Goal!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a goal-oriented person.  As a result, I tend to have multiple to-do lists going at any one time.  However, there is one to-do list that reigns supreme; it is my annual birthday list.  Every year on my birthday, I make a list of items that I would like to get accomplished.  It’s not really a bucket list because I don’t see it as a list of things to do before I die.  It’s a list of things that I’d like to get done to be able to live my life to the fullest.

Fifteen years ago, I added “Go to grad school” on my list.  This item languished on my list for 10 years before I crossed it out and wrote “Go to Harvard.” That revised goal was on my list for 5 years before I was able to make it happen.  I’m still not sure how it came to pass, but last year on my birthday, I was able to check it off. (Yee haw!)

I have 3 more months until my next birthday, so I pulled out my list to make sure I was on track to getting some of my goals accomplished.

Goal 1: Graduate from Harvard with a MPA

Goal 3: Lose 30 lbs in the 10 months that I am away at school.

Goal 8: Do humanitarian work outside of the US

Goal 13: Plan trip to Hawaii, as an after graduation/birthday present

Goal 20: Read 5 Best-Sellers

Goal 34: Cook from scratch 1 day a week.

Goal 35: Reach out to one old friend every week

Goal 38: Find a job

This year, I am able to scratch off more than 2 things on my list, but the items I have listed should give you an idea of a few of things that I consider to be important to me.  It has been very hard to make this list a priority while going through this program because many things have been competing for my attention. 

As I get into the last 100 days of this program and prepare to transition to life outside of the “Harvard Bubble” I will use my list as a barometer of how true I was able to stay to myself.  I know that a goal similar to my “Go to grad school” goal may be on the list for a long time before I am able to mark it done.  The most important thing is that I shouldn’t be deterred.

I think there is power in writing down my needs, wants and desires.  For me, it keeps me focused.  It also reminds me of how much I can accomplish once I commit to something in writing regardless of what else is going on in my life.

My family thinks I’m a more than a little nerdy. There has been more than one joke at my expense about me doing my “research” and “adding it to my to-do” list. But that’s OK. It’s a part of who I am, and sometimes I have to laugh about it too.

I’m hoping that my experiences at Harvard will unleash my imagination and allow me to set even loftier goals this year. I know that I have the potential to achieve great things and it is my desire that this year’s birthday list (to be drafted in Hawaii, mind you) will be EPIC.