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.