I recently came across an inspiring story of a young lady whose GOAL is to create a new dress a day (for a year), by up-cycling a used dress she paid no more than $1 for at a garage sale or second-hand shop. Her blog shows the before and after pictures - and her talent amazes me!
But equally interesting - to me - is her reason for undertaking this goal: to get out of a rut. (She had turned 30 and lost her job.)
Inspired by the movie Julie and Julia, where a bored woman cooks her way through a Julia Child cookbook in a year and blogs about it, Marisa decided to do something similar. Choosing something she is good at - restyling clothing - she set her goal (365 Dresses for $365)... in a year. Not only did she give herself a daily challenge that was FUN for her, her blogging about it has inspired others.
In my working life, as a teacher of adults, I was expected to help my students set goals ... and achieve them. I remember attending a workshop where I was informed that - in order to succeed - a goal needs to have 3 characteristics:
- It needs to be achievable.
- It needs to be realistic (for that person).
- And it needs a time limit...
For most of us, this is true. (Perhaps inventors like Thomas Edison, who created 1093 inventions, don't fit this mold.) But for many of us the "principle" holds: "The amount of time it takes us to do something is the amount of time we have."
So as I reflect on the many things I would like to do in the next dozen or so years - the ones I achieve will probably be the ones that are realistic for me... and that have a time limit.
(The fact that I won't be here forever is probably not specific enough!)
Time to stop wishing and dreaming... and set some concrete GOALS!
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