The new year is always a great time for reflection and goal setting. Today I pulled out my 2008 goal document to analyze what I achieved and which marks I missed completely this past year.
I can honestly say 2008 was one of my happiest years. I finished up my first full time job (moving it into a part time position for my climbing road trip), I traveled a lot (the below map showing where I visited in 2008), but mostly the transition into a family-less life was one of the best decisions and the main reason for this year’s happiness. Looking at my 2008 goals, I gladly noticed that I achieved many of the sights I had set… even surpassing one goal that I had initially thought impossible. =)
Over the last week I have created a plan for 2009, using my thoughts from my Last Lecture post. I have always broken my goals into four different categories of personal, career, financial and fitness, and I’ve continued this structure for the upcoming year. I’m not going to post all my goals online, but a good portion of them (in no particular order) are listed below:
Personal
Roadtrip – The goal is to continue on my road trip through the end of March. At that time, I would have been on the road for a total of 8 months, which is a “long enough” break from the real world job.
Vegetarian Diet – I have never eaten a lot of meat, but this year I am going to live the vegetarian life. The reasons are health related, focusing to see if I can finally hit a fitness and weight level I’ve been trying to achieve for years. On top of this diet I am focusing on organic foods and cutting back my coffee and alcohol intake.
Start Fresh – I have always wanted to start life off fresh, meaning selling all my belongings and seriously starting out new. I plan on doing this when I get back to Salt Lake. I want to sell my clothes, dishes, furniture and belongings and seriously just start out fresh in a new city. Why not? When I packed up my belongings prior to this trip I noticed there was only two boxes that meant anything to me. One contained all my travel and climbing guidebooks and journals. The other contained momentos from these travels and/or good friends: a pot made by Sam, two wine bottles from Italy, sand dollar from Thailand, Guiness cup from Ireland, rocks from various climbing destinations, wood cup carved by Jed, etc. I want to take these two boxes and rid myself of the rest. Afterwards I will create a new (hopefully different) minimalist life somewhere else.
Learn French – I have a real hard time with languages, but I am trying again. For the past month I have been working through a French book and a actively listening to cds.
Volunteer – Last year I did real well on focusing on this goal. I would like to continue to volunteer weekly, even while I am on the road; plus I would like to see if I can implement some type of social awareness into my next career position.
Reading – I would like to read 25 books this year.
Vacation Out of the Country – I have loved being on this domestic road trip, but I am antsy to get out of the states again. I would like to take a couple weeks out of the country sometime this year.
Domain – I own another domain and would like to do something with this site. However, I want to design and code a good portion of it on my own.
Stop Swearing – whew! I can swear like the best of them, a trait I picked up while working as an intern on a trading floor in Chicago. It is hard to buck this habit as these curse words just easily flow while climbing; however, it isn’t lady like and so I am going to stop this year.
Career
New Job – I will need to find a new position upon going “home” and I am hoping to find one that I love as much as my old position. This might be tricky in today’s market, but I am throwing out hope anyway. I know exactly what I am looking for, now I just need to find that open position.
Move to a New City – I would like to make the move away from Utah and to a new city where the culture focuses more on career than lifestyle. Will I like it? I don’t know. Do I want to give it a try? Definitely!
Unix Knowledge – This goal isn’t really career oriented (but is somewhat applicable). On this road trip I have been working on becoming more comfortable with the terminal window. I am happy with my progress but want to feel confident this year.
Financial
Savings – Every year I decide a set amount of money I would like to save for the year. This year is no different.
Public Equity Valuations – My current job does not require me to create public equity financial models, but it is a good practice. I have set a goal of how many models I would like to create in my personal time as these models are completely applicable when looking for personal investments.
Fitness
Climbing – for the past two years I have set a grade goal as numbers are extremely motivating for me (of course… I work in finance and love numbers!). Yet, this year I notice that I am in a transition phase with my love of climbing. Something about being on the road is getting me excited to work and focus on a career again. I don’t want to give up climbing, but rather find a better median between work and the sport. Rather than focusing on a grade or even on improvement, the climbing goal of 2009 is to maintain the strength I have developed while living on the road. I feel like the range I climb right now allows me many options when going out to the rock.
Yoga – yoga has been the sole reason for my ankle finally feeling better after a year and a half of aching. I want to continue to practice yoga at least two times per week.
