Dream Out Loud: Setting Goals

Today as I made my morning commute to class I picked up a copy of the Toronto Metro. Sitting at the back the bus I browsed my way through the paper. I glanced at my horoscope and couldn’t help but smile.

Under Sagittarius it read:

By all means set yourself new goals. By all means aim high. But don’t aim for perfection. For that can never be reached.

 

As I previously mentioned I am an extremely goal oriented person and I’ve always met my goals. 

For example: When I was 12 years old I decided I wanted to go to Queen’s University in Kingston, ON. I graduated from Queen’s in 2009 with a BA in Global Development Studies. During my second year of university I decided I wanted to be a Fundraiser.  Now I am just a few weeks away from completing my Post Graduate Certificate in Fundraising and Volunteer Management.

For the first time in my life I lack clear goals. That is aside from the obvious vague goals that most of society has: find a job, keep a job and maybe find a significant other. And my goal block couldn’t come at a worst time.

I’ve been reading many books about networking. Currently I’m reading Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. In chapter three of his book Ferrazzi describes the importance of having clear goals and understanding how to meet them by using a three-year matrix in which you outline your goals and sub goals and the people you will network with to help you accomplish all these goals.

He states the importance of sharing your goals with others. Apparently this will help you stay more focused on the task at hand. I can’t help but believe this to be true. I was very vocal with my friends and family about my earlier mentioned goals and accomplished them with little difficulty.

So blog readers (if you are out there) here are 4 personal goals I have to share with you.

 

  1: To gain at least 5 followers of this blog by the end of June.

  2: To find a house to live in that I love for reasonable rent by August.

  3: Find away to attend Toronto Raptors games for free or pay by October.

  4: To dance on stage with Bono in the summer of 2011.

Notice how all my goals have dates attached to them. Ferrazzi argues without a deadline a goal is only a dream. Dreams are often expendable, while my last two goals may seem like I’m living on dream land, they are very important to me and by giving them deadlines I am more likely to stay focused on meeting my goal.

Technological Fail

Things that charge when I plug them into my computer:

• iPod 
• Blackberry

Things that don't charge when I plug them into my computer:

• digital camera

It just makes sense to me that my camera would charge while I was downloading pictures I took today. But no. Only half the pictures downloaded before the battery died. with that dead battery went my blog post for today. 

Check back tomorrow for stories of lions doing the nasty and a five year olds driving. 

Everyone Wants To Be A Writer

All right. I will admit I’m a little late to this blogging thing.

That is not to say I haven’t attempted to start a blog before.

I have. I had zero followers. I wrote two posts, then I quit.

That trend ends here!

It’s time for some self-reflection in my life. It’s time to share my thoughts with the vast world of the Internet.

It’s time to start developing my personal brand.

My goal is to post an entry here every day for the next month. I would say year… but who am I kidding? Setting goals you can meet are essential for developing confidence. I know this because I am a goal oriented person. I have never set a realistic goal that I haven’t met.

Have you heard of Robert Kiyosaki? He’s the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money-That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!. A book that I’ve recently read and it has changed the way I think about life and money.

Robert says you shouldn’t work for money; money should work for you. So in your profession you work for money, but in your business money works for you.

In my case, my profession is Fundraiser.

My business? Well that’s less defined. I want my business to revolve around the entertainment industry (music and sports). I figure a good way to start making this my business is to write about it. Hell, I spend most of my days talking about entertainment anyway.

Now all that's left to do is sit back and enjoy the ride...