2011 – The Writing Life of a Tadpole

Goals 2011 — Seeing how I did…

February 9 2012

Just over a year ago, I did my annual personal “goal-setting”. Many of the comments I received on my goals basically suggested I was either (a) trying to do too much or (b) not prioritizing family high enough. I do appreciate the comments, but neither are really applicable to me or my personal situation.

First, the whole point of doing this is to be really ambitious, to use a combination of some of the techniques in the “goal guru / time management” industry. And so I am not trying to do all of them. Maybe not even most of them. Really what I am doing is listing goals and creating the list so that I can use it to remind myself of my goals, to take a greater step than most in actually writing them down as well as to get them out of my head and on paper so I don’t have to try and just remember them. Anytime I want them, they’re there for easy review.

Second, suggesting someone prioritize family “higher” is an easy comment, but is actually quite simplistic in concept. No matter what anyone does for family, someone will always say “make them a priority”. Of course, they’re a priority. But I also don’t want to be the equivalent of the stereotype of a stressed out parent (usually portrayed as a mom) who only lives vicariously through their family, who loses their own identity or subsumes their own life under that that of their children. That might make a “green” personality happy in the short-term, but I’m a primary blue — I’m always going to want some of own analytical time, for instance. Just how I’m wired…and if others want to follow an unconscious script that tells them family is always the “right answer”, that’s their choice. But I know better. I love my family. But I’m useless to them if that’s all I bring to the table or expect them to be my whole life. So I need to make sure some of those other areas are going too. But family is also not a “to do” item, nor will I treat them as such.

How did I do in 2011? Well, let’s see. First and foremost, I am happy with the fact that my approach included a new colour wheel that resonates with me in terms of psychology, personality, etc. However, it wasn’t entirely successful and I have a slightly tweaked approach for 2012 that I’m going to try that thinks in terms of just the four colours (no sub categories), and “themes” + a storyline. Almost like “branding my year” in a way so I can tell myself the story better. More info on that in future posts.

Second, something that wasn’t really on the list is something that sucked time like nobody’s business. My family and I moved homes — not a great distance from where we were, but huge upgrades on quality of life in a bunch of areas. But it pretty much killed three to five months of the year, maybe a bit more.

So let’s see how I did on the various items I had in my posts from last February / March.

