2012 Goals

2011 was an up-and-down year. I met some amazing people. Got involved in incredible things. Moving to SF was a major plus. But the year ended up a huge downer with the events that transpired this week. Ultimately, it was a great year though. Looking ahead, these are my goals for 2012..

Note that these aren’t resolutions. I’m not “resolving” to do anything. That makes it sound like a chore, a burden. No, these are goals that I aspire to achieve. Change that I want to realize. See, the cycle of creating change in one’s life is very simple. Very very simple in principle, hard to actualize. I’m sure I’m not the first person to come up with this but this came to me on the Bart ride home.. what I call the momentum cycle:

Perception => assumption => choice => action/inaction => perception.

Your perception, your world view, paradigms, etc drives certain assumptions that influence the choices you make to either take action or not, and that action will either shape your world view or inaction will further reinforce it.

For example, the kid that’s been fat all his life:

It’s genetic (perception) => why bother, I can’t do anything about it, might as well live with it (assumption) => eat healthy/work out (choice) => inaction => remains fat and reinforces perception

A more positive outlook: It may be genetic but ultimately it still comes down to me (perception) => I can be anything I want to do (assumption) => fix diet, start exercise regime (choice) => action => starts seeing results and changes in body, which reinforces positive outlook

The marvelous beauty of this is that it really is completely in your hands. Each action that you take builds further momentum while each time you do nothing serves to reinforce the status quo.

Unfortunately, changing that outlook is very difficult, because these are ideas that we grew up with, stuff that we’ve been told, directly or indirectly, to be true our entire lives. Usually we need an initial spark, a catalyst to grease the wheels and start the car rolling.. for the fat kid it might be a success story, seeing someone else’s transformation. That said.. my 2012 goals:

Continue to invest in myself: Keep doing things that make me a better person. Continually learning.. both academic and physical, learning programming, dance, working out, etc.

Investing in the future: Grow my bottom line.. whether through job opportunities, or an entrepreneurial side venture. The pipeline must be enriched.

Focusing on relationships: Becoming more of a people person. Actually taking an interest in people, in others’ experiences. Refrain from assumptions and judgments.

Deliver on commitment: Ideas change the world. But it’s not enough to have an idea. That castle in the sky requires a solid foundation and the will to see it through. It’s easy for me to come up with an idea, be motivated to start it.. but I can never finish. I lose interest and set it aside. Let’s see if I can see a project through from start to finish..

Carpe Diem. Seizing opportunity when it presents itself: Most difficult goal on this list. Will definitely require judicious use of momentum cycle to change my current habit of see opportunity, mull over it, watch it wave as it passes by. NO, that will not happen anymore. I want to hardwire into my DNA that if I see an opportunity, I go after it. Unknown be damned, I’ll improvise on the fly.

I’m genuinely curious.. what do you think of this list? And what are some of your goals?

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