New goals needed

Last year, I decided to set a few short-term goals for myself. Just today I decided to revisit them to see how I was doing. To my surprise, I was able to put a nice big check mark beside each and every one of them.

- Run a 10k in 2009 (already checked)

- Run a half marathon in 2010 (new check mark as of yesterday!)

- Be promoted (check)

- Shoot under 100 (checked three times since I wrote this goal down last summer)

For me, goal setting doesn't always have to be a formal process. Sometimes I just keep the goals inside my little mind and work toward them subconsciously. For instance, ever since I was in grade school, I pictured myself working downtown in a big city in some giant high rise tower. Now, I know this isn't necessarily the most fascinating or even an ideal vision for one's future, but for me that vision symbolized getting a degree and starting a real career.

I can now probably say that every experience and ounce of hard work that went into getting me into that downtown office building could probably be attributed to that single vision.

My aunt even tells me that when I was two or three, my mom took me downtown Calgary for a visit. While my aunt went to a meeting, my mom put me in her big leather office chair. When my aunt came back into the office, Mom said "One day, this is where she'll be." My aunt agreed.

And while I might not have some swanky corner office with a giant leather office chair, I still feel like some little piece of that vision has helped push me along the career path I find myself on today.

But, this post isn't about tooting horns. It's about goal setting. I am a firm believer that everyone needs a few goals to help them navigate this crazy world. We don't always need to follow a set path, but having a vision of the destination can help us choose which way to turn when we come to the inevitable fork in the road.

I hope each of you can think of one or two things right now that you want to achieve in the next year or two. And, in the next five or 10. You don't need to cut out pictures and put them on some fancy vision board and you don't need to write them down in a journal or tell five friends who will hold you accountable. All you need to do is think about what your life will be like when you achieve them. What will success feel like? Look like?

Here's hoping there's a leather office chair in your future.