Tag Archives: personal

Goals 2012 — My plans for the year…

The PolyBlog
February 24 2012

As I gear up for this year, one of the things I wanted to think about differently than last year was the way in which the colours interact with my overall goals. I thought last year about “blue” vs. “red” vs. “yellow” vs. “green”, but all I really did was use those colours to group a lot of sub-categories. Ultimately, although I was telling myself I had “four” categories, in truth, my list wasn’t a lot different from four years ago when I had 12 categories, three years ago when I still had 10, or two years ago when I got it down to 8. All I was really doing was grouping them. And a lot of the time, the sub-categories were a bit of a force fit because the overall categories weren’t really “speaking” to me.

About six weeks ago, I was reading some articles about personal branding that were dealing with the “storylines, themes” you share about yourself with others, such as how you present yourself in interviews or business or online to ensure a consistent, coherent message. And about the second or third article in, a light bulb came on — because what I really needed to be thinking about were the storylines and themes that I was using to market me to myself. What an interesting concept — if you were presenting yourself to yourself, what would you say? If you were recruiting someone to live your life for you, would you hire you?

It particularly resonated with me, building on an article I had read last year that talked about transformation through goal-setting, mind-mapping, etc. The article was rather ho-hum, except for a small concept buried deep within it. It asked you to think about goal-setting from a different perspective than the one most people use. Usually, when people are thinking about goals and improvements, they take this radical perspective that suggests if they just do X or Y, their life will suddenly get “back on track”. It’s a popular concept, the basis in fact for most diet programs where it tends to work to motivate people if their problem is willpower. But in other areas of their life, what if your life isn’t actually off-track? What if you are already the you that you should be? Maybe not necessarily the you that you want to be, but the you that you should be, the you that you were somehow destined to become? Taken from that perspective, goal-setting starts to be less about radical transformation and more about self-acceptance, less about jettisoning everything and more about polishing some of the edges. Taking into account of course that sometimes polishing only on one side will eventually wear that side down quite a bit…self-acceptance doesn’t mean you’re not aggressive in some areas, but it does help to stop you from feeling like you’re not making progress, losing motivation, or throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

In my case, I have been aggressively setting goals and making progress towards them for the last 12 years. Not always huge progress, not always linear progression, not always even in the directions I thought I would go. To become the me that I am now…and, when push comes to shove, I have to admit that my life is pretty dang good. My mind still functions, I’m gainfully employed, I have family and friends that I care about, I am generally connected to my inner spirit, and even if my body isn’t running marathons, it isn’t racked with debilitating illness either. My past efforts and progress, not to mention a dose of pretty good luck, have all combined to make me the me that I am. Sure, I’m going to try and polish some stuff. But I’m not going for radical change or even innovation necessarily.

goals_2012

However, I do need to tell my story to myself differently. And this year, I’m going to try and really use the four colours along with internal proxies.

My Goals for 2012

I’ve managed to limit the number of priorities for my MIND category (blue) to just ten items for this coming year:

  1. Revise planning guide, including themes, bucket list, goals layout
  2. Setup backyard (deck, play area)
  3. Organize office closet
  4. Redo powder room
  5. Redo kitchen island
  6. Exchange traded funds
  7. Review insurance
  8. French profile update
  9. Book collection — paper and e-books
  10. New areas for website (MRs, Photos, Trivia)

The “storyline” here is about being organized (planning guide, website, books, some finances) and getting our house set up. In addition, I’ll finalize my reading list (bucket list #67) and continue towards my career goal of presenting on HR to more than a 1000 people (bucket list #77). And, just by way of validation, these are elements that maintain momentum on my successes of last year (a new house, financial planning, finished my website, started reading on my Kindle, and updated this planning guide for the colour wheel).

For the HEART category (green), I can hold myself to just six priorities:

  1. Career support: M.Ed.
  2. Lunchtime outings with Andrea
  3. Jacob’s nighttime routine
  4. Astro Pontiac initiative
  5. House party — Remembrance Day? Corn roast?
  6. Question about charitable giving

The storyline here is about a better connection to Jacob and Andrea, increasing my involvement with friends (emerging from hermit stage), and answering a long-standing question of mine about what’s the best form for charitable giving within a community. While I probably won’t make any more progress on bucket list items for this category, I am building on regular success in the last year as I learned to be a better father, supported Andrea on her educational efforts, and began early involvement in Stephan’s astro-park idea.

