Before I do that, I'd like to share a cool website I just joined today, www.43things.com. It lets you write down your goals, both short and long term and then let's you connect with others who have the same goal. Everything I've read about goal setting is that writing down your goals is the first step, as once they are written down you can focus on how to get there!
Overall the site is really good. The site would be 5/5 but mainly due to it's poor use of Facebook Connect I would give it a 4/5.
Pros
- Easy to sign up (using Facebook connect)
- Simple interface. Type in a goal or search for goals others are trying to achieve
- Easy to share your goals with anyone
- It is empowering to see others who have completed the goal you are trying to complete. Success breeds success.
Cons
- When you first sign up and you are entering a lot of goals, it spams your Facebook wall pretty hard
- The setting that would prevent you from spamming your wall does not allow you to change the "auto post" functionality
- There is no way to filter who see's your Facebook wall spam (as you can with status updates)
So with that, here's the brief update on how I'm doing against My 2011 Goals
1- Accelerate the new found love for my body. Unfortunately, this is probably where I'm having the most trouble. I have continued to eat healthy and it has had some really great benefits, including a very clean bill of health from some recent blood work. Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, and Blood sugar were all in perfect condition while my BMI is a bit off track (shocker, I know). The BMI piece is really being held back by me not going to the gym enough, which has been caused by a combination of factors. The reality is that there is no excuse, and I committed to going to the gym 3 times/week. I'm not going to go soft on myself for this one. All I can do is recognize the reasons why I'm not going to the gym enough and fix them.
Step 1- quit making up excuses. (too tired, busy, sore, blah, blah, blah)
2- Live in another country. As I said before, this goal is not something I can directly work on, but I can form many of my actions and contexts around this goal to help it along. At work I've already been onboarding to some of the great projects happening in the US that I have never worked on before. It's going to be a challenge to take on this new work, but I'm excited to learn more about the US marketplace and retailer environment even more deeply. On the personal side, I've been reading a lot about investing in foreign countries, as well as some US tax law. From what I can tell, US tax law is a heck of a lot more confusing than Canadian tax law, but if you can do the required research, you can really set yourself up for long term success.
Here's a fun example; did you know that each of the 50 US states has a different savings program for your child's education? Also, did you know that it doesn't matter what state you live in, you can register for any of the savings programs you want? Neither did I. :)
3-Help others more than they help me. I'm not going to be able to claim victory on this goal for many many years, but I think I can share some of the things I've done to help others. Funny part is, the more I give, the more I get.
- I helped my gym, Crossfit Quantum, move from their old location down the strip mall to a larger, much more awesome location. This pic in this post I took while we were moving the barbell racks. A bunch of people helped with the move, and my trainers were very grateful. Now we have an awesome new space to workout in!
- I helped my friend prepare for an internal interview at his work. He didn't end up getting the position, but he said that it was a great experience and he learned a lot about the role and what is needed. He also thanked me for the help. Although not directly related to this act of giving, what I'm getting back is the honour of standing in my friends wedding next fall. More to come on that another time!
- I participated in a Brock University MBA Speed Networking night, which was really cool! The giving back part is when some of the students I met asked me if I could help them with their resume and their job hunt. So far I've helped 2 individuals refine their resume with the end goal of helping them secure employment once they are done their studies. One of these students (check her out) even gave me a recommendation on LinkedIn! Again, the more I give, the more I get.
4-Be more disciplined with my finances. I've been doing very well on this front. I've been mostly sticking to my budget and I've also been very picky in terms of when I go out and spend money. I had a couple "impulse" purchases which included a couple nights out for dinner with friends and a small stereo for my iPod
If you ever need inspiration on this front, I highly recommend you check out www.manvsdebt.com
So that's it for now. If you want to talk about anything I have written in this post, let me know via a comment or shoot me an email!
