As I have mentioned many times, including just the other day, I need to write some goals. Some personal goals for me to focus on and for you to police me on. I’ve determined that goal setting works for me when I’m passionate about it and when I have something to prove…usually to those who don’t think I can. It didn’t take me long to write out my goals. In fact I wrote them down on January 15 in about 10 minutes but I’ve been sick, so haven’t had a chance to post them. But today I’m feeling better. At least good enough to sit down in front of a computer and type out some words, so here goes.
My 2010 personal goals are:
Raise $20,000 for the Tom Baker Cancer Centre & Alberta Cancer Foundation through the 2nd Annual Tight ‘n Bright event to be held March 20, 2010.
Generate $80,000 through legal online activities like affiliate sales, products & services by September 15, 2010. Roughly 236 days remain, so that would equate to $338.98 per day…if I start making cash NOW!
Run a full marathon under 4 hours by December 15, 2010.
Launch BlueBinder by March 1, 2010 with full e-comm capabilities.
Launch Workshops Everywhere by February 1, 2010 to the Calgary market as detailed in Phase 1 of the plan.
Travel to three new destinations by December 31, 2010.
Speak at a minimum of one conference by November 30, 2010.
Support and love Monica, Ava and the other members of my family on a daily basis.
Help Monica launch her site to the best of my abilities around her timeline.
Blog a minimum of five times per week through to June 30, 2010.
Live everyday and enjoy and appreciate what I have.
So as you can see I’ve no doubt got to get some things going. Couple the above goals with daily life and there’s not a lot of time left to actually do things…but the goal in the end is to free myself from the day-to-day to allow me to have the time to do those things. All of this will be completed in full by December 31, 2010. I look forward to sharing my success, and no doubt failures, with you along the way.
Is there anything I’ve missed? Do you think I’m completely crazy? Wanna know more about something I’ve put in the list? It’s easy, just leave me a comment below.
I keep forgetting about what a great inspirational website ted.com is. At first I tried to figure out who this Ted guy was. Then I decided I’d just do a little digging. Wouldn’t you know it’s an acronym. Directly from their website:
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.
Well today while I was killing some time on Twitter I came across and interesting tweet from TEDxCalgary. Take a few minutes to watch the inspirational video below.
What I found interesting about the segment is that it’s all true. 100% accurate that it simply takes an “I can” attitude. I don’t find it a coincidence that today I was also reading about Someday Never Comes by John Chow while reading his free ebook. His opening paragraph sums it up:
Do you know how to tell a successful person from a unsuccessful one? The easiest way is by the language they use. When you talk to a successful person about his goals, he’ll tell you what he plans to do and when it will be done. When an unsuccessful person talks about his goals (assuming he even has one), you’ll hear something along the lines of, “I hope to do this someday.” Here’s a clue for all you losers out there; someday never comes.
That’s right. It’s there in black and white. And it’s something I’ve known for some time. Nobody will do it for me. I must do it myself. Not only that but I can do it. It was clear to me when I set out to run my first full marathon. I completed it because I had the “I can” bug, not the “I will”. It was a goal. A clearly defined gem with an end time limit defined along with some other contributing parameters. So I know goals work for me when I set them. I’ve even commented on other peoples posts about setting my goals, but where are they?
Well, it’s time to stop doing everything right now and write out some goals. I’m logging of Twitter, stopping iTunes and ignoring email (which I’m pretty good at thanks to Tim Ferriss).
I’m going to write some goals, and then copy Lyndon and share them with you for you to help hold me accountable. I hope that you can help me with that?
Four weeks ago, at 5:00 in the morning a gun shot was heard and an impressive display of fireworks were set off. That was in Honolulu, Hawaii. I wasn’t really there for business or pleasure. It was determination of achieving one goal by the end of 2009. That goal was to complete my first ever, full marathon. A fool full 26.2 mile race. The primary goal was completion and secondary was under 5 hours.
Looking back at the majority of 2009 it wasn’t that challenging. It did definitely have it’s challenging and trying times. Especially those that caused my stress and blood pressure to rise almost to the breaking point. Those of you close to me, know exactly the series of events that I’m talking about. I try not to focus on them too much so that I can still keep smiling.
Back to Hawaii. It’s often where my mind goes when I need to escape anyways. It was the start of the Honolulu Marathon—MY Honolulu Marathon. Myself and over 20,000 other competitors began putting one foot in front of the other. The streets were dark with the exception of basic illumination from overhead street lights. It was a weird feeling running through downtown Waikiki, running red lights—granted on foot. I was amazed at the number of people out cheering the runners on, even though it was so early in the morning.
The race for me was amazing. I don’t remember a whole lot about running the race. I pretty much got lost in my mind. There were definitely parts that I remember like watching the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean while running through mile 12. The sweltering heat along the H1 around mile 21. And of course the beer keg at mile 24 — which I realized was beer after I’d already passed by.
The biggest single benefit that I got out of the run though was learning that when I set my mind on a goal, and something to focus on that I’m highly passionate about, there’s no stopping me. It boasts well for an upcoming post on my 2010 goals that I know I need to do.
And it’s true what they say about a runners high. It’s been 4-weeks and I still love reflecting on the feeling of it. Even through the exhaustion and pain. I’m looking forward to my next one—once I figure out which one it will be. Have you got any running tips or experiences about running, whether a marathon or anything else? Let me know in the comments. Happy running.
I knew that my one year anniversary for joining Twitter was coming up soon so I set out to find out when I joined. According to whendidyoujointwitter.com it was a year ago today! My how time flies. My good friend Lyndsay had been trying to get me to join for months. And I do mean months; not days or weeks—full on months. I was hesitant as I was already addicted to too many time wasters. As mentioned in a previous post, she turned me on to quite a few great people I have slowly gotten to know through conversation. Now I’m not sure how it seems I could live without it.
I’ve discussed web development concepts, including a few of my “big ideas” with people. Helped troubleshoot Mac OS X issues (which were actually Microsoft issues). Commented on running and even on my own first full-marathon. I’ve found some great SEO tips and genuinely had fun. In fact, thanks to Twitter and some goof ball on it, I managed to go to my first ever PubCon in Las Vegas back in November 2009. Let’s just say when registration opens for the 2010, I’ll be sure to book my space early so I can take in some of the sessions.
All in all, it’s been a pretty sweet year when I look back on Twitter and how it has positively impacted my life. It’s had a few negative moments too, but we won’t go there. So tell me, when did you join Twitter? Leave it in the comments below.
It’s been some time but I finally got around to updating my runs yesterday…mainly because after almost four weeks I finally went out for a run. Not to mention it was eight weeks until my first full marathon I’m supposed to run. While I was approaching the three mile mark of the run I noticed another guy jogging towards me, headphones on & music blaring. As we passed each other the head nod was given and received. It got me thinking about just how universal the head nod is. Maybe it’s a guy thing? I often witness it in the parking lot at work or walking by someone in the hallways while in conversation with someone else.
I’d be interested to know where else you witness the head nod and if you’re a woman reading this (woo hoo I have readers) then let me know if it truly is a guy thing. Guys, I know you do it but feel free to comment around witnessing the female species nodding as well.
It didn’t take me long to write out my goals. In fact I wrote them down on January 15 in about 10 minutes but I’ve been sick, so haven’t had a chance to post them. But today I’m feeling better. At least good enough to sit down in front of a computer and type out some words, so here goes.