For the SOUL category (yellow), I have ten priorities:

  1. Complete my HR guide (from my bucket list)
  2. Outline my business model for self-publishing
  3. Develop 12 big questions that define my spirituality
  4. Expand book reviews
  5. Reboot movie reviews
  6. Read some of the books on the Top 600 list (also on my bucket list)
  7. Read some of my to be read pile from my bedside table
  8. Restart the monthly cooking night
  9. Create a dinosaur book for Jacob

The storyline here is about expressing myself through writing and cooking, reading the creative endeavours of others, and figuring out the true nature of the universe (or at least what I believe in). I am building on some success from the last year, namely some of my work on the HR guide, researching the self-publishing industry, blogging, uploading my past book reviews, and answering the first two questions of my “12 big questions guide to the universe”.

For the BODY category (red), I have six priorities:

  1. Follow-up on some outstanding health issues with doctor
  2. Do something about my weight
  3. Increase exercising @ home, golfing, walking, bicycles, basketball hoop, swimming
  4. Adjust sleeping times to go to bed earlier
  5. Find a new dentist
  6. Give blood (also from bucket list)

If there’s time, I’d also like to explore meditation (from my bucket list), but probably not a huge priority. The storyline here is about overall health and getting more fit. Not a lot of success from the past year, although I did get set up with a new doctor, grabbed new glasses, and got my blood pressure under control.

Onward to 2012!

Goals 2011 — Seeing how I did…

The PolyBlog
February 9 2012

Just over a year ago, I did my annual personal “goal-setting”. Many of the comments I received on my goals basically suggested I was either (a) trying to do too much or (b) not prioritizing family high enough. I do appreciate the comments, but neither are really applicable to me or my personal situation.

First, the whole point of doing this is to be really ambitious, to use a combination of some of the techniques in the “goal guru / time management” industry. And so I am not trying to do all of them. Maybe not even most of them. Really what I am doing is listing goals and creating the list so that I can use it to remind myself of my goals, to take a greater step than most in actually writing them down as well as to get them out of my head and on paper so I don’t have to try and just remember them. Anytime I want them, they’re there for easy review.

Second, suggesting someone prioritize family “higher” is an easy comment, but is actually quite simplistic in concept. No matter what anyone does for family, someone will always say “make them a priority”. Of course, they’re a priority. But I also don’t want to be the equivalent of the stereotype of a stressed out parent (usually portrayed as a mom) who only lives vicariously through their family, who loses their own identity or subsumes their own life under that that of their children. That might make a “green” personality happy in the short-term, but I’m a primary blue — I’m always going to want some of own analytical time, for instance. Just how I’m wired…and if others want to follow an unconscious script that tells them family is always the “right answer”, that’s their choice. But I know better. I love my family. But I’m useless to them if that’s all I bring to the table or expect them to be my whole life. So I need to make sure some of those other areas are going too. But family is also not a “to do” item, nor will I treat them as such.

goals_2011

How did I do in 2011? Well, let’s see. First and foremost, I am happy with the fact that my approach included a new colour wheel that resonates with me in terms of psychology, personality, etc. However, it wasn’t entirely successful and I have a slightly tweaked approach for 2012 that I’m going to try that thinks in terms of just the four colours (no sub categories), and “themes” + a storyline. Almost like “branding my year” in a way so I can tell myself the story better. More info on that in future posts.

Second, something that wasn’t really on the list is something that sucked time like nobody’s business. My family and I moved homes — not a great distance from where we were, but huge upgrades on quality of life in a bunch of areas. But it pretty much killed three to five months of the year, maybe a bit more.

So let’s see how I did on the various items I had in my posts from last February / March.

