MONDAY BYTES — December 28, 2015
Happy New Year’s! To help celebrate your own “best of 2015” list and to motivate you to make yours a great 2016, complete this mini 5 self-survey:
1. List three projects you engaged in this past year that got you excited about life:
2. Name five things you did this past year that made you feel proud:
3. List the top three risks you took in 2015 — challenges you said “yes” to.
4. Name the most important thing you learned about yourself this past year:
Take a moment to reflect on your responses.
5. Now, fast forward to one year from today. What three accomplishments do you want to be able to look back on and celebrate having completed in 2016?
Hint: Be specific — list measurable goals. (No general or vague goals such as “to be healthier,” “to exercise more,” or “to do more networking.”)
Examples of measurable and specific goals: to book 10 performances for your ensemble; to shoot, edit, and post a 3 minute video promoting your teaching; to raise 10K for recording your new album; to apply for 15 jobs; to double your performance income; or to complete a 60K word book manuscript.
For this week: What will you achieve by the end of 2016 — list three specific and measurable outcomes.
Next week we’ll unpack what to do with these goals: how to break down big dreams into manageable action steps that propel you forward.
Bonus: Lots of people like to throw around the concept of “SMART” goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-related). For a contrarian view, check out this Forbes article by Mark Murphy on how “SMART Goals Can Be Dumb.”
Deam Big, Plan Smart, Live Well
