Writing down your goals is good, but of course it is even better to take action to help realise the goals. When I announced the second draft of my goals, Gary asked how often I considered them. This got me thinking; I intend to review them at the end of each month using a wheel of life, but was this good enough? I decided that as well as a regular review, I also needed a regular reminder of my goals.
I created desktop wallpaper for my laptop depicting each of my goals, so I am reminded of them whenever I use my laptop. This was a task I could have spent a long time on by finding the perfect pictures and learning how to use photoshop to get the perfect layout. Instead I put something together very quickly finding the best pictures I could and over time I intend to update it when I find better pictures. This means the wallpaper isn’t as pretty as it could be and some of the images are a bit of a loose connection to the goal, but as it is acting as a reminder to me it is doing its job.
- build strong and supportive relationships – two pictures one of me and my bridesmaids and one of my husband, daughter and me
- develop a rewarding and challenging career – two ‘inspirational’ posters that say -Â don’t wait for success just start without it and the only way to predict the future is to make it
- have time to spend on the things I enjoy – picture of writing and reading
- have multiple sources of income including passive income – cartoon about money growing on trees
- challenge myself by trying new things and through continued learning – quote saying learning everything you can, from anyone you can .. you will be grateful you did
- spend my time in pleasant surroundings – background picture of Worbarrow bay in Dorset, plus exterior and interior pictures showing features I’d like in our house
- feel good about myself, by being healthy, fit and looking good – two pictures of me, one on the day after our wedding and one a few years before on a cycling trip
My name is Kate Davis and I'm working towards a happier and successful life and this blog follows my journey. I work almost full time as an environmental consultant and project manager and I'm the mother to a beautiful two year daughter.
2 Comments
I’m glad I got you thinking Kate
While I generally fail to take action in my own life, I do find you and your posts inspiring, and I know that people stronger than me can use them (and you) to make the progress they want.
Keep up the good work.
How will you know when you’ve achieved your goals? Some of them are worded (perhaps intentionally) to be difficult to measure, or highly subjective:
“fit” – we can always get fitter, so how will you know when you’ve tipped over from ‘unfit’ to fit?
“looking good” – clearly subjective – your definition of good may not match up to mine, or your husbands, or your closest female friends. “Be happy with my appearance” would still suffer from the fact of not clearly defining the tip point between unhappy and happy, but at least it’s specifying it’s only your viewpoint that counts.
Alternatively, do you have some specific targets that match up to these goals? e.g. The looking good goal has targets of being at a certain weight at a certain point in time, or the challenging yourself goal specifying that you’ll learn 1 new thing every month etc?
Not trying to be picky – just giving you more to think about