goals Archives - Robin Shelley

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Was your dream to be a fire fighter, a doctor, a teacher? Did you want to build things, be your own boss, or save the environment?

I still chuckle when I remember my daughter’s preschool graduation. This group of 5 and 6-year-olds were asked what they wanted to do when they grew up. After a lot of fireman, policeman, and doctor responses, my daughter’s quick, unrehearsed response was, “I want to be a paleontologist.” The audience cracked up. When the teacher asked her what that meant, she knew. How does a 6 year old know what a paleontologist is?! Or even know how to pronounce that?! Over time her ambitions changed. In her teens she found her passion for martial arts. By age 21 she opened her own taekwondo school. She now has her fifth degree black belt and a very successful business.

At one point in my childhood I wanted to be an archaeologist. I love history, especially ancient history. The idea of being in an exotic place digging in ruins looking for lost artifacts sounded exciting and fulfilling. I wanted to brush dirt and sand away to uncover pottery or bones that haven’t seen the light of day for centuries. It seemed like an intellectual puzzle. I wanted to do the research to determine where to dig. Then, discovering pieces of the past would be the prize for persistence. These discoveries from an ancient civilization would also bring wonder – of who these people were and how they lived.

Petra, Jordan – Photo by Reiseuhu on Unsplash

In my teens, I thought about the reality of living and working on site as an archaeologist. Ruins in a place like Egypt would mean dusty, hot, sweaty work with no running water but plenty of scorpions. Ruins in the rain forest would be hot, humid, sweaty work with no running water but plenty of snakes. This job would probably include living in a tent for months (or maybe even years). Keep in mind this was all before the Indiana Jones movies romanticized the whole field. Archaeology didn’t seem so wonderful to me anymore. And I realized that I wanted to have a family someday and this career didn’t seem conducive to family life.

I also toyed with the idea of becoming a writer. I could write about exotic places and research any topic I had interest in. I could write about the distant past, the possibilities of the future or anywhere in between. I could teach others about real people and places or help them escape into a world I totally made up. But I feared writing wasn’t a stable enough career to help support my future family. Would I be able to sell books or articles consistently enough to bring in a regular paycheck?

With my love of reading and writing, I decided to become an English teacher. I got paid to study and teach wonderful literature and hone my craft in writing while coaching others to write better. I had the privilege of working with junior high and high school students and watching them mature. I had the joy of seeing those “ah-ha” moments when the light bulb went on for them. And I loved challenging myself, including when I took on rebuilding a video production program at the high school. But the idea of becoming a professional writer was always at the back of my mind. I loved so many aspects of my thirty year teaching career, but retirement meant an opportunity to finally pursue my dream of being a writer.

So what did you want to be when you were a kid? What did you end up doing? Do you have other career dreams and goals you still work on during your free time or hope to get back to some day? Please share!

Did you miss me? I hope all of you experienced love and joy throughout the holiday season. I took off some time to celebrate and to enjoy family, but now the new year is here and it’s time to get back into a routine.

Have you noticed how we get inundated with ads for fitness equipment, gyms and diet plans every January? It’s so predictable. With the start of a new year, many of us think about new starts. We refocus our energies on whatever we want to improve about ourselves that we missed the mark on last year. We might want to lose weight, eat healthier, exercise more, or we may want to work on our organizational skills, a career goal, or our relationships. According to U.S. News, approximately 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by the second week of February. That doesn’t give us the motivation to even try!

Perhaps part of the problem is that our resolutions are too vague . Instead of resolving to lose weight, a more successful resolution may be to pick a specific amount of weight so you know exactly what your mark is. Perhaps we fail when we make goals that are too big. Instead of making it a big goal for the year, like losing 50 pounds in 2019, how about making smaller goals? Try setting a goal like this: I will lose 10 pounds in the next three months. Or I will limit my fast food intake to once per month. Or I will get my fancy, high calorie, drive-thru coffee only once per week instead of every day. Perhaps we fail because we make resolutions without a plan to get there. Saying what you want to improve doesn’t mean you’ve thought through the steps necessary to be successful.

Among other things, I want to focus on career goals this year. Instead of making a resolution, I’m going to take a different approach. First, I’ve taken time to develop my vision – I’ve looked at the big picture of what I want to accomplish. It may take more than this year to get there, but I have to start by seeing the long-term vision and then take the first step forward. Break the vision into specific smaller goals that need to happen to get to the finish line.

For example, my vision is to get my book traditionally published. I’ve already done some steps toward getting there, like making sure my book is the best it can be, researching the publishing business, writing a query letter, researching agents, starting this website/blog, and so on. But at this point in my journey, the specific step I need to take is to find an agent that is a good fit for me and this book. So how do I do this? That becomes the mission. I create a specific plan of attack. Looking at each goal in your vision, develop a strategy of what you are going to do to achieve that goal.

I set some goals by month. In January I have a goal to create a list of at least 50 people I think are potential agents for this book. Another goal is to revise my query letter, again. Starting in February, I will send out at least 10 query letters per month. In February I will also write/revise a long and a short summary of the book since some agents will request one or the other. In March l will continue sending query letters and responding to requests to see my manuscript. January through March I will also start processing the next book idea in my head and do some basic outlining. April will be the month that I start to seriously write my first draft of a new book. No, that’s too vague. Let’s set the goal to write at least 25 pages of the new book by the end of April. Also at the end of April, I will evaluate how well I’m reaching these small goals and revise if necessary. If you’ve noticed, the mission gives you boxes to check as you progress. Re-evaluating every four months (in April and again in August) and setting goals for the next four months will make this an achievable process rather than a failed resolution. The point is to keep moving forward. That in itself is success.

Do you have a vision for this year? If so, have you made a plan to get there? If not, this is your mission if you choose to accept it. With a plan in place, the success of your mission is possible.

Tag: goals

Childhood Career Dreams

Here’s to Success in 2019!