional and personal habits and goals is to reward ourselves whenever we hit a milestone or achieve a specific goal. This increases motivation by having something to look forward and makes it easier to stick with a habit. Keep in mind that about a month is all the time we need to make a habit automatic!
   
   
6. Reflect and realign. Regularly review and video record your LSL intervention sessions to determine what’s working, what needs to be adjusted or what to improve on. “We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience.” - John Dewey
   
   
7. Become a lifelong learner with specific goals and accountability measures. “Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.” ―Abigail Adams. 2018 can be our best year yet to stretch and advance our LSL practices. This may encompass presenting at a conference, grant writing, sharing your wealth of experience as a blogger, other professional writing opportunities, or simply meeting up with another professional and sharing over a cup of coffee.
   
   
8. Reserve time for reading blog posts, journal articles and LSL publications, so these valuable resources don’t just stack up and become forgotten. Look through past content and resources at HearingFirst.org and in the Professional Learning Community. You can also keep track of reading goals and progress with phone and tablet apps, like GoodReads.
   
   
9. Connect with LSL colleagues in the Hearing First Professional Learning Community. Set a notification or calendar reminder to check in each day. Plan to share thoughts, ideas, new skills, and learning encounters from LSL intervention sessions. Through connection, colleagues can become friends and confidants who advance LSL practice.
   
   
10. Commit to community engagement. Set benchmark goals to move along the continuum of engagement in the Professional Learning Community. Try to move from that of a Lurker who visits infrequently, or reads but does not participate, to a Novice who seeks to learn how to participate and become an LSL Insider.
    
    
11. Join a Hearing First Learning Experience. Participate in interactive online opportunities and learning experiences that are available to advance your knowledge and connect with fellow lifelong learners at Hearing First.
    
    
12. Share the LSL Journey. Invite a colleague who is unfamiliar that LSL makes it possible for children who are deaf or hard of hearing to learn to listen and talk to investigate the Hearing First website or attend an LSL intervention session.
    
    
13. Engage in Social Media platforms. Set a goal to engage on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. These online platforms are a pulse in 2018 and can expand the voice of LSL, so the possibilities of LSL reach other families and the general public. You have to know about LSL to choose LSL.
    
    
14. Talk less. Talking less and listening more is the lifelong quest of an LSL professional. Set goals to intentionally become a better listener this year. Listening means just that, listening to the families we guide and coach without offering opinions, judgments, suggestions, or solutions out of the gate.
    
    
15. Seek to “Walk gently, and be brave.” ― Eleanor Brownn. Guiding and coaching families along their LSL journey while collaborating with colleagues takes courage, faith, kindness, and love.
    
    
16. Be grateful to be an LSL professional and part of a greater team which makes it possible for children who are deaf or hard of hearing to learn to listen and talk, which powers language, literacy and lifetime success. “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” ― Melody Beattie
    
    
17. Laugh. When it comes to relieving stress, more giggles and laughter is a great form of stress relief, and that's no joke. Check out the Kids Say The Darndest Things conversation in the Professional Learning Community. A sense of humor is essential as it is “part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done." - Dwight D. Eisenhower
    
    
18. Rest and rejuvenate. We can’t be our best unless we rest. Downtime from the referrals, evaluations and daily intervention sessions is necessary to stay healthy and be effective as an LSL professional.

We want to hear from you! What are the goals you’re setting for yourself as an LSL professional this year? Join the Professional Learning Community and share your goals for growth in the new year.