2011 Year In Review- Progress Against My Goals

Back on January 8 I outlined my goals for the year. Even thought the year is not through, we are nearing that time, and I feel like it's a good time to reflect on whether I have made sufficient progress towards my goals. Reviewing your action plan and your progress is the first step before you can lay out goals and an action plan for next year.

Goals:
1- Accelerate my new found love for my body
2- Live in another country
3- Help others more than they help me
4- Be more disciplined with my finances

Progress:
1- I did not reach my goal of doing a full set of push ups or pull ups, but I can confidently say that this has been the healthiest year of my life. I have continued to eat in a relatively healthy manner, choosing to cook over eating out when possible, and keeping up a regular (but not as intensive as I would like) workout routine.

2- For those of you who didn't hear through the grapevine, I had actually planned to move to the US within my company to take a new position. This is currently on hold for a variety of reasons, the largest being immigration has tightened up given all of the economic trouble down there.  At first I was really bummed about this, but I've since come to realize that where one door closes, many more open up. I'm not disappointed that I didn't achieve this goal this year, as it's truly a long term plan on this one.

3- This one has been a really funny goal. Reason being is that I'm not sure if it's achievable. I feel like I was very successful in spending an inordinate amount of time helping others, but somehow I wasn't able to tip the balance to me helping others more than they help me. I suppose it really is true that the more you give, the more you get back. In case you were wondering what I'm talking about in terms of helping others, I've reviewed and given feedback on approximately 10 resume's of folks who are looking for work, I helped an acquaintance get a well paying job at one of the big Canadian Banks, I made extra effort to ensure that all of the interns we had in our department this summer felt right at home even though they didn't report to me, and I prioritized helping others in my work group over doing my own work (even when this meant I had to work more hours to catch up). I'm not looking for an award here- but I want to capture this so that one day I can look back on it and reflect on the times and how I can get better in this area of my life.

4- Hmmm... the finance question. This one has mixed results, but only because my standards are high. I think overall I would call this bucket successful, as I refinanced some of my higher interest debt recently, and I have been saving about 10% of my income for the future. That reminds me, I probably need to write a post on why you should be saving because pensions are likely going to be something we reminisce about by the time I get there. I have definitely gotten more disciplined in sticking to my monthly budget, but there is more work to do. Some of the line items (eating out, booze) really could be reduced, and if I could do that successfully, I'd actually be helping out with Goal #1.

Overall, this year has been amazing. I feel like I have continued growing as a human being across all aspect of my life; economically, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Over the next 2 months (and 2 weeks of vacation during Christmas) I'm going to take a hard look at the year and my goals and figure out what 2012 needs to be all about.

I'll leave you with this thought, which was shared with me by Rafael Alencar while he was working with me at P&G. I am going to try and apply this to my goals for 2012.
"People often try to do too many things in 1 year, and not nearly enough in 5 years. You should have one or two small goals for the year, and 3-5 big goals for 5 years."

Think about it.

2011 Goal Status Check

I can't believe it's the middle of April already! 2011 is flying by and I think it's time I give everyone an update on some of the goals I shared in January. 

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!

Sometimes NOT Blogging Is A Good Thing

Here we are. The year of 2011. It's been a full 3 months since my last blog post, but luckily for me, I don't dwell on the past. The lack of blog posts actually speaks to some of the great things that have been going on in my life lately, both on the personal and professional side.

Here's the quick recap of the last 3 months!

Personal:
-I finished up my volunteer position with the Chris Tindal campaign. Unfortunately Chris didn't win but he had a strong showing against some season veterans in city politics.
-I wrote my GMAT and got a decent score. Of course I likely could have done better, but I'm satisfied with where I ended up
-On Nov. 1 I began a new lifestyle which involved working out regularly, eating as healthy as I can, and generally worshiping my body instead of treating it like something that is going to be young forever. I joined Crossfit Quantum in Toronto, and if you are looking for a fun, motivating environment to "get huge", I highly recommend them. The trainers are great and I'm after 3 months I'm in the best shape of my life.
-I spent a glorious two weeks with my little brother, who is making his family so proud. He is current in Halifax serving with the Canadian Navy Reserve and is on the adventure of a lifetime. As his older brother I am honoured to tell the people I know that my brother is serving is country and bettering himself at the same time.

Professional:
-As of October 1st I got a new manager and a new 1 up manager. Both of them have been great at both supporting me in my work and pushing me to always be better. For that I thank both of them.
-In the next few months they are going to be expanding my role to include more work on US research, which I'm very excited about. This is further going to drive my understanding of the North American market, which I think it a great skill set and experience to have.

So with that I look forward to the year ahead, and frankly, I think it's going to be a defining one in my life. When I talk to my mentors, they often look back on their lives and tell me stories about a defining moment or a defining decision that set them on a different path had they chose a different answer. With all of the things going on in my life, I truly feel like this year could be one of those, but I suppose only time can tell!

I'm not a big New Years resolution guy, but I am a goal setter and the new year is a great time to review your current goals, set new ones, and craft an action plan. I'll spare all of the process details since there are other blogs for that, and skip straight to the goals.

1-Accelerate the new found love for my body. I'm not perfect, I never will be. However the small changes in my life have made me feel infinitely better about myself, and others have noticed too. Not a week goes by where I don't get a compliment on how I am looking good, and there is still much work to do. Sometimes this attitude comes across as a "holier than thou" message, but I assure you this is not my intent. I just know where I was 3 months ago and know where I am now and I can't help but tell people how great of an experience it is! Along these lines, 2011 is when I can do a full set of real push-ups and a full set of real chin ups. Those are real challenges that I'm going to have to work hard for.

2-Live in another country. While this may not happen this year, it's one of the reasons I'm doing the work I do now. This is still a big goal of mine and everything I do in 2011 will be related to this somehow. More networking, more projects, and more results will hopefully get me there.

3-Help others more than they help me. I really enjoy helping others, but sometimes it's easy to fall into the trap of taking more than giving. My first couple of years out of school has put me in this position, mostly out of necessity. This year is going to be about giving back, both at work and my personal life.

4-Be more disciplined with my finances. Although I am a great planner and have the best of intentions, when it comes to shopping I have low will power. I am also a very social person so I almost can never say no to a social situation, regardless of cost. The discipline comes in two forms; One is sticking to the monthly budget I've set out, and the other is when I do decide to go to a social interaction, to be very thoughtful of what I really need to spend money on and what is just my innate desire to blow cash.

They are broad, they are big, but these are the goals I'm working towards. I can assure you that I have an action plan against each of these, and I'm hoping I'm be able to share progession with you as they start to come to fruition.

So 3 months of not blogging and I feel better than ever. I guess now I have something to blog about!


With that, I leave you with a quote and a video that exemplifies my feeling right at this moment.

"We've come a long long way together, through the hard times and the good..." -Fatboy Slim



PS: My favourite part is around 3:07. Only people who truly enjoy their work could pull that kind of awesome off!