The CragBaby

I have been wanting to post up my 2008 goals, yet waiting until the new CragBaby site was live. I find it real useful to throw my goals out into the universe as I believe that talking about and being psyched on my aspirations makes them come to pass.

I am excited for the 2008 year as I believe it consists of a great pipeline of possibilities / opportunity. Here are this year’s annual goals. A couple more are brewing, but not ready to be thrown into the open as of yet.

Career

• One technology / venture capital post on the WasatchGirl on a weekly basis. I want to focus on passing on the knowledge I have learned as an analyst, making it available to others. I am in the process of creating a list of topic ideas, in hopes of addressing each throughout this next year.
• Read one business book per month. Sometimes I have a hard time reading business books at home because I spend a good portion of my time at work. Yet, I am missing out on many great titles.
• Set personal goals in addition to the goals set by management.  This is something I always do, but it is good to list and remember.
• Continue to plan a career path and look for opportunity.

Financial

• Continue to live a simple lifestyle and save [x] amount this upcoming year.
• Be more attentive to 401k investing / allocation.

Physical

• Redpoint a 5.12c. I want to hit this goal this year. Last year I set my goal at this level, knowing it was out of reach. I did hit a 5.12a, which I think was the goal in my mind. I think a 12c is do-able this year, but in order to climb strong I need to focus on pushing the limits.
• Boulder a V7. This is a lofty goal, but I think I will throw it out there.
• Trad climb a 5.10. This is do-able if I can make myself actually trad climb. I lack trad partners and I am always tempted by the sport routes.
• Create a fitness training program consisting of cardio and strength. Once I derive an appropriate program I will post.
• Run another half marathon. This goal has been a little hampered by my ankle recovery. Tape works wonders though and I need to stop being a pansy. =)
• I would like to slim down a little more. Right now any extra pounds are just extra weight I have to pull up the wall.

Personal

• Put CB in a training class. We actually have almost finished a six week program and she has learned so much and I am extremely proud of her progress. We might need to take a couple others though as she has some social issues.
• Volunteer one time per week. Ideas include platelet donation, taking newby climbers out climbing, working with ten thousand villages, helping at KCPW pledge drives, etc. I want to volunteer 30 times this year. I would appreciate any new volunteer ideas.
• I think I need to focus on meditation. Taking 15 minutes a day just to think is always valuable, but it is one of the first things I sacrifice when I am busy.
• I need to focus on better understanding the lines of friendship.  Due to the lack of family life, I think I often expect too much from friends as if trying to fill the family void.  This gap can only be filled by me as friends shouldn’t have to live up to such expectations.  I need to mentally clarify this so that I can have healthier relationships moving forward.

I would love to hear about any of my reader’s goals. Feel free to post in the comments.

Back in June I posted my goals because my friend HIP #2 had put his out in the open on one of his posts. I thought I would re-circle to see if I am on target.

Career

• Finish my research work for the book - this is already done. It was a great experience and the book will be coming out soon (at which time I will blog about it)
• Take the GMAT this summer - started looking into classes this week.
• Look into taking some computer science classes - I have done this, but I don’t know if it is going to work into my current career path at this time. Still figuring it out. I started to look at this again tonight.
• Compile ideas about next career move - still thinking about numerous ideas
• Undercommit / Overdeliver at work
• Apply for out of my league positions

Money / Investing

• Save and invest [x] this year - I believe I am on track for my goal
• Focus on the difference between needs and wants - on track with this
• Sell or get rid of items that I don’t use - on track with this
• Focus on simplicity - on track with this

Physical

• 5.12c Redpoint - not even close to this one, but I am definitely working on it
• Boulder V6 - not close, but working
• Be able to lead 5.10 trad climb - I am having a hard time finding trad partners
• Run a half marathon - I am still recovering from the ankle injury, but am starting to run again
• Take out beginner climbers once per week - I now take out beginners just a couple times per month. I have had some bad luck with beginners being what I consider ungrateful, so am on a small hiatus on this goal in the sense that I will only take out good friends who want to learn.

Personal

• Travel to a new international destination each year - in the process of planning a trip
• Make an international move next year - I don’t know if this will happen. I might try to do a domestic road trip instead for a handful of reasons.
• Volunteer once per week - I need to work on this. Ever since I organized a non-profit event in May, I took a two month break as I was a little cranky with the non-profit model and its efficiency. I am done being onry and need to focus on this goal again.
• Write a handwritten letter to a friend on a monthly basis - haven’t done
• Read 15 books this year - just completed “The Fifth Mountain” by Paulo Coelho.
• Focus on energy efficiency - pretty good about this
• Scan in all pictures so all photos are digital - need to focus on this some more. I had scanned in quite a few, but have been lazy about it lately.
• Go to bed at 10:30, wake up at 6:30 - not even close to this goal
• Get CPR training - should look into this.
• Donate blood twice a year - donated last week.
• Start implementing meditation and journaling - I haven’t really done this, but this blog has been extremely helpful in helping me think through thoughts and ideas. I think about many entries that never are posted, but just thinking about them helps me clear my head.

My good friend HIP Dave (HIP standing for Hardcore Irish Person) posted up his goals after reading my post about goals setting. I had contemplated doing this with my goal post, but at the time decided it was a little too personal. I have changed my mind as I was motivated to see the goals my friend was focusing on this year.

I break my goals into 4 different categories: Career, Investing, Physical and Personal. Some of my goals are too personal, but I will post up the majority of them. The following are my 2007 goals.

Career

• Finish my research work for the book - this is already done. It was a great experience and the book will be coming out soon (at which time I will blog about it)
• Take the GMAT this summer
• Look into taking some computer science classes - I have done this, but I don’t know if it is going to work into my current career path at this time. Still figuring it out.
• Compile ideas about next career move
• Undercommit / Overdeliver at work
• Apply for out of my league positions

Money / Investing

• Save and invest [x] this year
• Focus on the difference between needs and wants
• Sell or get rid of items that I don’t use
• Focus on simplicity

Physical

• 5.12c Redpoint - ha ha … this is a pretty stout goal, but I am throwing it out there
• Boulder V6
• Be able to lead 5.10 trad climb
• Run a half marathon - I already did this in a training run, but was hurt for the real race. I think I want to do another half or full this fall
• Take out beginner climbers once per week - when I started to climb I couldn’t find any partners because I was a beginner. My now main partner took me even though I was a beginner. I like to try and reciprocate the kindness she showed me.

Personal

• Travel to a new international destination each year
• Make an international move next year - being gone for at least six months to a year. I would love any feedback on how to make this into a career move. I would like to move to Australia, New Zealand or Hong Kong. But I am pretty much open to anywhere.
• Volunteer once per week - I have been volunteering at 10,000 villages, KCPW and I organized the SLCA fundraiser. From the research I did for the book, I have a lot of info on companies and noticed that some of the companies don’t have any info on Wikipedia. I think I am going to focus on entering this data for a while.
• Write a handwritten letter to a friend on a monthly basis
• Read 15 books this year
• Focus on energy efficiency
• Scan in all pictures so all photos are digital
• Go to bed at 10:30, wake up at 6:30
• Get CPR training
• Donate blood twice a year
• Start implementing meditation and journaling

In order to reach my annual goals every Sunday I set weekly goals to ensure I am pointing in the right direction.

HIP Dave, thanks for the inspiration to really post my goals to the universe.

I am a huge goal setter and today I hit a goal that I have been diligently working on for the last year and half. I don’t want to give the details of my goal as it was somewhat personal, but just wanted to mention that today (March 19) needs to be noted as one of the best days of the year 2007. Yay!