Archive for September 2014

0

How often should I revisit/review my goals?

Welcome to this installment of The Weekly Wisdom blog, today's posting is a follow up from last week's entitled, Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful - having a vision. The response has been overwhelming and I thank you for your support. Why not tell a friend about this site? Share it on Facebook or Twitter and let us go on this journey of personal development together.

Of the responses from last week I got this message from Kwesi C: I enjoyed today's blog. Thanks for sharing! A 'vision board/poster' really keeps my attention on my intentions and provides clarity. My question today is, how often should this 'vision board/poster' be updated?

Kwesi C, thank you for this thought provoking question. Let us start off by exploring the fundamentals of goal setting.

For the purpose of this discourse allow me to make an illustration, by differentiating dreams and goals. In the context of building a career, a dream is something that you would like to achieve. It can be any kind of achievement, but the essence of a dream is the fact that you have a strong desire to see it come to pass. One such example; you would like to write a book one day. A goal on the other hand is something you would like to achieve by a certain time. To put it more succinctly, a goal is a dream with a time limit. Using the same example; by the end of next year you would like to have written a book. You see the difference, in the first case years can go by and your dream is still valid. But with a goal, if the end of next year is upon you and you have not yet written a single paragraph then you can be certain that you have failed miserably. But why is this important for us to understand?

Let me further explain by using another example: imagine you are about to go on a road trip. Your dream is to drive across the United States from New York to California and it does not matter to you how long it takes. Statistics show that this drive should take about two full days of direct driving to comfortably complete this journey. However, what would you do if an entire week has passed and you have still not arrived to California? Based on the original guidelines, nothing. You are destined to keep on driving and hopefully get there one day. This is what happens when we chase after a dream, we work and work and hope that one day we get there.

However let us revisit this same example in the context of a goal. You have a desire to drive from New York to California. The first thing you must to do is research by asking questions like: how long would the trip take? Based on that you can determine what route you take-- will it be the fastest or the more scenic route? Are there stops along the way that you must make? How much will the trip cost? These questions are just the beginning. What they help to do is provide checks and balances so that you can measure your progress along the way. For example, if the trip takes two days, by the end of day one you should be able to determine whether you are on course. If you decided to take the scenic route, and you have already passed two days it gives you an opportunity to re-plan. In response you can return to a more direct route and bypass any remaining stops that you intended on making.

You see, goals allow you to measure your progress, especially in terms of time. If the time has expired and your goal is not done, it forces you to re-plan. If you have completed on time or before schedule, then you move ahead and start planning the next goal. That said, your vision board must reflect the same.

You should revisit your vision board as often as required to ensure that your goals are accurately reflected. When goals have been achieved you can cross them off as completed. And as long as the remaining items things are still relevant then it can remain unchanged. My advice to someone whose goals are very dynamic (i.e. changes month by month) is that you can use a vision board that is equally as dynamic, like a dry erase board. The idea is to have something that you can put up and regularly update without diminishing its effectiveness.

As you may notice in the goal setting example above, the time factor forces you to implement checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints more readily facilitate regular adjustments to your plan, as opposed to waiting until you get too far off course to make those adjustments.

As I conclude today, be reminded that as long as those items on your vision board are still relevant, then there is no need to change. However, if things have changed so too must your vision board. So after reading both last week’s and today’s blog here is what you need to do:

1. Write down your goals

2. Look online for tips on how to create a vision board that suits you

3. Create a vision board (no need to get too fancy)

4. Tell a friend about this website and ask them to sign up for the mailing list by leaving a message on the “Contact Us” page

5. Share this and other postings from this site that you like on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites

6. Leave a comment or send a message to express how this blog has impacted you

7. Send me questions that you want answered and I will add them to a future posting

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.

0

Practical ways of becoming and remaining successful - having a vision

Today we are going to begin a series of blogs entitled, Practical Ways of Becoming or Remaining Successful. In this installment we will explore the topic of Having a Vision. I have been asked countless times by students and working professionals this question: How did I know what I wanted to be career-wise? The truth is, at least in my case, there were a number of iterations before I finally decided. Before I expand on this point any further let me define success. Success is simply: achieving a goal. On your march toward being successful, you will have to face numerous cycles of goal setting and achieving. This is why having a vision is important. Knowing where you want to ultimately be, will determine how many cycles are required in getting there.

Let’s get back to my story. My first career choice was to be a university professor. After that desire waned, I really wanted to become a medical doctor. But alas, that was also short-lived. As time went by and as I got a little more experience I became decided on a career within the Information Technology field. More specifically programming. You are probably wondering why so many changes? Well I have learned that in setting a vision for yourself you must do some sort of assessment as to what it will cost you to get there and then how well suited you are to that particular career. In my case, the fact that I ended up in Information Technology meant that I was pretty good at mathematics, problem solving and that I had a penchant for torture! All kidding aside, it is obvious that if you are not quantitative by nature you are probably not well suited for a career in Information Technology.

The assessments can be very deep, like future earning potential or job availability in your city or region. Or they can be really simple, like in my case with becoming a university professor. My parents were both teachers and I could not convince myself that a life of teaching was for me. Whatever the criteria, you must be sure that you do not set yourself up for failure by ignoring the warning signs. Apart from telling you what you are or are not well suited for, an assessment can also let you know how much work is required for you to attain your goal. For example, if you are not quantitative by nature and you want to pursue a career in Information Technology, you need to train and practice for as long as is required to develop this skill. This concept can be applied to any career.

In my book, How to Make it From the Classroom to the Cubicle, I used a very interesting analogy to stress the importance of setting goals and having a vision for yourself. I described a scenario where a pilot gives his customary post-take-off greeting to passengers over the plane’s PA system, stating that there is no destination. Imagine how terrified you would feel as a passenger on such a flight, knowing that a sensible pilot will go through all of the motions, including taking off, without having a final destination. Well unfortunately, this is exactly what we do when we embark on a career with no end goal in mind. Some people literally float from job to job with no real long-term plan. The result is the same as in the aforementioned flight. You can either fly around until there is no fuel left and crash, or you can make an emergency landing before a fuel crisis but end up miles off course.

So then, what do I suggest? Create a vision for yourself. I mean this in a very literal sense. As a first step, write down the things you want to achieve and when you would like to achieve them. In our house we have created a poster with everything we want to achieve and pinned it on the wall close to our bedside, so that every day we look at it we have a reason to get out of bed. Why is this important? Seeing where you are aspiring to be everyday can motivate you much more than just leaving thoughts floating around in your head. We get so busy or tired sometimes that we may forget why are doing what we are doing. But having that visual aide in plain sight every day helps build us up when we are down and discouraged. It also can help to suppress negative thoughts as we constantly fill our minds with images of our destination.

I will end with this. One pitfall you must avoid is chasing after the goals that someone else has set for you. This is very dangerous and can lead to a life filled with frustration and void of fulfillment. Another major pitfall is to sit idly by waiting for something big to happen. Nothing just happens when it comes to career building and if you are not proactive, then you reduce the probability of reaching your end goal.

Thank you for reading today’s blog, your feedback is very important to me so please leave comments below or submit any questions you would like answered by clicking here.

If you would like to get a copy of How to Make it From the Classroom to the Cubicle please click here.

Until next time remember: as long as you have life you should live it to your fullest potential.