My Personal and Professional Development Goals for 2008

Posted in Goals & Productivity, Personal Growth on January 25th, 2008 No Comments

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Earlier in the week, I discussed how to set meaningful goals for 2008. I described how to take a roles-based approach to make your “resolutions” for the year more relevant and personally meaningful to you. We reviewed how visualizing each of these areas of focus in your life–your desired outcomes, and the way you’ll feel when you achieve each of your desired goals–can help you break your dreams down into necessary smaller steps in reaching for your goals. Today as promised, I’d like to share my own personal goals for 2008 with you as an example of what my brainstorming led to.

And we’ve already seen how powerful it can be when you set goals for yourself. You won’t succeed at every goal, but review your progress at the end of each year to see how much you do accomplish! Simply setting the goals for yourself will greatly increase the likelihood that you’ll get much closer to your dream lifestyle in all these areas of your life.

Review the original post about brainstorming your personal roles, visualizing your ideal progress for the year, and goal-setting by clicking here. In my own brainstorming, I found that my most important Roles included Web Designer/Consultant, Entrepreneur, Blogger, Peer Mentor, Traveler, and Artist. And other Areas of Focus for me included things like Social & Relationship-oriented goals, Health & Recreation, and Financial goals. After I settled on these nine top areas of importance for my life, I visualized how I’d ideally like to see each of those realms in a year from now… What sort of progress would I like to make? What things would I like to learn? How successful can I be in a year? And I not only asked these questions, but I tried to actually put myself in that future reality–what will it feel like? How will I get there? Is it truly important?

So, once I had the broader picture of where I’d like to be in a year (yet still very specific mental images), I worked backwards to think what smaller steps I’ll need to accomplish to get to that point. I tried to frame each of my goals into the three areas of things I want to BE, DO, or HAVE, and I tried to frame them in the affirmative, to reinforce to my own brain that I will accomplish these things this year! I also tried to phrase my goals positively, focusing on what I should do to get there, not what I want to do less of. Here are the 24 major goals I’ve set for myself this year, broken down by my Roles and Areas of Focus:

I. My goals as a Web Designer & Consultant

I WILL HAVE a dedicated online freelance portfolio.
I WILL HAVE a new Apple desktop computer.
I WILL EARN $60K as a freelancer in 2008.

II. My goals as an Entrepreneur

I WILL BE the owner of an incorporated online/design business.
I WILL HAVE multiple streams of residual income (through products, training materials, and partnerships).

III. My goals as a Blogger

I WILL WRITE at least one high-value article each week for Thrilling Heroics (52+).
I WILL REDESIGN ThrillingHeroics.com.
I WILL DO one interview each month for Thrilling Heroics.
I WILL COMMENT on other relevant blogs for one hour each week.

IV. Career Development and goals as a Peer Mentor

I WILL CREATE a dedicated Career MasterMinds website with forums to enable remote discussion of personal & professional development.
I WILL COMMUNICATE with CMM members monthly to follow up on their goal-setting and career planning.
I WILL READ one personal development book each month.

V. My goals as a Traveler

I WILL COMMUNICATE with international friends once each quarter.
I WILL PARTICIPATE in online traveler communities like The Thorn Tree Forums and The Couch Surfing Project.
I WILL LIVE in Thailand for 3+ months.

VI. My goals as an Artist

I WILL SELL my photography professionally via an online gallery or stock photography community.

VII. My Social and Relationship-related goals

I WILL CONTACT old friends on their birthdays.
I WILL ATTEND Burning Man 2008.

VIII. My Health and Recreational goals

I WILL DO 30+ pushups each day.
I WILL DO 3 half-hour cardio workouts per week.
I WILL HAVE a great road bike.

IX. My Financial goals

I WILL ELIMINATE any credit card balances.
I WILL HAVE a $2000 emergency fund.
I WILL HAVE my own self-employed medical/dental/vision insurance.

In the previous post, I also discussed adopting the SMART goal process to help you get really specific with your goals. (Remember, the more specific you get, the more likely you are to actually achieve your goals!) I went through all of my goals to see if they were each Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely, and if they weren’t, I’d throw them out. I won’t include each step for ALL of my 24 goals here because I don’t want to bore you! But, I’ll demonstrate with my first goal how I answered these questions in my head:

GOAL: I WILL HAVE a dedicated online freelance portfolio

Specific: I will create an online portfolio with client testimonials, service & product offerings, and business contact information.
Measurable: I’ll know this goal is completed when I have a freelance site on its own unique URL that directs potential clients properly to my pipeline.
Attainable: I have built numerous websites in the past, so I will easily be able to build myself a business site (it doesn’t have to start out perfect!)
Relevant: This is important in order to establish an online home for my business and build instant credibility with potential clients.
Timely: I will complete this project before the end of February, 2008.

Now that you’ve seen my own detailed example of brainstorming Roles & Areas of Focus, visualizing outcomes, and SMART goal-setting for 2008, what are your personal goals for the new year? What resolutions have you already brainstormed for yourself? Please hit that “comment” section below and share your thoughts…