Getting organized
Being organizedMaintaining to do lists, etc. — worked well at start of year but by end of year, I was drifting a bit…have now converted over to using Evernote and it seems promising so far.
HouseI was expecting to do a lot of work on the old house and we did — but different work, work designed to help it SELL! And we bought a new house requiring a lot less work. Lots of new stuff to be done, but starting to sort itself out.
FinancesWanted to do better planning and we did, both with strategic financial planner, wills, etc. But still work to be done that should have already been done on moving investments around, better insurance coverage, etc.
ComputersFinished and started using website, reorganized some of the computer backups etc.
GardenWasn’t a priority, nothing happened
CottageWasn’t a priority, nothing happened
Design a houseWasn’t a priority, but buying the new place helped us articulate what we were really looking for in terms of rooms, layout, location, etc.
Relationships
FatherhoodMostly about father vs. husband vs. individual, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked on the “father/husband” front in terms of carrying my share of the load — Andrea still does most of the pre-bedtime prep stuff.
 HusbandPlus we haven’t made the time for “spousal” time, and most of our conversations are still about Jacob…need more date nights. Still supporting Andrea’s educational efforts, which is good.
 IndividualNot doing as much after Jacob goes to bed either, a little too much TV watching of late.
 FamilyHardly saw my family last year, which is not what I hoped for.
Body and Soul
PhysicalMassage time down, Prevacid steady, eyeglasses replaced, got new doctor, but need to find new dentist, I became a greater couch potato, developed blood pressure problems, didn’t get new orthotics, no golfing, didn’t compensate on charitable giving. Plus other new stuff showing up on the health risk front.
Astro PontiacNeed to get more organized for supporting Stephan on this astronomy proposal.
Figure out spiritual beliefsI don’t really know what I believe anymore, and should really figure this out a bit more.
EthicsCreated personal rules / principles but not really sure I’m living them.
WeightNo real change
MeditationDid nothing
Martial ArtsDid nothing
Giving bloodTried to get this organized in late December but coordinator screwed up donation date, need to rebook
Learning
Online coursesDid nothing
Personal interest coursesDid nothing
Further studiesDid nothing
Learning sign languageDid nothing
Use own telescopeDid nothing
Learn photographyDid nothing
Learn to drive a standard transmissionDid nothing
Social
MMMMM outingsDid nothing
Remembrance Day / Corn roastWiped out by moving
Coffee with Amanda / Hockey with Seb / BrunchesPretty much a wash out.
Book reviews28 all up and converted
Movie reviewsDid nothing
Ebook collection, pruning paperNothing
Billboard musicNothing
Learn to knitNothing
Play Pai GowNothing
Movie weekendNothing
List of top booksList compiled
Creativity
Business model for publishingLots of research, looking good
WritingBlog only
Capital CrimeNothing for new year
HR guide (employees)Started posting
HR guide (employers)Preliminary
Gods novel outlineNothing
CookbookNothing
Recipe nightsNothing
Career
Mentoring, coachingSome 1:1, some group
Focused contentNot really, still main stuff
Day job vs. SR / SOROCaught up in SORO, not able to extricate myself
FrenchNothing
PresentationContinued learning series
Leadership 
Teaching roleContinued learning series, some blogging on tech issues (SEO)
Municipal issuesNothing
Local theatreNothing
Windmill to tilt atNothing really, some blogging
Travel – EnglandNothing
Travel – TerritoriesNothing
Travel – Grand CanyonNothing
Travel – GalapagosNothing
Travel – OrtonaNothing
Travel – IcelandNothing
Travel – Scotland, IrelandNothing
Travel – Aust/NZNothing
Travel – FijiNothing
Travel – EgyptNothing
Travel – AntarcticaNothing
Other (Miscellaneous)
Red Tie to webNothing
Garage saleNothing
Porch swingNothing, but moving reprioritized
Basketball hoopNothing, but moving reprioritized
Bicycle setupNothing, but moving reprioritized
Car insurance claimNothing
ETFsNothing, but moving pre-empted it

In the end, some progress, some slippage. My only real concern for the future is where there are whole categories essentially that I did nothing on, indicating that there is a sub-area that I am relatively ignoring. Part of that is the way I set my priorities, and some of it is the way I remind myself what to focus on. I think the new approach for 2012 (themes, storyline) will help counteract that…at least, I hope it will! Stay tuned!

Time-management and paying yourself first…

The PolyBlog
October 7 2011

So, a couple of days ago I did a review of an ebook that looked at how to break “writer’s block”. Most of it was really good, and my only major quibble was a risk that some people would find reinforcement for the idea that “getting up early” to write was a good way to find time. My take, and not so much in opposition to the ebook’s premise so much as an added thought, was that too many people misunderstand that to be an example of “time management” when it really isn’t. At least, not unless people are also going to bed early to compensate.

There was, however, an element in the ebook that I didn’t discuss because of a sub-bullet that I’m not sure about. Here’s the premise — as with finance, or priority-setting for writing, you should “pay yourself first”. In the priority world, this means making your writing time a “rock” and putting it in your schedule first, or as the ebook and others describe it, “ring-fencing time for writing”. In other words, block out time that is sacrosanct — time that you will not “cut” or “move” or “reschedule” or “reduce” to make room for other things in your life. For some people, this is first thing in the morning when no one else is awake; or afternoons while their child is napping; or evenings after people have gone to bed. Seemingly a guaranteed way to allow you time to write.

