Perhaps this hasn’t escaped your attention, but I’m not exactly a Type-A person.
My cousin’s wife is. We graduated the same year and she got a great job after college and by 26, owned a 3-story home off Allen Parkway. Me? By 26, I’d been laid off twice, tried but failed to get in to grad school, had a job I hated and was living in a microscopic efficiency. My cousin’s wife met all of our extended family one time and knows all their names, ages and birthdays. I don’t know half their names. My cousin’s wife would say she had certain goals- to have a house, be married and have a baby by 30. Then she would laugh but I think she was serious. She got married at 29 and pregnant a few weeks later.
When my super-duper awesome friend backed out of the job I just applied for, I was shocked because I thought she would be a perfect fit. But she has other goals. And one of the reasons she listed was that she could stay in our metro and help guide it as we open new locations, etc. It never once occurred to me to feel ownership of the city. My workplace? YES. But that’s where it ended. This girl has goals and outlines and priorities.
Me? I have feelings.
I mean, I have goals. I want to pay off my debt. I want to buy a new Honda Fit. I want a house with a pool. I want to have kids. I want to have an awesome garden. I want to travel. I want Dave and me to have fulfilling jobs, preferably ones that pay well.
And that’s it. I don’t really have any work-related goals, or, I do but they’re vague. Like to work my current job, but in another town, NYC or maybe DC, maybe Colorado. Maybe move up to the corporate level of designing. But that also terrifies me because I haven’t had to come up with actual design from scratch in years.
Anyway, they say that if you write something down, like on a To Do list, you’re 500x more likely to achieve it. (Or whatEVER it is they really say.) And I’m inspired by Mighty Girl, who said creating her Life List has actually changed her life. (And Intel is now sponsoring her to actually do some of those things, so go Maggie!)
So I’m going to make a life list. I’ll post it as a page on my blog. Maybe I DON’T want to be a CEO of anything, or Top Sales whatever, or have to own a suit other than a bathing suit (or 10). But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be working toward something, at least. So here goes. I’ll cross them off and date them as I finish them and remove ones when I change my mind.
In 2007 I attended a CEO (collegiate entrepreneurs organization) conference in Chicago. While I was there I (partied my ass off) attended a “motivational keynote speaker” by the name of Ryan Allis who is a huge advocate of setting goals. As cliche as his speech was a lot of it has stayed with me till today.
I will leave you with a passage from Ryan …
“The common denominator among every single highly driven and successful person I have ever
met, regardless of field, is that they have committed their goals to writing and created a purpose driven life. It is my belief that every passionate individual can benefit tremendously from creating a Personal Goals List, Chief Definitive Purpose and Personal Mission Statement written and posted where they sleep.
Don’t be afraid to set your goals high, as often you’ll learn new thing and meet new people along the way that will allow you to accomplish things you may think impossible today. Further if you shoot for the stars, you’ll land on the tree tops – but if you shoot for the tree tops you’ll land in the mud pit. “”
To date, there is one thing I have learned that is more meaningful and rewarding than meeting those goals: experiencing every step you take to meet those goals – I mean really truly living in each and every moment along the journey. Thanks for reminding me!