Getting organized
Being organized	Maintaining to do lists, etc. — worked well at start of year but by end of year, I was drifting a bit…have now converted over to using Evernote and it seems promising so far.
House	I was expecting to do a lot of work on the old house and we did — but different work, work designed to help it SELL! And we bought a new house requiring a lot less work. Lots of new stuff to be done, but starting to sort itself out.
Finances	Wanted to do better planning and we did, both with strategic financial planner, wills, etc. But still work to be done that should have already been done on moving investments around, better insurance coverage, etc.
Computers	Finished and started using website, reorganized some of the computer backups etc.
Garden	Wasn’t a priority, nothing happened	n/a
Cottage	Wasn’t a priority, nothing happened	n/a
Design a house	Wasn’t a priority, but buying the new place helped us articulate what we were really looking for in terms of rooms, layout, location, etc.
Relationships
Fatherhood	Mostly about father vs. husband vs. individual, I didn’t do as well as I would have liked on the “father/husband” front in terms of carrying my share of the load — Andrea still does most of the pre-bedtime prep stuff.
Husband	Plus we haven’t made the time for “spousal” time, and most of our conversations are still about Jacob…need more date nights. Still supporting Andrea’s educational efforts, which is good.
Individual	Not doing as much after Jacob goes to bed either, a little too much TV watching of late.
Family	Hardly saw my family last year, which is not what I hoped for.
Body and Soul
Physical	Massage time down, Prevacid steady, eyeglasses replaced, got new doctor, but need to find new dentist, I became a greater couch potato, developed blood pressure problems, didn’t get new orthotics, no golfing, didn’t compensate on charitable giving. Plus other new stuff showing up on the health risk front.
Astro Pontiac	Need to get more organized for supporting Stephan on this astronomy proposal.
Figure out spiritual beliefs	I don’t really know what I believe anymore, and should really figure this out a bit more.
Ethics	Created personal rules / principles but not really sure I’m living them.
Weight	No real change
Meditation	Did nothing
Martial Arts	Did nothing
Giving blood	Tried to get this organized in late December but coordinator screwed up donation date, need to rebook
Learning
Online courses	Did nothing
Personal interest courses	Did nothing
Further studies	Did nothing
Learning sign language	Did nothing
Use own telescope	Did nothing
Learn photography	Did nothing
Learn to drive a standard transmission	Did nothing
Social
MMMMM outings	Did nothing
Remembrance Day / Corn roast	Wiped out by moving
Coffee with Amanda / Hockey with Seb / Brunches	Pretty much a wash out.
Book reviews	28 all up and converted
Movie reviews	Did nothing
Ebook collection, pruning paper	Nothing
Billboard music	Nothing
Learn to knit	Nothing
Play Pai Gow	Nothing
Movie weekend	Nothing
List of top books	List compiled
Creativity
Business model for publishing	Lots of research, looking good
Writing	Blog only
Capital Crime	Nothing for new year
HR guide (employees)	Started posting
HR guide (employers)	Preliminary
Gods novel outline	Nothing
Cookbook	Nothing
Recipe nights	Nothing
Career
Mentoring, coaching	Some 1:1, some group
Focused content	Not really, still main stuff
Day job vs. SR / SORO	Caught up in SORO, not able to extricate myself
French	Nothing
Presentation	Continued learning series
Leadership
Teaching role	Continued learning series, some blogging on tech issues (SEO)
Municipal issues	Nothing
Local theatre	Nothing
Windmill to tilt at	Nothing really, some blogging
Travel – England	Nothing
Travel – Territories	Nothing
Travel – Grand Canyon	Nothing
Travel – Galapagos	Nothing
Travel – Ortona	Nothing
Travel – Iceland	Nothing
Travel – Scotland, Ireland	Nothing
Travel – Aust/NZ	Nothing
Travel – Fiji	Nothing
Travel – Egypt	Nothing
Travel – Antarctica	Nothing
Other (Miscellaneous)
Red Tie to web	Nothing
Garage sale	Nothing
Porch swing	Nothing, but moving reprioritized
Basketball hoop	Nothing, but moving reprioritized
Bicycle setup	Nothing, but moving reprioritized
Car insurance claim	Nothing
ETFs	Nothing, but moving pre-empted it

In the end, some progress, some slippage. My only real concern for the future is where there are whole categories essentially that I did nothing on, indicating that there is a sub-area that I am relatively ignoring. Part of that is the way I set my priorities, and some of it is the way I remind myself what to focus on. I think the new approach for 2012 (themes, storyline) will help counteract that…at least, I hope it will! Stay tuned!

Goals 2011 — Leadership

March 3 2011

The last category of goals — leadership! I intended this one to combine some areas of red leadership where I was going to shine, expand my horizons both in terms of my personal “role” and in terms of travelling. But, now that I’ve got the other 7 categories done, there isn’t much left in this one except travel.

My big “long-term” headings here were considering a teaching type role, either through mentoring or formally teaching a course in public administration or introduction to development, for example. I enjoy the process of sharing knowledge, and a number of people have suggested it to me as I apparently “explain things really well” (unless of course you’re my wife, in which case we often need a defibrillator to bring her back when I’m done explaining something).

I’m also interested in municipal government issues. In fact, when I first started on a career in government, I assumed I would do mostly municipal — I had no interest in federal, too far removed from the people. Plus I had had a bit of involvement in Peterborough with the planning department, and liked it a lot. One MPA co-op later with DFAIT, and I got hooked on international; 18 years later, and I’m still in Ottawa doing federal stuff. I gently scratched the itch this past fall by supporting a friend who was elected to city council, and I’m happy to let more passionate people blaze the trail.

