Happy New Year! We are now in 2014 which I am having a hard time believing. Seems like I was sitting in this same spot 14 years ago for the day of Y2K. The world survived. And the world has survived the economic melt down of 2007-09. Actually, I have found that optimism is picking up, people are slightly more relaxed and the general climate is more positive.
With this in mind, it is now time for me to put together my annual goals. Some of my goals have been repeated so often, that I just keep them printed on my goal sheet every year. Lose weight, call my mom, stay active and exercise, keep quicken up to date and try to use the letter k more often. My friend Mark thinks “k” words are funny. Go figure??
Now as I sit here, I am trying to be reflective of past years, thoughtful as to desired accomplishments and meaningful to others. Here is what I am thinking. How about you help me with my goals? I have enjoyed the feedback and comments that many have given me with the publishing of this blog, now it is time to throw a few goals at me. Here are some suggestions:
Fred, your goal should be to win the mega lottery.
Fred, you should try to have a golf handicap of 15.
Fred, you may want to manage that gas problem.
Fred, perhaps you can add wisdom to the Detroit Lions to not blow the second half of the season.
as well as,
Fred lose weight, call your Mom, stay active and exercise and add meaning to others.
I like to break down my goals by the following:
Spiritual
Emotional
Financial
Physical
Intellectual
Goals are personal and to achieve them they should be understood and accepted. This “ask” is to help perhaps with some I am not aware. And how about this? While you think of some to send to me, how about you spend some time of setting your own goals for the year? They don’t have to be huge, maybe some of these:
Spiritual-find peace internally about something that bothers you
Emotional-try to laugh daily, if you haven’t, find something funny
Financial-prepare a personal financial statement. Today is the perfect day to use.
Physical-get off the sofa 5 minutes before you usually do. Think of something you have to do and just do it
Intellectual-learn something, every day. Doesn’t have to be a foreign language or physics, just something
Feel free to leave comments on this site, twitter handle — fredtreuhaft or fred.treuhaft@gmail.com
Here we go, this will be one great ride in 2014—What do you say? Ready to Shoot! Score and BOOM SCORE!!!
What People Are Saying
My advice: Take it more seriously.
When I was 35, I was on City Council. Someone sent every Council member a copy of Steven Covey's 7 Habits.
For being proactive and putting first things first (two of the habits), he advises first to write a personal mission statement.
This is about what means most to you and what you want out of your life. It should be something you can look at to stay oriented due north and to be inspired or reassured or challenged as the case may be.
I rewrite every Rosh Hashana. Over the years, I've become much more self-honest – no who I want to want to be, but who I really am and want to be. Some years it doesn't change much. Other years, I realize it's time to transition to a new phase in life.
Then he says choose seven roles in your life – for example father, son, husband, friend, partner, leader, Jew, financial planning marketer, author, etc. They can be divided up or combined. But keep it to seven.
Then he has what he calls sharpening the saw. You want to saw the tree with a sharp saw, not a dull one. This includes spiritual, intellectual, and physical.
Then make concrete goals for each role, no more than three each. Put in hows and whens. I've found that I usually hit most of my role goals, but the sharpening the saw ones are the hardest. (After 20+ years of doing this, it becomes real clear where I'm strong and weak.)
This has been one of the most powerful tools in my life. The first go at it takes some time, but then it becomes very time-effective. Give it a try.
Dad – Great post. As an addition, in business school they always emphasized SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realizable, and Time-Bounded. These goals were introduced in the context of business architecture, but I believe they are important to all goals in life.
Pete – Great suggestion, I'll try to define my 7 roles and develop goals for each.
I appreciate your feedback. My first move was step on the scale. Amazing what a little accountability does for the goals!