frankly speaking

Making Goals More Manageable

Setting goals this time of year has become pretty cliche. That said, very few people who don’t set goals for themselves rarely do anything of significance in their lives. With that in mind, I think we can all agree that it’s important to set some sort of goal for yourself, no matter how big or small.

I set a lot of goals last year - 10 in total. I didn’t accomplish all of them, but I got to most of them. As I wrote earlier, some of them forced me to change, while others forced me to become better.

This year, I’m changing my approach a little. Thanks to my friend Dave (read his post here), I too have decided to focus narrowing the list of things I want to accomplish. Instead of focusing on 10 or even 5 things I want to do, I’m drastically cutting down the number of goals I want to accomplish.

This year, I’m focusing on 3 things in my personal life, and 1 thing in my professional life. The key obviously, is when I accomplish these things, I want to do them really, really well. I want to focus on the details and make sure that come this time next year, I can review the things I set out to accomplish and say to myself, “Damn, I really nailed that.”

Comments (View)

Date: 12.27.11 Time: 16:15 PM
Permalink

Reflections on 2011

2010 was not a good year for me. I’ll spare you the details, suffice to say that the year ended with a thud. My professional life was spiraling out of control fast, so fast in fact that it was beginning to affect my personal life. I was unsure of where I wanted to be and where I wanted to go.

What a difference a year makes.

I’ve spent the last few days reflecting on 2011 and specifically reviewing all of the professional and personal goals that I set out to attain. I can’t say that I checked every one of them off the list, but I came pretty damn close. I can say that at the end of this year, I’m heading in the exact opposite direction as I was heading in at the end of 2010.

So, what changed?

During the first few months of the year, I consciously rededicated my life to living up to ethics and morals that were taught to me while growing up, regardless of what it would cost me. I made some some changes in my personal life that resulted in unexpected positive outcomes in my professional life.

I know this post is pretty cryptic and it was kind of meant to be that way. The point of it is to say that when you focus on change, and most of all changing for the right reasons, it can result in positive things that you never thought possible.

I’m also trying to say that no matter where you are in life, you can always make a decision to change. Whether things are going well for you, or your back is up against the wall. You have the power to change. The outcomes that result will not always be favorable, but the key is to learn how you got to those outcomes and adjust as necessary.

Tags: untagged

Comments (View)

Date: 12.11.11 Time: 12:44 PM
Permalink