Category: Goals

New Years Goals 2008

I can’t believe almost a week of 2008 has transpired, and I am just now getting myself organized with these New Years Goals. Well, truth be told, I’ve been tinkering with this list for about 2 weeks now, and I just wanted to make sure that I fully thought them through. The trouble with being so goal-oriented is that sometimes I get too ambitious for my own good, as evidenced by last year’s list of New Years Goals.

So this time around, I’ve created a more focused list of goals, and I have also re-examined the personal values that I started last year. I took one away, and added another. It was an interesting exercise to remember that I created these values, and that means I can also re-create them or change them as I see fit. Because they are relatively new (only a year old), there’s still some massaging that needs to happen with them.

Personal Values

  • Challenging Adventures – I live for new and challenging experiences, whether that’s professionally or personally, with others or in another country. The thrill of adventure stimulates my soul.
  • Contribution to the World – I live to make lasting impacts on social change organizations and the community at large.
  • Expressing Creativity – Being able to express my self through new ideas and innovation is what keeps me inspired, whether it’s artistically, musically or professionally.
  • Lifelong Learning – I love to learn. I am energized by the steady and deliberate journey from ignorance to competence to mastery.
  • Quality – I choose to live a full and quality life, which is neither below my standards of excellence. nor is it excessive.
  • Family & Friends – Above all, my life is about the people I choose to journey with. They are my heart.

New Years Goals 2008*

Goals Difficulty When
Save enough money to have 3 months worth of emergency funds by June 2008. Difficult Q1 and Q2
Hold a full-length conversation in Spanish, in a Spanish-speaking country. Difficult by Q3
Be in a quality relationship for longer than 5 weeks, if the opportunity arises. Difficult ??
Continue spending quality time with my family. Moderate Throughout the year
Invest in and build deeper friendships (with special emphasis with friends in the Bay area). Moderate Throughout the year
Visit another country. Moderate Q4
Get more sleep. Easy Starting Q1
Do a handstand. Easy Q2

*I actually can’t display one of my goals until June or July because it contains sensitive information.

So there are my 2008 goals. I’ll be back intermittently with updates, and maybe some new goals to spruce things up. Even though there 8 pretty sizeable goals here, I feel like I’m still missing THE challenge… Either way, 2008… Bring it! I’m ready for you!

End of the Year Check-in 2007

The end of the year is always a time for reflecting on the year that has just gone by. Man, 2007 was a really busy and fast year. I had several successes with work at BUILD with it being my third year as the Incubator Manager, and I also had some huge successes with College Summit as I began my training as a Rap Director. I’m excited about continuing the training and the facilitating next summer.

This year has also been very transitional with close friends moving away, two different roommates coming in the mix, and realizing that I want more out of my professional trajectory and career right now (which is the reason why I applied to be a Rap Director to get more professional development). I began the year with some aggressive goals, some of which I accomplished while the others fell by the wayside–consequences of lack of prioritization and just plain busy-ness. So it should not be a surprise to see my long list of 2007 New Years goals with a smattering of “Yes, I accomplished this” and “No, better luck next year.” This self-reflective process will be a 3-step process. First I will evaluate the 2007 goals, then I will evaluate the personal values that I based the goals on to see whether or not they are truly my values (if you remember, I created these last year in an attempt to more clearly define my personal values), and third I will set new goals and values for 2008. Perhaps some of these unaccomplished goals will make it onto the 2008 list? Perhaps they won’t. Either way, I think 2008 is going to be a big year, and I’m ready for a challenge.

Adventure (new experiences, challenge, excitement)

* Do something outdoorsy at least once a month – I kinda lost track of this one, but I don’t think this actually happened according to plan. I know I was out of town for several weeks one month so it didn’t happen monthly.* Play one sport per month – and get good at one sport at least – This one I definitely did not prioritize

* Visit another country and be engrained into their culture – Yes, I visited Thailand with Mike and Tony, and got to hang out with Tony’s family for  a good chunk of our visit.

Artistic Expression (drama, painting, literature)

* Search for a musical outlet (other than karaoke) so I can sing more – perhaps join a singing group – Oh yes! Quite possibly the best thing I did this year was joining the SFGMC.

Contribution (desire to make a difference, to give)

* Hone my passion, find a worthwhile cause, and fight for it (other than college access because I do that through BUILD and College Summit) – Yes, Karla and I are working on a new social innovation.