I’ve also thought about linking this area to my creative side, and doing some behind-the-scenes work with local theatre, but haven’t done so yet.

Eventually, I’ll find a windmill to tilt at, but in the meantime, I’ll settle for some more travel. I have a HUGE travel list, pretty much anywhere I haven’t been yet!

Hawaii was near the top of that list, and our honeymoon took care of that (although we’d love to go back and see the other islands, as we only saw two). Separate from just the “travel” tickbox, I also completed some other items from the bucket list while we were there — a helicopter ride, seeing a volcano, riding in a submarine, eating fresh fruit under a tree, swimming under a waterfall, and seeing free dolphins.

But since our budget won’t allow us to travel EVERYWHERE, here is my top 10 (okay 11 if you want to get picky!) list of places I want to go:

The three Territories in Canada — never been, really want to see our North, particularly if I get to see the Northern Lights;
Grand Canyon — we planned a trip a few years ago, but life intervened and we did other things (like getting married)…we have seen the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific” in Hawaii, but I still want to do the Arizona/Nevada version;
Galapagos — not only the birthplace of Darwin’s Origin of Species, but one of the few remaining places on earth that still looks like man has never visited;
Ortona — the Italian campaign of WWII was one of the bloodiest theatres of war for Canada and, within Italy, Ortona was the most brutal…Christmas 1943, more than 1300 Canadians lost their lives fighting door-to-door, house-to-house in Ortona against one of the toughest German divisions ever assembled to take the town, and the deep-water port to shorten supply lines. While some people are moved by D-Day, reading Farley Mowat’s account of Ortona in The Regiment (and the highlights of the Hasty-Pees i.e. Hastings-Prince Edward County Regiment) is particularly telling for me…maybe because I lost an uncle there, or maybe because “there, but for the grace of time, go I”, as it was a lot of Peterborough men who were fighting and dying…2018 is the 75th anniversary, and I intend to be there to pay my respects to their sacrifice;
Iceland — just cuz it’s cool-looking(!);
Scotland — the highlands somehow call to me, and I am not even Scottish;
Australia and New Zealand — I’m very jealous of everyone who goes, and I have no idea how I’d fit everything into anything less than a three- or four-week trip, plus I need to include the GREAT BARRIER REEF in there????;
Fiji — there’s something about the area that appeals to me in ways that Hawaii and the Caribbean don’t, sort of a cross between the beauty of Hawaii with the unspoiled nature of the Galapagos, but without the Komodo dragons!;
Egypt — pyramids…need I say more?; and,
Antarctica — did I mention the sheer cool factor?

So that’s my great long priority shopping list of travel destinations. Am I doing any of them soon? No, probably not. England is next on our list, I think, either this year or next. The rest will wait a bit. Except Ortona in 2018…I think that one is set! 🙂 Maybe I can offset the depressing nature of Ortona with a trip to Rome and Venice while we’re at it.

Goals 2011 — Career

March 2 2011

This category is perhaps the easiest of all, as my short-term goals in this area are relatively simple — I want to have a reasonably good job, without complicating my life.

Back in 2005, my goal was to regularize my level — I was regularly acting in higher positions, but was still “languishing” in a lower position. So I passed a couple of competitions, and became a manager, one level below executive. And I thought, at the time, that I would spend a few years consolidating my skill set, trying out some different challenges and opportunities, and then moving up. A couple of those challenges weren’t a lot of fun, and I bounced around twice before ending up in my current job. The previous jobs weren’t horrible, they were actually both quite good for awhile. But situations change, and I moved on. Now, with the arrival of my son and having gotten married, my priorities have shifted, as have my willingness to put in extra hours. In short, I’m not willing anymore, and I don’t want the extra responsibility right now of the executive level. So I’m parking myself for now, and I’ll focus on other issues to bolster my resume so that a few years from now I’ll be well-positioned to start moving up again. I wouldn’t say no to a in-category bump to a EC-08 position, but I’m fine where I am for now.

