One Red Hot Country Mama!

Usually I don’t post stuff like this, but I read today that you should write down your short term and long term goals 4 x a year. A study at Yale University found that only 3% of the students had written goals. Twenty years later, the same 3% were wealthier than the other 97% combined. Usually I write them then lose them, but this year I am going to keep them here where I will never lose it .

Here it goes:

Short Term (within the next 12 Months)

Mind
- Continue to become a better writer by writing every day, and a better thinker by reading 50 books this year, interspersing more serious ones than last year.
- Focus on what is truly important instead of the obsession of the moment or the dramas of everyday life.

Heart
- Be open to receiving love in any form.
- Fully express myself honestly (not Alanis Morissette confessional style).
- Connect with all of my family members at least once a week.
- Get out to see live music or lecture once a month.

Spirit
- Raise $5,000 for charity this year.

Physical
- Get  back into a size 6 (from the current through exercise and healthier eating (cutting back on white sugar, white flour, creamy Starbucks drinks) and exercising 4 times a week.
- Complete a sprint triathalon in the spring.
- Get back into being as neat as I was last year.

Professional
- Work on the competencies discussed with my group manager this week (use numbers proactively, engage in discussions even if they do not benefit me, look calm but responsive under pressure, evangelize technology).
- Build a prototype for the entrepreneurial venture by spring.

Economic
- Buy some real estate this year.
- Waste less money by eating in more.

Long Term (Next 5 Years)

Mind
- Move into a profession that fully engages me intellectually by mid 2007.
- Think big and use creativity to help people love, feel love and be inspired
- Write and publish book and/or have a regular column some place.
- Focus on what is truly important instead of the obsession of the moment or the dramas of everyday life.

Heart
- Always be open to receiving love in any form (hopefully in the form of my own loving partner/family but this is not exactly something that can be predicted so the other kinds of love are cool too).
- Have a positive impact on everyone who I come into contact with, remembering that "positive impact" does not mean simply pleasing them.
- Be able to spend more time physically with my family members.

Spirit
- Dedicate at least 25% of my life to helping people live healthier and more fulfilling lives (this can be through fund raising, professionally or through family) by 2008.

Physical
- Maintain a healthy weight and work out 4 times a week.
- Get progressively better at sprint triathlons and 10k races.
- Continue to be neat.

Professional
- Have my own business OR an autonomous and high-profile role by 2008.
- Move into a more intellectually stimulating and fulfilling career.
- Work in a leadership role with creatives.

Economic
- Double long-term investments for the next 3 years.

Okay, that’s it. I will revisit again in March .