Yet here’s where the problem comes in…what do you do when life intervenes and you HAVE to adjust that time? Well, the simple answer is you treat it like a block, and move it but never never never delete it. It is YOUR time. One of your ROCKS. So you have to do it. And the ebook reinforces this — it suggests that if you miss a day, you give it back to yourself. You pay yourself first, with your time in this case.

I love the premise, I really do. But then I have niggly doubts, because I’ve been in this situation before. I know what happens. I tell myself, “Okay, I wanted an hour a day, but I missed yesterday, so I have to do two hours today.” Yet if I had trouble scheduling an hour, and had to miss it one day, what chance do I have to slip another hour in the next day? Or if I miss two days, three hours on the third day?

For writing, this time shift is possible. For other goals, say working out, it’s not feasible — working out for 3 hours on the third day means more likely that you’ll not only hurt yourself but also you’re not even getting the same benefit. Or if it is $, hurting yourself on day 2’s budgeting or day 3’s budgeting just makes you resent it all the more.

In books on stress, they’ll tell you the complete opposite — if you miss a day, let it go. It is all about DAILY routines, progress over time, incremental success, not rigidly sticking to a schedule. And the more you do something, starting with a clean slate each day, the less likely you are to start getting stressed that you missed a day, and the more likely you are to start making it a habit. Because you reward yourself when you do it but don’t punish yourself if you’re not perfect right out of the gate. For some people though, this will just be an excuse to stop doing it at all — after all, there’s no penalty.

The solution, in my view, is a bit of a hybrid of the two approaches. First, accept that you don’t have only one rock…after all, there’s a reason you bumped your writing time, and it is probably because the short-term urgent need (a kid’s appointment, suddenly realizing you’re out of some ingredient for a dinner you’re having that night with guests and you need some groceries, the pipe in your basement burst and you had to find a plumber) over-rode your long-term important goals. And it is about balance, not about rigidly sticking to a script.

Second, you also can’t just let yourself off the hook — you should be tracking your goals and seeing how your performance is doing. Maybe that’s daily, maybe it’s weekly. But tracking your progress to alert yourself that if your goal was to write for three hours every day and you only managed to accomplish that twice in a month, something’s not working. Either you need to be more realistic in your goal-setting or focus more energy on priority-setting and actually eliminating the other parts that intruded.

After all, if you missed your writing time because you were rushing a friend to the hospital, you don’t “owe” yourself that writing time elsewhere. The goal is for you to manage your priorities so you can set a realistic schedule, not for you to stick rigidly to a schedule so that it manages you.

So I’m comfortable with that “hybrid”. Sounds good to me. It seems far less “formalistic” or “stressful” than paying yourself first and owing yourself if you don’t. But what happens when your tracking doesn’t produce a change? What happens if you’ve set your goal, missed some days, adjusted, tracked some more, and are still missing days? What’s your third “mitigation” strategy?

Is paying yourself first, and owing yourself second, the best solution as it avoids the psycho-babble that follows? I just don’t know. And that’s why I didn’t comment in the previous post. Happy to have views. 🙂

Goals 2011 — Leadership

The PolyBlog
March 3 2011

The last category of goals — leadership! I intended this one to combine some areas of red leadership where I was going to shine, expand my horizons both in terms of my personal “role” and in terms of travelling. But, now that I’ve got the other 7 categories done, there isn’t much left in this one except travel.

My big “long-term” headings here were considering a teaching type role, either through mentoring or formally teaching a course in public administration or introduction to development, for example. I enjoy the process of sharing knowledge, and a number of people have suggested it to me as I apparently “explain things really well” (unless of course you’re my wife, in which case we often need a defibrillator to bring her back when I’m done explaining something).

I’m also interested in municipal government issues. In fact, when I first started on a career in government, I assumed I would do mostly municipal — I had no interest in federal, too far removed from the people. Plus I had had a bit of involvement in Peterborough with the planning department, and liked it a lot. One MPA co-op later with DFAIT, and I got hooked on international; 18 years later, and I’m still in Ottawa doing federal stuff. I gently scratched the itch this past fall by supporting a friend who was elected to city council, and I’m happy to let more passionate people blaze the trail.

I’ve also thought about linking this area to my creative side, and doing some behind-the-scenes work with local theatre, but haven’t done so yet.

Eventually, I’ll find a windmill to tilt at, but in the meantime, I’ll settle for some more travel. I have a HUGE travel list, pretty much anywhere I haven’t been yet!