But I’m still doing certain things that are part of my larger career plan. For example, I still do mentoring and coaching for individuals on HR competitions. I’ll finish my guide this spring, and I’ll be able to hand it out to people to help them. It will also let me be more focused in my mentoring — I won’t have to give extra context, I’ll be able to go straight to the parts I want to focus on.

The past two years gave me an opportunity to work on the Economic Action Plan roll-out, as well as the branch process for Strategic Review, and I learned a lot from both exercises. Now, as both start to wind down, I’m looking forward to focusing on my “day job”. However, I need to kickstart my french again, and will likely look at some online options in the short-term.

And that’s it. Nothing too fancy. My bucket list for career only has one item on it (Make a presentation to more than a 1000 people), and I doubt I’ll be doing that this year, but it’s nice to know it’s there. Maybe I’ll settle for a 1000 downloads of my HR guide, once it’s finished! 🙂

Goals 2011 — Creativity

March 2 2011

Ah, the sweet smell of creativity. Personal expression … the interpretative dance of the soul! How do I express myself, the real me, the inner child bursting with yellow energy to get out of the blue shackles of an analytical mind? With words and food, of course! 🙂

Last weekend, Andrea and I went to a play by one of our favorite contemporary playwrights, Norm Foster. He usually focuses on the comedic interactions between men and women in their late 30s and early 40s as they deal with life, romance, and their changing expectations of the universe. However, the fun part is he often includes someone who is a writer, or an aspiring writer, or someone who aspires to being an aspiring writer. Like Foster’s characters, I don’t know what to call myself. Sure, I’ve written short-stories, op eds, even a play. But does that make me a writer? I’m not a published one, at least not yet. I will soon finish my HR guide for government competitions, but that is more like my day job than achieving my interest in writing entertaining fiction (ignoring the regular joke by writers in the NCR that they used to work for the government, so they have a lot of experience with fiction!).

The best and shortest definition I have seen of a writer is someone who writes. Pure and simple. Not someone who talks about writing, goes to conferences, reads novels about writing, etc. They write. Usually because they are compelled to do so, and it will gnaw at their soul if they don’t. But if it means a butt in a seat, slaving away, my writing of the last two years is sadly lacking in performance. I’ve done some work on the HR guide, and a few other things here and there (book or movie reviews, for example), but dang little time spent on fiction writing. I have done some work on outlines for some of my fiction ideas, but not much else. It was just too time-intensive. But, now that work is returning to some degree of normalcy for workload, I want to set myself a routine of writing at lunch for an hour or so, at least three times a week. In previous years, I’ve written more, taken online critiquing classes, subscribed to writing magazines to help improve my craft. I’m even a member of Capital Crime Writers. But I need to attend CCW meetings more, and I need to get my butt in a seat writing. Writers write, so I need to write. My goal is to have my HR guide for employees done by April 15th, my HR guide for managers done by June 30th, and a full annotated outline for my first novel by November 30th.

The non-cerebral side of things is all about food. One of my long-term goals is to have a cookbook of favorite recipes that I could share with family or friends, if they were interested. And, my goal is for them to be achievable recipes, not some Cordon Bleu recipe that starts with 3 hours shopping trips to find the perfect ingredient at a store in NYC. Practical recipes that once or twice a month helps us get out of the doldrums of regular meal preparations, and gives us a little extra oomph. Andrea and I took a couple of Asian cooking courses, and we love some of the recipes we got out of it. We also have a couple of others we’ve pulled here and there from friends, or just found in cookbooks (note to self, need to WEED the cookbooks down to a manageable number too, they’re out of control!). My goal for this year is to ensure that we continue to do special recipe nights, at least once or twice a month. It’s harder with us both working, and having to pick up Jacob from daycare, etc. But it’s worth it. And, to be honest, we tend to eat healthier when we choose these recipes as they tend to use fresher ingredients than our day-to-day cooking. A win-win solution, albeit with extra work and planning required. Three areas that interest me the most at present are BBQ recipes (need better marinades than I have currently), perfecting a friend’s ground-nut stew recipe so we can make it in smaller quantities, and making ice cream (we got an ice cream maker a couple of years ago, and haven’t used it yet!).

