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!

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.