After writing so much about goals, including the New Year’s post yesterday, I have, of course, been asked what my goals are. Well here you go!:
Personal:
- Exercise at least one hour a week (not including all the walking I do). Hey, like I always say, start small! The quickest way for me to fail is to say “exercise 3 days a week!”
- Read two books per month. One fiction, one non-fiction (It’s been a while since I’ve read any fiction cover to cover)
- Get 6-8 hours of sleep each night
- Have one FULL day off from work or ANYTHING work related each week.
- Get better at saying NO.
Professional:
- Work with clients 4 – 5 days a week
- Spend one day each week writing for all outlets I am published through
- Cultivate at least 3 joint ventures
- Delegate anything I possibly can.
- Consistently have a minimum of 2 events per month for my networking group.
- Create a marketing plan for the year
- Develop a semi-formal board of advisors
- Reorganize all my business cards
- Join 1 to 2 additional professional networks
- Drop out of 2 – 3 ineffective networking groups or groups that are in areas I don’t want to travel to
This is just a snippet of my goals list. I have a lot more! Some are way to personal for me to want to post here (sorry!) Some can be done in minutes, some will take all year. Others won’t take long, but they have to happen at a specific time. The key to the goals I set is that they are reasonable. I think it is fantastic to dream big – I do all the time, but the actual goals I set are attainable.
It is unrealistic to expect that I could buy a house this year. But I could start saving for one. I could say “I want to meet 10 new people every day.” Certainly doable, but at what cost? How in depth would these meetings be? What quality of contact am I looking for? I could walk up to any Starbucks and introduce myself to 10 people in line that I have no intent of speaking to again. Or, I could sacrifice time normally set aside for clients to attend events where I can meet different people. A more appropriate goal for me would be “add two additional key players to my network each month that I would feel confident referring people to.” Another option “attend one event each month where I don’t know anyone in attendance.” Could I sort and purge every area of my apartment on Monday? Sure, if I cancel my client and meetings. Instead, why don’t I pick an area to tackle each day this week?
I’m excited about my goals because WHEN I achieve them, they all play a part in driving me closer to the ideal vision I have for my life. I hope you have some fantastic goals for yourself and that you really strive to achieve them.
- Alaia
“I’m excited about my goals because WHEN I achieve them, they all play a part in driving me closer to the ideal vision I have for my life.”—This is a great perspective and I completely agree! Staying focused with how YOU want to live YOUR life is sometimes hard, but if you have a list of goals, that list keeps you on track and motivated to continue to LIVE life and not just let it pass you by. I think it’s equally important and essential listing and accomplishing goals no matter how long, short, big or small they are because the little accomplishments are what fuel your fire to reach the bigger ones. Good luck with your 2009 goals and keep up the great writing!
Thank you! And thanks for commenting. I definitely agree that it is important to even track the smallest of accomplishments – more important than one might think initially.
Hi there – I just saw this post and thought – wow it is nearly march – how ARE our goals coming along. I made a decision the other day, that I need to do a whole load of things such as drink water, go for a short walk/jump on my trampoline/ write something in my diary/sit and meditation BEFORE I TURN ON MY COMPUTER TO WORK.
So far I have managed to keep it up and it really sets me up for the day. I hope you have kept your goals up. Love your work!