So a suggestion I saw listed somewhere - actually it was credited to Jeffery Gitomer - is to select one word for the upcoming year as a sort of theme for your entire year. I had never tried this activity before but it sort of makes sense to me - a single word that one can look to every day to remind one's self what one is to be about.
My word this year is "Progress".
Progress. That is what I need to make in every area of my life. Not the constant sort of circling around things that I seem to do so often without any forward motion but something which will move towards my goals. Yes, that is purpose of goals but I often get caught up in the fact of the doing rather than the fact that the doing is supposed to go forward.
As soon as I selected this word the next thing that jumped into my mind was from the the Disney film Meet the Robinsons: "Keep Moving Forward". Which is also another way to say it (but it is three words instead of one). The intent (as explained in the movie) is slightly different: that in the face of defeats and accidents and the sense of going nowhere, one needs to keep moving forward towards the goal.
My goals, I think, are pretty well established at this point. I want to take the weekend to review them just one last time and make sure that I have put them in a state that they are measurable (my biggest problem) and then I will be ready to write them up and be off and running.
And make Progress.
heya!
ReplyDeleteyou don't know me form a hole in the ground but i can tell form your blog you are a thinker ;-)
progress is a great word... but man, i read your goals - you are gonna KILL yourself with that list..
well, not really - but they won't get all get done tomorrow... i hate to offer unsolicited advice, but if i have learned anything at the manor, it is pick a skill/project and then kill it before you move on.. it will become a "second nature" as you get to the next chapter.. pick ONE of those goals a year and finish it off
multitasking is modern bs - cut yourself some slack and enjoy !!!
anyhoot - if this offends - scratch it out - but you sound pretty damn earnest so forgive my intrusion...
btw - what is that tartan?
all my best!
Jambaloney - First of all, thanks for the kind words. No worries and you are right. It is a pretty big list and that does not count the others things on my personal list (you will laugh, but I have actually been cutting down my list over the years). And, if you asked The Ravishing Mrs. TB she would probably say you are exactly right: I try 15 things and never get good at any of them (really good, anyway). And I am surely no fan of multitasking in my professional life.
ReplyDeleteI guess part of my problem is that all of this (and most of my personal goals) represent the things I really want to do or enjoy doing, not the things I have to do (insert career here). This partially represents a reaction to that fact, I think.
But your point is very well taken. I will regroup and reconsider. And do not ever worry about unsolicited advice, I need all I can get.
The Tartan is Ancient Armstrong. The Armstrongs were a border clan.
hey TB - i looked up your clan...i know a lot about Scottish clans being from cape breton island and you come from a good line! jam is a MacKenzie and his line traces all the way back to Kenneth MacAlpin!
ReplyDeletei am really enjoying your blog, and the comments you leave at ours! you have 2 new friends.
kymber and jambaloney
Thanks Kymber! You are making me blush with your and Jambaloney's kind words.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw that you were on Cape Breton I thought that was pretty cool! Random question, but do you live anywhere the speak Scot's Gaelic there? Supposedly it is still spoken there. It is also pretty cool that Jambaloney's line goes back to Kenneth MacAlpine - alas, I am merely the descendant of cattle thieves and border reivers.
If it is any compensation, I do play the harp (some) and compete in Highland Games, which are super fun. Thanks for stopping by!
TB - yes, we are near the area where Scots Gaelic is still spoken. did you know that the only Gaelic university is in cape breton? one of my plans in the next few years is to learn Gaelic proper as i did speak "kitchen" Gaelic when growing up. we have the Celtic Colours festival every year in our nearest town...and our village has a cairn erected in the middle of the village dedicated to the Scots settlers that originally built it up (our village was originally settled by the French, hence the name Framboise which is French for raspberry. the Scots who settled here kept the name). and there is no shame in being a reiver - bahahahah!
ReplyDeleteKymber - I am so jealous! That is really cool. I have studied some Scot's Gaelic and know a little, but actually speak Manx Gaelic better (mostly all learned because of music).
ReplyDelete