Creativity (new ideas, innovation, experimenting)

* Finish Part 2 of my book, The Prediction – No, yet another year of unfinished work…

* Creatively write at least two times a month (every other week) – Well this goal was related to the one above it, and because this didn’t happen, the former didn’t happen.

* Plan & throw more parties with cooking – No, something about this year was a little bit less social?

Looks like Creativity was tough to prioritize this year.

Learning (growth, knowledge, understanding)

* Start a business, and then donate a majority of the profits to Troy Camp – No, but I did help for Pass the Can.

* Gain clarity on future life plans regarding career and personal – Yes, I’m going to be moving forward with an aggressive plan for next steps.

* Apply to be a Rap Director for College Summit – Yes, and I got in!

Quality (excellence, high standards, minimal errors)

* Spend more time with my family – Yes! This year was kind of a groundbreaking year for me and my family. Even though we did not get to spend Christmas together because my parents are in the Philippines, I flew down to Vegas a handful of times, my brother came up a few times, and my sister even flew up recently to spend time with me. 2007 was a great year for our family (in my honest opinion).

* Eat healthier – take out transfats from my diet, replace regular chocolate with dark chocolate – I would say Yes.

* Eat less salt – Definitely. I don’t even buy salt anymore.

* Reconcile finances on a set date monthly – make sure to keep on top of my finances – Ouch, this I have not been so good at.

* Reserve at least 2 hours a week to research and buy a condo – And this was a big No. As a person working in the social sector and wanting to live in the Bay Area, this is becoming increasingly more and more difficult!!!

Wisdom (desire to understand life, to exercise sound judgment)

* Find a new church that i want to go to every week – Not quite

* Grow up – upgrade myself to adult status – Yes

Work-related New Years Goals

* Be more explicit – talk about my process – Yes

* Think of my whole audience, not just one – Yes

Out of the 20 goals, I accomplished 11 of them. Even though they weren’t all the weight/size/gravity, it should be interesting to go through each of these values to see where and how I need to prioritize for next year.

Epiphanies are slow and gradual, not big bangs

Almost a year ago today, I thought of writing  a post with this title because I was driving to work with Karla and had an epiphany. It wasn’t a big huge crazy epiphany.

It was more like a puzzle all falling into place, and all of the pieces were gathered throughout time.

Anyway, the epiphany was that I wanted to teach at the university level. OK, so that unto itself is not a very concrete epiphany, but I like it the way it is. It’s flexible, and I am sure I can make it work.

Rap Directing here I come

I got a pleasant acceptance email while I was away in Thailand (and by the way, I only checked my email three times in two weeks).

I recently applied for a volunteer position at College Summit for the summer workshops, and if you remember, I have been volunteering with CS since the summer of 2003 as a writing coach, and most recently last year as a writing coach coordinator. Both of the positions revolved around helping the students create strong personal statements for their college applications. The position that I recently applied for is kind of like the glue of the CS summer workshops. The rap directors (no affiliation to the musical genre) are the ones who empower the students, but rather than try to paraphrase, here is a sampling from the job description:

Rap Directors are trained youth facilitators who begin as trainees and commit to a three-year intensive professional and personal development training. During the training period, Rap Directors attend trainings and serve at workshops in tandem with another Rap Director. Upon completion of training, certification allows a Rap Director to act as a solo facilitator at College Summit workshops. The Rap Director facilitates group discussions (Rap Sessions) with the students during the four-day workshop. The goal of the sessions is for the students to see possibility in their lives and future through the world of higher education. Rap Directors introduce students to the 4 goals of the workshop and guide them as they work to reach their goals. Rap Directors also serve to remind the students that they are young and entitled to have fun!

I am extremely excited about the opportunity to change more students’ lives and about the three-year facilitation training!!!

Reaching out for something that is greater than the self

Today is the last day of the Christmas celebration for the Catholic Church, and the priest’s homily was about “reaching out for something that is greater than the self.”

I feel like the year 2006 for me was in a lot of ways a year to discover myself and to take time for myself. This year, 2007, I have dubbed “The year of not Rey,” and I will be making strides to reach out for something that is greater than myself.

I don’t know exactly what that means or what that will look like, yet. It might mean more in terms of my family, or a cause, or my community. Or maybe it’s all of the above. Any way it goes, I am excited for what this year has to offer, and excited to get a better sense of myself through reaching out for something that is greater than myself.

New Years Goals 2007

It’s no surprise that I read lots of books about branding and marketing. But recently I have been reading a lot about personal branding, and how to apply the same effective branding and marketing tools that businesses use to your personal life.

