[shareable]’Our best memories often start out as our boldest dreams.’ -Mark Batterson[/shareable]
Every Monday, I write out my top ten goals for the year in my journal. This helps keep me focused on what I want to accomplish. Two years ago, I started making my goals public. I do this for two reasons: 1.) To help hold myself accountable to actually reaching them. 2.) To inspire and challenge you to do the same.
Not only do I share my goals on my blog, but I also share my goals with our Mastermind Group. This has been extremely helpful. If you are not in a Mastermind group, I highly recommend getting around a group of like-minded people and starting one. If you’d like to join ours, e-mail me at dougsmithlive@gmail.com.
How do I come up with my list of ten? I ask myself this question, “What are ten things that would be extremely awesome if I accomplished them by the end of the year?”
Below you’ll see two lists. The first list is made up of goals I made in January along with updates on my progress for each. You’ll notice that I’ve accomplished a lot of the goals I originally set out to accomplish in January, so I added my current list of top ten goals below. Those are the goals I want held accountable to through December.
My Top Ten Goals for 2015 (Set in January 2015)
1.) I will Buy a House by May 15th, 2015 – Complete! We bought a house on April 1st of this year.
2.) I will Run the Pittsburgh Marathon in 3:30 while raising at least $5,000 for Light of Life – Update: I ran the marathon in 3:34, which was a 9 minute improvement over my 2014, so I will take that! I raised over $16,000 for Light of Life.
3.) I will Produce a Product to give away for free on my blog by March 1st (1st Push Goal) – Update: I have made progress on this, and I hope to have this complete, published, and out by the end of August.
4.) I will Make Learning to Lead an official business by March 1st (2nd Push Goal) – Update: Complete! We filed the paperwork 2 weeks ago!
5.) I will create/host the following by December 31st, 2015: Create 36 Learning to Lead podcasts, host 12 breakfasts, 24 small groups, and post 3 blog posts each week, and 12 serving opportunities – Update: A little behind on podcasts, good on the breakfasts, good on small groups, a little behind blogging and serving opportunities!
6.) I will Use a Virtual Assistant by March 1st – Update: I have not done this yet, but I did start to use Fiver which was good. I am recognizing more and more everyday that I need to start delegating. Laura and I are meeting about this now and putting a plan together.
7.) I will Raise $X through my Donor File at Light of Life by September 30th, 2015 – Update: Complete! I his my fundraising goal last week! 2 months ahead of schedule!
8.) I will go on a 10-day vacation with Laura – Update: Complete! We booked it and CANNOT WAIT!!!
9.) I will give away X% of our income this year – Update: We are on track with our giving goals this year.
10.) I will intentionally add value to 25 Leaders by December 31st – Update: I haven’t done a great job of measuring this, but I would like to believe I am on track. I need to figure out how I will track this.
Here are some of my other goals for the year:
- Take Ski lessons with Laura (we went – no lessons)
- Go skiing for a weekend (we went skiing for one day)
- Have 50 speaking engagements (In progress)
- Read 30 Books (On track)
- Get our e-mail list over 250 people (Up to 189 – Want to join? 🙂
- Personally mentor 10-12 young leaders (In progress – on track)
- Get a running Coach (Steel City Run Club)
- Get a financial coach (Yes – Have a few financial coaches)
- Get a Writing Coach (no)
- Get a Business Coach (I’ve developed some advisers, but no coaches)
- Get a Speaking coach (No)
- Get a life coach (no)
- Save $X a month toward the house (In progress – on track)
- Save $X toward Emergency Fund(In progress – on track)
- Save $X toward travel (In progress – on track)
- Save $X toward retirement (In progress – on track)
- Visit one presidential library – JFK – Visit Boston (Not yet)
- Attend the Country Music Awards (Slight possibility)
- Spend 10-15 minutes a day in prayer and meditation (In progress)
- Go through the Bible in a year! (In progress – on track)
- Visit Olympic National Park (We decided to skip this on our vacation)
- Visit Mt. Ranier (September)
- Explore Seattle (September)
- Go to Oregon or Vancouver and Explore (Going in September)
- Go to Toronto (Completed in March)
- Go to Chicago for a weekend (Have one planned for next April)
- Complete Quarterly Reviews! (Complete)
- Create a leadership develop course for leaders to go through by September (In progress)
- Speak at TedX Pittsburgh – No
- Create job descriptions for Learning to Lead – Delegate – Elance – No
- Attend a Tony Robins Event – Not Yet
My Top Ten Goals (Set in August of 2015)
- I will develop my e-book freemium by August, 31st, 2015
- I will save 3-6 months savings in our Emergency account
- I will start a leadership program for young leaders by January 1st, 2016
- I will start investing 15% of our income into retirement by January 1st, 2016
- I will start building relationships with and guest blogging for other like-minded entrepreneurs online. At least 1-2 guest posts per month.
- I will create/host the following by December 31st, 2015: Create 36 Learning to Lead podcasts, host 12 breakfasts, 24 small groups, and post 3 blog posts each week, and 12 serving opportunities
- I will create one memorable experience each month with my family
- I will build my e-mail list up to over 500 people
- I will host and teach one seminar by December 31st, 2015
- I will raise 50% of my fundraising goal in the first quarter of our fiscal year at Light of Life (October – December)
Other goals for the rest of the year:
- Continue to establish our Outreach team and make significant progress on our goals for the year through December 31st
- Go away somewhere awesome for Christmas
- Create systems to make L2L reproducible
- Start looking into Master Degree programs
- Start using YouTube and Periscope as regular outlets
- Plan a fall/winter retreat for Learning to Lead
- Continue to stay in great shape through Body Beast, P90X, Running, and Insanity
- Visit a Presidential Library – Potentially in NY in October
- Create a second e-book by December 31st
- Find a way to go through the John Maxwell Team experience
- Plan our 2016 Calendar
- Create our 2014 and 2015 Yearbooks
- Book all of our 2016 Leadership breakfasts
- Finish remaking Doug Smith Live
- Complete the L2L website and get the community blogging
What are your top 10 goals in 2015? How are you doing with them? I’d love to hear from you. Comment below!
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