Reality Check: Revisiting 2011 Goals

I got off to a blistering start in the year 2011, posting daily, getting my two manuscripts ready for publishing and trying to juggle my job, businesses, family, friendships and all, and lose weight to boot (of course I intend taking it one at a time). I came to realize that I was treating my year 2011 goals the way I treat my budget sometimes, thinking I can buy much more than the money I have available. Have you ever felt so cool, thinking you have so much money and can jolly well buy whatever you want, only to take a pen and paper and puff goes your illusions of grandeur?

I am not a big fan of Murphy’s laws, but I turn to it when I need comic relief and to face the fact that things sometime do go wrong. Here is a teaser:

Anything you try to fix will take longer and cost more than you thought.

This goes for goals too. More often than not, the price is higher than you anticipated, and the duration longer than you planned. To keep from getting discouraged, you need periodic reality checks. It will cost more, it will take longer. You can take it to the bank.

Part of my recent reality check a few days ago threw up the fact that to make my February date for publishing my EBook, something had to give. I will not be able to maintain my frequency of publishing blog posts. It was a painful decision, as I was gaining momentum on the way of meeting my target this year for the blog. I have already achieved getting the blog into the Alexa 100,000 (top websites in the world by traffic) and within a shooting range of making the top 100 websites in Nigeria. These statistics mean nothing if the blog is not making the desired impact, but as a metric to measure traffic, it feels good to know that one is making progress in that direction.

I had to make a tough decision, one we have to make daily, counting the cost as we advance towards our goals. Sometimes, we cannot have it all. It often takes longer and costs more. Some goals roll over into the next year. It is important we prioritize our goals and give our number one all we’ve got. My publishing projects are top priority this year, and if I slack on others, then that is the price I have to pay, one that I am willing to pay.

We need these checks earlier on to keep on track, rather than attempt damage control when the train is almost completely off track.

Within the week, I also had a father and son chat with my 9 year old Josh. As a result of the chat, I am buying him two books to start him off on his journey to financial freedom – Rich Dad, Poor Dad and Rich Kid, Smart Kid. Richard Kiyosaki started his financial lessons with the man he calls Rich Dad by age 9. I started my journey at age 35. I do not want my son to lose his way the way I did before starting to find his way back, close to mid life. It promises to be an interesting journey. I will be sharing some of the episodes in this blog. Rich Dad used an unconventional way to teach the two 9 year olds that wanted to learn how to make money. He gave them an opportunity for life to push them around so that they get to the point they decide never to work for money. I am trying to design a curriculum for Josh that will teach him this same lesson in a way he will understand.

I have also given up the fight between British and American English. I configured my computer originally to American English and I have gotten weary over spell check battles: labour vs labor, colour vs color etc. The Americans win again! I wonder what the verdict is in our schools.

I will continue with the series How to Start a Small Scale Business in the coming weeks. For the present, I need to finish what I started late last year, and have the singular pleasure to stamping “DONE”, my first goal for 2011.

I will leave you with some comic relief courtesy Murphy and others. Keep on keeping on. Keep laughing, keep smiling, keep moving towards your goals on step at a time, one day at a time.

No matter how long and hard you shop for an item, after you’ve bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.
The one item you want is never the one on sale.
You will remember that you forgot to take out the trash when the garbage truck is two blocks away.
To get a loan, you must first prove you don’t need it.
To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
If something is confidential, it will be left in the copier machine.
Whenever you turn on the radio, you hear the last few notes of your favourite song.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism
A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
The more an item costs, the farther you have to send it for repairs
Nothing can be done in one trip.
In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.
If more than one person (or the boss) is responsible for a mistake, then no-one is at fault.