Run ½ Marathon – I really have no desire to run another marathon, but I would like to participate in another ½.
What about you readers? What are you hoping to achieve in 2009? And how do you plan on going about achieveing your goals?
I’d been meaning to read the book The Last Lecture for the past few months, finally finding the time to do so on my trip.
Book: The Last Lecture
Author: Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow
Review: The last lecture was written by a well known virtual reality Carnegie Mellon professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the young age of 46. In preparation of his looming death he presented his last lecture about the lessons he learned in life as a memento for his children. The last lecture was given on September 18, 2007 and Randy passed away on July 25, 2008.
I read the book and watched the below video. Having the actual book made for easy reference, but watching the video integrated the emotional, personal element to the discussed topics.
I had a whole handful of favorite points, but decided to only write about the main focus of the lecture here on the CragBaby blog. (I will soon be posting some other thoughts, more business related, on the Wasatch Girl blog).
The lecture’s main topic was Really Achieving One’s Childhood Dreams. Randy’s very first slide listed his childhood dreams with the rest of the slides augmenting how they were completed (or sometimes not completed) and ways to go about turning these dreams to reality (including such topics as being honest and educating oneself for the position desired, etc.) Randy’s goals consisted of the following:
Being in Zero Gravity – Completed this through an academia project, but creatively thought of a way to be included
Playing in the NFL – Didn’t achieve, but professed to learn more by never actually making it
Authoring an article in the World Book Encyclopedia – Completed. He was asked to write this article and can be found in the Virtual Reality Section.
Being Capital Kirk – Never WAS Captain Kirk, but he met Captian Kirk
Winning Stuff Animals – Completed
Being a Disney Imagineer – Completed
His dreams were an impressive list and made me contemplate my life goals. It actually seemed easy for me to rattle off my life goals as they haven’t changed much in the past years, but putting them in writing is always a good exercise. My goals and updates would be the following:
Feel successful in my career – It is real important for ME to feel successful in my career, NOT to be a partner of someone who is successful. I want to feel like I personally can find a niche in my career. So far I I have been quite fortunate to have my first job being in the venture capital industry and a position that I truly love. However, I have a long ways to go before feeling like my work is of up most importance and directly tied to a company’s / firm’s progress.
Live Overseas – I would really like to achieve this goal this year. I would love to live in Europe, preferably France, Spain, Italy or Switzerland. However, I would also enjoy living in New Zealand or Hong Kong.
Be able to fluently speak three languages – Currently I only speak English. =) Language seems to be real difficult for me to grasp as I have studied French and Italian in the past and feel like my little brain doesn’t retain. However, for the past 3 weeks I have been actively studying French again. In fact, you readers will soon see some elementary French blog posts in the near future.
Continue to travel to a new destination annually – so far, so good.
Complete a Master’s degree at a well respected school – I have not yet started into a master’s program because I feel like the appropriate timing for this will be in a couple years after I have another job under my belt. Getting into a school of choice is a whole different issue. =) I would love to go to a well respected school for the sole reason that I am simply a girl from the rural town of Helper, Utah. Everything I have is a direct result from my work and determination and nothing to do with my family or their financial affairs… and I just want to see if I could work my way into a good school. =)
Be involved with humanitarian efforts – This is actually a real important goal to me, but I haven’t done anything to even work towards it, besides volunteering at home. At home I volunteered with Ten Thousand Villages (a fair trade organization) and donated platelets as often as I could (which were used in the local cancer hospitals). However, I would ideally like to be more directly involved with UN affiliated programs or am actually real interested in Micro Finance Institutions such as Unitus and Kiva. In fact, a move to the micro-financial realm would actually make sense career-wise for me.
It’s interesting to actually write out these goals as doing such resulted in two take-aways for me.
A couple goals that are of up-most importance to me, I have either not even started to work towards or have just recently started. Why I am procrastinating?
My hobby of climbing, where I spend incredible amounts of time, is no where near my list of goals. Huh. It seems to be more of a hobby that I thoroughly enjoy, but not what I find to be important in life. Perhaps I should soon tone down my time devotion in this area?
I would highly recommend reading or watching the Last Lecture. And if you do, please let me know your thoughts. Did you like it? What were your favorite topics? Why? Or, even if you don’t read the book, I would love to hear your life goals and the status of each.
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!
I’d been meaning to read the book The Last Lecture for the past few months, finally finding the time to do so on my trip.
