I meet all sorts of inspiring people every day. Yoga instructors with internal and external strength to be admired. Volunteers who have full-time jobs or full-time families or both. Co-workers who are not only outstanding employees, but thoughtful friends. Friends who are doing amazing things in their lives like running companies, reporting the news, healing people… amazing things.
My friend Joe, is one of them. Joe, who I mentioned earlier in the week, is a friend of mine from elementary school. I vividly recall him having a crush on me in fifth grade, and me telling my Dad to intercept his lovelorn calls (he doesn’t remember any of this, lol).
Joe is a talented guy who now lives abroad and just so happened to be in Sydney the same time I was. We had as many conversations as we could in our short time there, and one of our conversations revolved around our goals for 2013. He was set on becoming a “world-class” storyteller in 2013. Since the moment he told me that, we noticed any storytelling that was happening from anyone we encountered; his traveling group or otherwise… and we proceeded to swap notes on that person’s storytelling ‘technique’. “I like how she used her hands for emphasis,” or “I like that it was broken out into three parts,” or, “It’s funny to throw something in there that didn’t happen and say, ‘just kidding’ to throw the audience off a bit.”
By sharing with me his desire for 2013, we started immediately finding ways to get him on his path of research, discovery and eventually, the practice of storytelling.
Joe asked me to put together my list of things I wanted to accomplish in 2013. I did- and I sent it to him:
Be #5 on my sales ranking report
Meet my future husband
Buy a place and decorate it with all new stuff
Write draft one of a book about my year of being single
Paint a collection of semi-abstract paintings based on political observations and messaging
Continue yoga and yoga education
Keep my dogs healthy and happy
Join/start a new non-profit
Travel: Italy, Alaska, Nieces trips, weekend trips
I was impressed with myself. Some of these items were on my 2012 list, that I was not previously able to achieve. I have other things I want to do at some point as well, like play cello and learn Spanish, but I can push those out a bit if need be. Joe had inspired me to really take a look at the things I wanted to achieve in my life this year.
Then Joe sent me his full list.
I won’t share it on here, because it’s his private list, but I’ll tell you what… imagine my list, but with actual steps to achieving these items. Like, duh, why didn’t I think of that before?
For example…
Buy a place and decorate it with new stuff:
– Have my agent find (on average) 1 property daily and take me to see 4-5 weekly
– All bonuses/commission in 2013 go into down payment bucket
– Have a moving sale and sell off all current furniture (except my new W Hotel Bed)
– List all items on Craigslist to sell as well
– Collect inspiration board/Pinterest/clippings of new furniture and decor
– Have Feng Shui consultant design floor layout – include focusing on elements that will help with other items on my 2013 list
So, now buy a place and decorate it with new stuff is a step-by-step plan. Same with all the others. The baby steps to achieving the overall goal. One goal becomes a lot of mini-goals if you think about it… I mean I have nine goals on my list and if each has six items, that’s fifty-four tasks I am needing to complete to reach my goals.
I’m also big on visualization and meditation… and it’s easier to visualize the bigger goal, with all of these smaller steps.
Breaking things down is definitely a good idea, and I think it’s been proven a success for Joe, so I will give it a shot here in 2013. What goals are on your list? What is it you want to accomplish? Consider writing them out, breaking them down, and most importantly: going after them!!
Life, Love and Yoga 