With these goals, I doubt I’ll be able to move on my other bucket goals much this year (novel, screenplay, novella and cookbook). But at least we’ll eat better! 🙂

Goals 2011 — Social

March 2 2011

I’m over the difficult “hump” of goal-setting, as the last four categories are much easier to plan than the first four. This one is a fun category in many ways — “expressing myself” through socializing with friends, cultural outings, and enjoying music, books and movies. Of course, I’ll find ways to make some of it look like “work”, partly cuz I’m inherently a blue, but even bluish yellow activities are fun for me!

As with previous categories, there is some momentum here. I’ve had past success with organizing my music (I’m interested in the Billboard lists dating back to 1945), movies (Oscar winners and box office favorites), outings for movies with friends (including the Mid-Month Movie Madness for Men), finding time to go for evening coffees with my friend Amanda, various party events although they tend to be more kid-friendly these days, catching up with Seb at lunch or Mike at a hockey game, going to the theatre with Andrea, or organizing birthday parties or a bachelor party. All of which is surprising given that I’m primarily a “blue” — which means yellow energy neither comes easy to me nor is it normally a spontaneous choice for me. Usually, group activities are my last choice, just ahead of root canal surgery with a rusty spoon. But, like any good blue, I’ve managed to figure out the roles/activities that work for me, usually with somewhat controlled environments or specific roles (host, formal guest, etc.). The lack of structure in social activities is usually what turns me off, not the opportunity to socialize with friends. And small predictable groups are usually preferable to large chaotic ones.

For the immediate future, though, my social time with friends is frequently limited by McGurgle — not all the activities are kid-friendly, and of those that are, we still have to schedule / adjust to fit. Sometimes it fits, sometimes it doesn’t. We can’t do everything, and as a blue, I don’t want to do everything either — it isn’t “re-energizing” for a blue, it is usually draining. It doesn’t mean you don’t EVER do it, it just means you recognize it and match your attempted output to your energy levels (i.e. don’t go to a large chaotic party if you’re already feeling drained).

I want to continue the MMMMM outings for movies, although I’m not really interested in 3D movies, and far too many of the ones I’d choose of late have been 3D. Maybe the balance will shift again. In terms of formal socializing, we used to host Remembrance Day parties, and I’d like to do one again this year, although I don’t know of what size yet. Or maybe a corn roast earlier in the year. For informal socializing, I’m hoping to be able to still go for coffee outings with Amanda, brunches occasionally, and a hockey game with Seb and Mike. Plus regular outings with other friends, format to be determined! (Shhh, don’t tell anyone, but sometimes a “blue” can manage to be spontaneous!).

For books and movies, I’m using the website to post my movie and book reviews, and I’d like 50 of each up by the end of the year. More importantly, I need to get a better handle on my ebook collection, and start pruning my paper books. I’m also determined to finish organizing at least 20 years worth of pop billboard music by the end of the year.

I also have a pretty decent set of items for the Bucket List for this category — 18 items — although some of them could have gone under the learning category. And, because I need the extra “yellow” to balance out the other colours, I’m thinking I’ll keep four of them on my goal list for this year:

Learn to knit;
Play Pai Gow poker in a casino;
Have a movie extravaganza weekend (i.e. a whole weekend of watching movies!); and,
Develop a list of top books (draft # = 600) to read.

The last one is partially done, I just need to get organized on it to finalize and link to my Kindle reading! On with the social category!

The Writing Life of a Tadpole

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Tag Archives: 2011

Goals 2011 — Seeing how I did…

Goals 2011 — Leadership

Goals 2011 — Career

Goals 2011 — Creativity