I’m a big believer in setting goals and taking daily action to achieve them. I believe that life is a little bit like the lottery, you actually need to buy a ticket to have a chance, our daily actions are the ticket. 90 days ago I set out to get in better physical shape, learn 2 guitar songs, learn Italian and have the skeleton and outline for my book. I want to tell you about a few things I’ve learned on this mini-journey.
I had one big victory and a miserable failure. My book, because of interest from people in publishing not only took form, it is partially written. I am delighted by the path I am following and really open to the voice of inspiration on this project, it’s been a great ride. Italian was the failure, the time I’ve spent on the book has led to Italian falling from the list, I still love the language but, right now, I don’t have the time (or energy) to devote to it. I’ll try to pick it up after the first of the year.
My middle two goals, in my past, might have also been failures, but I think I learned something on this journey. My workout regimen, something called P90x, was a vigorous, 6 day a week program. While the daily discipline of working out was wonderful, the program itself was not the right one for me. I found myself adding muscles and not losing any weight and I found that some of the exercises (like their version of Yoga and their Abdominal program) were ridiculously difficult for me. After 60 days, I modified the program, adding easier Ab work and more cardio while de-emphasizing the weight lifting. A nice mid course adjustment and I plan to keep up the daily discipline for another 90 days.
The guitar goals are really what I wanted to tell you about today. I had to ask for help, something I don’t do very well. I realized that I simply did not have the ability to play the guitar the way I wanted, so I found a teacher. We’ve been meeting once a week and I am having a blast, I’ve rediscovered my passion for the guitar. Instead of being frustrated with not being able to master something on my own, I now have the weekly goal of trying to master new techniques by the next lesson, and boy, the 7 days between lessons goes by fast! I have a lot to work on and, for the first time in my guitar experience I am “practicing” instead of playing. Like the exercise program, the daily discipline is crucial.
My message today, set your goals, don’t be afraid to adjust them, ask for help if you need to and keep taking daily action. Your daily list rules!
As we get towards the end of the year, I’ll start to talk about setting goals for 2011, it’s time to start thinking about them. In the meantime, I ‘ll keep working, every day, on my areas of focus.
Great advice,bro!! I, too, have retackled the exercise regimen…3-4 days a week, soon to be 5. Only thing lacking is my
Sax instruction. Goal with that: to play bob severs
Opening to ‘turn the page’ with steven’s band when
They become famous!! Keep up the great work… Looking
Forward to comparing fitness levels at the holidays!
This actually makes me feel better about not reaching a couple of my goals. One is work related, the other personal. I gave myself 3 at the beginning of the year; 1) To get a mentor and learn technical writing, 2) to have enough experience by midyear to feel comfortable in applying for tech writing positions if I so desired, and number three will happen in December when I get my bachelors degree. The second one is my failure, or rather, my detour. I’ve been too busy in my technical editing job to get the proper training I need (I do have a mentor however, when he’s not too busy with his regular job, although we do try). My weight loss goal is 10 lb shy of being met. I started 18 mths ago. I joined a gym and hired a trainer to help me do 3 things. (hmm, i see a pattern here) 1) To lose 30 lbs in a year, 2) To get my ass back, and 3) to have people say “damn, she looks good at 46.” I lost 20, those last 10 lb elude me but I will not give up! I lost 3 dress sizes and dropped a cup size! (I share this because it was the most exciting part for me. The girls are shrinking, woo hoo!! ) I gained a ton of muscle which is cool but it may be my downfall for losing the weight as well. My ass looks better but not where it was at 26 but it is twenty years later so I won’t expect miracles. I workout 5 days a week, no less than 45 minutes. Hard work and perseverance pay off. It’s good to have goals but it’s ok when one takes a bit longer than expected. I look at it this way, two out of three sure as hell ain’t bad.