Hawaii was near the top of that list, and our honeymoon took care of that (although we’d love to go back and see the other islands, as we only saw two). Separate from just the “travel” tickbox, I also completed some other items from the bucket list while we were there — a helicopter ride, seeing a volcano, riding in a submarine, eating fresh fruit under a tree, swimming under a waterfall, and seeing free dolphins.

But since our budget won’t allow us to travel EVERYWHERE, here is my top 10 (okay 11 if you want to get picky!) list of places I want to go:

  • The three Territories in Canada — never been, really want to see our North, particularly if I get to see the Northern Lights;
  • Grand Canyon — we planned a trip a few years ago, but life intervened and we did other things (like getting married)…we have seen the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” in Hawaii, but I still want to do the Arizona/Nevada version;
  • Galapagos — not only the birthplace of Darwin’s Origin of Species, but one of the few remaining places on earth that still looks like man has never visited;
  • Ortona — the Italian campaign of WWII was one of the bloodiest theatres of war for Canada and, within Italy, Ortona was the most brutal…Christmas 1943, more than 1300 Canadians lost their lives fighting door-to-door, house-to-house in Ortona against one of the toughest German divisions ever assembled to take the town, and the deep-water port to shorten supply lines. While some people are moved by D-Day, reading Farley Mowat’s account of Ortona in The Regiment (and the highlights of the Hasty-Pees i.e. Hastings-Prince Edward County Regiment) is particularly telling for me…maybe because I lost an uncle there, or maybe because “there, but for the grace of time, go I”, as it was a lot of Peterborough men who were fighting and dying…2018 is the 75th anniversary, and I intend to be there to pay my respects to their sacrifice;
  • Iceland — just cuz it’s cool-looking(!);
  • Scotland — the highlands somehow call to me, and I am not even Scottish;
  • Australia and New Zealand — I’m very jealous of everyone who goes, and I have no idea how I’d fit everything into anything less than a three- or four-week trip, plus I need to include the GREAT BARRIER REEF in there????;
  • Fiji — there’s something about the area that appeals to me in ways that Hawaii and the Caribbean don’t, sort of a cross between the beauty of Hawaii with the unspoiled nature of the Galapagos, but without the Komodo dragons!;
  • Egypt — pyramids…need I say more?; and,
  • Antarctica — did I mention the sheer cool factor?

So that’s my great long priority shopping list of travel destinations. Am I doing any of them soon? No, probably not. England is next on our list, I think, either this year or next. The rest will wait a bit. Except Ortona in 2018…I think that one is set! 🙂 Maybe I can offset the depressing nature of Ortona with a trip to Rome and Venice while we’re at it.

Goals 2011 — Career

The PolyBlog
March 2 2011

This category is perhaps the easiest of all, as my short-term goals in this area are relatively simple — I want to have a reasonably good job, without complicating my life.

Back in 2005, my goal was to regularize my level — I was regularly acting in higher positions, but was still “languishing” in a lower position. So I passed a couple of competitions, and became a manager, one level below executive. And I thought, at the time, that I would spend a few years consolidating my skill set, trying out some different challenges and opportunities, and then moving up. A couple of those challenges weren’t a lot of fun, and I bounced around twice before ending up in my current job. The previous jobs weren’t horrible, they were actually both quite good for awhile. But situations change, and I moved on. Now, with the arrival of my son and having gotten married, my priorities have shifted, as have my willingness to put in extra hours. In short, I’m not willing anymore, and I don’t want the extra responsibility right now of the executive level. So I’m parking myself for now, and I’ll focus on other issues to bolster my resume so that a few years from now I’ll be well-positioned to start moving up again. I wouldn’t say no to a in-category bump to a EC-08 position, but I’m fine where I am for now.

But I’m still doing certain things that are part of my larger career plan. For example, I still do mentoring and coaching for individuals on HR competitions. I’ll finish my guide this spring, and I’ll be able to hand it out to people to help them. It will also let me be more focused in my mentoring — I won’t have to give extra context, I’ll be able to go straight to the parts I want to focus on.

The past two years gave me an opportunity to work on the Economic Action Plan roll-out, as well as the branch process for Strategic Review, and I learned a lot from both exercises. Now, as both start to wind down, I’m looking forward to focusing on my “day job”. However, I need to kickstart my french again, and will likely look at some online options in the short-term.

And that’s it. Nothing too fancy. My bucket list for career only has one item on it (Make a presentation to more than a 1000 people), and I doubt I’ll be doing that this year, but it’s nice to know it’s there. Maybe I’ll settle for a 1000 downloads of my HR guide, once it’s finished! 🙂