This Date in My History — Saturday, 2/17/01  9:20am

I had 2 interesting conversations about goal-setting that I want to include here. On Thursday, Sharon and I had lunch. At some point, we were talking about the article I sent her from the 8/00 issue of Personal Journaling titled “Write It Down, Make It Happen”.

I asked Sharon whether she thought I really need to do that since I feel my goals are crystal clear. She asked a very intriguing question:  “Why are you so resistant to it?”

After a little thought, I answered that I am very self-critical if I don’t make things happen in the timeframe allotted. In addition, I am notorious in being over-ambitious, planning way too much in the timeframe allotted.

I talked about my disappointment that “Pachelbel’s Canon” was one of the first pieces I bought when I started playing harp 5 years ago, yet I still cannot play it perfectly and wouldn’t consider it performance-ready. Sharon started reminding me of all I have accomplished in such a short time. She said she views my achievements as amazing.

Later that day, Janice and I were working at the server. Janice said something which prompted me to say that Sharon and I had just talked at lunch about writing down goals. I asked Janice her views on the subject.

She is a firm believer in writing goals every day. She is a marathon runner, and her big goal is run a marathon in less than 4 hours. She said she writes her times every day. At the end of the week, she summarizes her times and adds positive affirmations like “I ran times that should give me a marathon in less than 4 hours.” While she has not reached her goal, she said that writing her times “keeps her showing up.”

After both of the conversations, I feel compelled to start writing my goals, hopefully on a daily basis. I know that Barbara Sher advocated in one of her books that you have weekly planning sessions with yourself. I think I’ll try to do that as well.

Short term goal:  Get the next gig!

Requires:

1. contacting people
2. sending demos
3. marketing
• MCA ads
• Aruba mail-out
• website within 6 mos.

Mid-range goal:  Become proficient at home recording

Requires:

1. practice, practice, practice!
2. CD burner to transfer work to computer
3. research other equipment needed such as a voice channel strip

Long range goal:  Work full-time from my home in voice-over

Today’s Take-aways:

1. “Write it down. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants; can’ts into cans; dreams into plans; and plans into reality. Don’t just think it – ink it!”
— Michael Korda

2. If you need help in formulating clear and concise goals, take a look at A Short Lesson in Goal-setting.

3. As I’ve written in the past, I’m a big fan of Henriette Klauser’s book Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want And Getting It. She explains that the action of writing down your goal activates your brain’s reticular activation system (RAS). The RAS acts a filter for your brain so that it alerts you to signs and signals related to your goal that you might otherwise miss. The book offers numerous practical and inspirational suggestions of ways that you can write down everything that you want from life.

Follow-up to today’s story:

I have met and far surpassed all of the goals that I wrote that day. I’m working on some new ones!

Remember my friend Janice’s goal was to run a marathon in under 4 hours? Her best time was 3:43:xx, when she qualified to run in the Boston Marathon several years ago.

Writing down your goals works!