Focus

One of the features of the "new" version of blogger is it tells you how many posts your blog has. This will be number 100. So, in honor of #100, some meandering chat about goals and positivity.

This morning at the gym, the cycling class instructor asked us about New Year's resolutions, and mentioned she's already broken two. I had to chuckle a little, because I remember the last time I made a New Year's resolution - it was 1978, and the resolution was to no longer make New Year's resolutions. So far, I've stuck to that quite successfully. After all, if something's worth doing, then why not resolve to do it regardless of what the calendar says?

Recently, I took a one-day "How to give presentations" course through work. The instructor, Bruna, was fabulous. She added me to her mailing list and sent out a link to a wonderful article she wrote on the power of thinking positively.

The article brought to mind my "life plan" document, which was the product of a lot of introspection and hard work during a philosophy class I took in the fall of 2003.

My life plan gives me focus. It's not something etched in stone, it's just an electronic document that I've printed out and I carry it with me. Every once in a while, I'll pull it out and have a look - sometimes it's to remind me what I've written down as important, sometimes to make little edits or notes. I update it once in a while as goals I've set for myself have either been completed or have dropped off my personal list of ThingsIHopeToAccomplish(tm).

Now, I'm not going to share my life plan per se, but I will share the elements that put it all together. It's a two page document (one double sided page).

The top left has a photo of me. It happens to be from last April when I was on business trip in Paris enjoying a moment in the sun at the Rodin museum. To the right is a paragraph that I would describe as my global outlook on life - it's quite positive (and for those who know me well, that should come as no surprise).

Following that is a statement of my intrinsic values. What I think makes me, well, me!

Those two things are actually the hardest parts of the entire document. It requires that you do that navel gazing introspection that most of us are absolutely loathe to do. The mirror isn't always pretty.

The next section is the meat of the document. It lists my currently most important goals in a variety of categories. Before listing any goals, one need to do a personal "inventory" for each category. It's quite possible you don't have any specific goals in a given category at the moment.

The categories, briefly, are...

• moral goals - what kind of life do you want to lead, ethically speaking?
• spiritual goals - do you believe in a higher power (like the Flying Spaghetti Monster, say)?
• love goals - are you happier single or in a relationship, and what should that look like?
• friendship goals - what kinds of people do you want as friends, and what kind of friend are you?
• education goals - formal or informal, what makes you want to fire up your brain?
  
• career goals - what kind of work do you want to do? and what's holding you back?
• leisure goals - what do you do for fun that lets you recharge your batteries and gives you a sense of accomplishment?
  
• health goals - super fit or couch potato? Or somewhere in between?
  
• economic goals/consumption level - do you crave endless amounts of money or are you happy with less? are you filling the world with more krap from Wal*Mart or do you have more minimalist expectations around stuff?
• place-of-residence goals - happy with your condo, or do you want a mansion with servants?
• political goals - vote? run for office? speak out about issues you're passionate about?
• autonomy goals - leader or part of the herd?
  

My goals have shifted over time. Some have been accomplished and have been replaced by other things. Some have been dropped as I've decided to do something else instead. Keeping a written list has been an interesting experience. There's an immense satisfaction in crossing off accomplishments, and an equally immense one in saying "phooey! I don't want to do that after all."

The next section is "my rules for sane living". I only have seven, and I should probably edit them down to four.

Finally, I have a long list of things that bring me pleasure, including simple things like eating a ripe pear from the tree in my back yard. I have about half a dozen categories.

It's a great tool. Even I feel like I'm in a rut sometimes. Focus is a good thing.

In closing, a great quote, courtest of Bruna:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?" - Marianne Williamson

I have that printed and posted at my desk at work.