One of the books that I’ve read is Be Your Own Brand: A Breakthrough Formula for Standing Out from the Crowd, and one of the exercises in the book is really honing in on your personal values, and figuring out what, at the very core of my being, is important to me. Now, the book itself is kind of dry, but it does provide some other really neat introspective uses of practical business branding exercises.

As I was thinking about my New Years goals, I used the top seven values I deemed most important to me, and I categorized each goal within a value to make sure that I really truly was valuing it. So here are my goals for the year (some of which are the same from last year, just because I thought it was good practice then and will be good practice again). They are a bit aggressive, I know. But that’s my style, isn’t it.

Adventure (new experiences, challenge, excitement)

  • Do something outdoorsy at least once a month
  • Play one sport per month – and get good at one sport at least
  • Visit another country and be engrained into their culture

Artistic Expression (drama, painting, literature)

  • Search for a musical outlet (other than karaoke) so I can sing more – perhaps join a singing group

Contribution (desire to make a difference, to give)

  • Hone my passion, find a worthwhile cause, and fight for it (other than college access because I do that through BUILD and College Summit)

Creativity (new ideas, innovation, experimenting)

  • Finish Part 2 of my book, The Prediction
  • Creatively write at least two times a month (every other week)
  • Plan & throw more parties with cooking

Learning (growth, knowledge, understanding)

  • Start a business, and then donate a majority of the profits to Troy Camp
  • Gain clarity on future life plans regarding career and personal
  • Apply to be a Rap Director for College Summit

Quality (excellence, high standards, minimal errors)

  • Spend more time with my family
  • Eat healthier – take out transfats from my diet, replace regular chocolate with dark chocolate
  • Eat less salt
  • Reconcile finances on a set date monthly – make sure to keep on top of my finances
  • Reserve at least 2 hours a week to research and buy a condo

Wisdom (desire to understand life, to exercise sound judgment)

  • Find a new church that i want to go to every week
  • Grow up – upgrade myself to adult status

Work-related New Years Goals

  • Be more explicit – talk about my process
  • Think of my whole audience, not just one

End of the Year Check-in

Just like I could not believe that half the year was over in July, I cannot believe that 2006 is practically over.

After reviewing my New Years Goals, I present to you the status of each:

1. Do something outdoorsy at least once a month

Yes

2. Go camping in a national park

I’m going to strike out the “national” and put “state.”

3. Run across the Golden Gate Bridge

I did this on December 3!

5. Read at least 10 new books in 2006

I’ve read 8 so far: The Starfish and the Spider, You Inc., Be Your Own Brand, Good to Great, Middlesex, Letters to Montgomery Clift, All Marketers are Liars

6. Meet new people
7. Mend past half-relationships
8. Go on more quality dates with quality people

Yes, yes and yes.

9. Play at least one sport per month

I’ve been pretty good about this by playing tennis with Sal, surfing, snowboarding, and hiking.

11. Find a hobby

Surfing, although my surf buddy Jed is moving back down to SoCal. Sad! I’ll have to adopt a new surf buddy.

12. Love more

I’ve been doing a good job of showing love. 😉

Incomplete:
4. Cuss less

Not cussing is overrated anyway.

10. Finish Part 2 of my book, The Prediction

I’m going to give myself till 2007.

2007 Goals coming up soon.

Ashoka Induction

Remember how a while back I was raving about this book called How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas by David Bornstein (I first talked about it in this post from July 2005)?

Anyway, the book details different stories of Ashoka Fellows, how they are located, screened and selected, and how they grow their change-making non-profit organizations throughout the world. From Ashoka‘s website:

Ashoka is the global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs—men and women with system changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems. Since 1981, Ashoka has elected over 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.

I am proud to say that my very own CEO, Suzanne, was elected into the Ashoka Fellowship, and last week I attended the induction ceremony of the North American Ashoka Fellows. I caught the tail-end of the inspirational event (because I had work until 7:30 as usual), and even got the chance to hear Bill Drayton, Chairman & CEO of Ashoka, give a keynote address.


Some of the BUILD staff attended to support Suzanne, and I realized that this is such an amazing organization to work with, and it is such a privilege to be part of the org as it grows. I feel like BUILD is poised to grow, and I am lucky enough to get the opportunity to play a huge role in making the growth of the organization a success. In addition, it also gives me something to strive for. Way before Suzanne was inducted, or even interviewed for the Ashoka Fellowship, I had set my sights on it.

As Bill Drayton said, “Every citizen can be a change-maker,” and that’s what I intend to be.