Setting Goals — Write Them Down!
In the last 30 days of have attended the graduation for my niece Rachel from Center College, who has an offer for a teaching assistant position in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Kentucky while she pursues a PhD in Math, (Way to go Rachel) my nephew Nathan’s graduation from Bullitt Central High School, he got a $100,000 scholarship to Georgetown (We are so very proud. Strong work Nathan) And, our very own little Jake’s graduation from Kindergarten obviously the cutest and the smartest one in the entire school.
Jake's Graduation
(Did I say that out loud?)
Needless to say I have heard several speeches, songs and sermons on memories, moments, life and goals. Well if going to this many graduations does not make you think about what you have done with your life or what you are currently doing, then nothing will.
I have to say I keep a pretty close check on this anyway because I am a list maker and a person who likes to chart everything. I like to look at what I have accomplished this year compared to last year. I like to make lists of things that need improvement and scratch off things that have been accomplished. Even if it’s a bucket list of fun things to do, to me just listing them can be fun.
When we are in school things are measured in this way. You have deadlines for homework and dates for exams and a “last day of school” where you see if you passed. But once school is out we get kind of lazy about deadlines. I’ll do such and such “someday”. I’ll do such and such after I get married….I’ll go to such and such after the kids graduate…I’ll buy such and such when we get the credit cards paid off….we will travel to such and such when we retire.
But often all of those things manage to get hung up on the back burner. And why is that? What are you waiting for? I don’t know the answer except to say if you don’t write it down and give yourself a deadline you just don’t seem to take it seriously. The first thing on your to do list this week is to make a to do list!! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Take some time and write down your goals.
Dreams with Deadlines
The answer is a simple question: “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” In 1979, interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program and found that:
- 84% had no specific goals at all
- 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper
- 3% had clear, written goals and plans to accomplish them
