Last week, when I turned 43, I made up a list of 43 goals I wanted to achieve during my 43rd year of life. Previously I had tried various lists of goals--100 goals in 1001 day (boring), 400 goals in 400 days (too many!)--so this year, I figured I would focus on 43 difficult yet achievable goals. Yesterday I achieved one of the goals on my list--to walk a marathon--and today...well, let's just say that my feet have never hurt this bad in my life. For one thing, I am not as young as I used to be, and for another, I probably should have practiced more before I attempted this goal (since previously the longest I had ever walked was 13 miles). Oh well, live and learn. I did, however, achieve my goal of walking 26 miles. And it only took me eight hours (I am not a fast walker). The financial part: With so many expenses this month--a very expensive car repair, getting the house ready to sell--I was nearly flat broke and actually had no idea how I was going to achieve this goal. Fortunately, as what usually happens when you focus on a goal and put it out to the universe, the money part of it just kind of fell into place. I had registered for the marathon on a whim nearly six months ago so the entry fee was already paid. Since it was my birthday last week, a friend had given me a $50 Visa gift card which we used for gas, I was able to find a really nice hotel on Hotwire for $60 (this was a $150/night hotel and I am really picky about my surroundings so I simply don't do crappy hotels), and, also for my birthday, I got a couple of Starbucks gift cards from other friends so all of our meals for the overnight trip and throughout the day while I was walking was provided for free via Starbucks. Plus another friend met us when we got into town and took us out to dinner so we had a great meal at no charge to us. Financially the trip cost me a total of $60 which was a lot less than I thought it would. For a look at my other upcoming goals, here's what I will achieve during the next year: Note: green=completed, blue=not completed, red=impossible to complete, purple=situation changed enough to make this mute
- Walk a marathon just to see if I can do it (completed 4/24/2010)
- Go to Tillicum Village since I have never been there before and it is so close to my home (completed 8/2/2010)
- Visit my sister in law in Atlanta since we haven't been there in years (completed 10/1/2010)
- Go to Connecticut where hubby will compete in the WPT Tournament, let's hope he makes it to the final table (completed 10/23/2010)
- Go on a cruise since we haven't been on one in quite a while (completed 10/22/2010)
- Go to Japan and visit a very old woman I have been corresponding with for over 20 years
- Go to the Philippines for a month or two
- Sing on Wowowee because this is my favorite Filipino TV show (not completed, the show was cancelled on 7/31/2010)
- Dance with Ellen (yep, Ellen from the Ellen Show...I have no idea how to accomplish this one)
- Go kayaking because while I have canoed often I have never tried kayaking (completed 7/7/2010)
- Bike from Canada to Mexico because it would be a huge accomplishment
- Go to Vancouver BC and Victoria BC because I haven't been to either of these places in years (Victoria BC completed 8/20/2010)
- Renew my passport because it will expire at the end of the year (completed 8/6/2010)
- Go to Las Vegas for a mini family reunion
- Finish my college degree. I don't need one but have always wanted one
- Get a scholarship for college because I don't have a lot of money to pay for goal #15
- Go parasailing. We always watch people do this but never had the guts to try it ourselves
- Go to Chicago and maybe be in the Oprah audience. I have to go to Chicago next month anyway and I love Oprah, plus this will be her final year on TV. (go to Chicago completed 5/28/2010)
- Watch the Makah Tribal Journey and volunteer to help out (completed...kind of 7/16/2010)
- Get a grant for my non profit because non profits can always use more money (completed 1/25/2011)
- Go to an I Can Do It or Dave Ramsey event; I've always wanted to attend both of these inspirational events (completed 10/2/2010 in Atlanta Dave Ramsey show)
- Go to the Fremont or Seattle Gay Pride Parade because both look like interesting events (completed 6/27/2010 Seattle Pride Parade)
- Become a certified yoga instructor because it would be a useful skill
- Go to a Bastyr event because I love everything about this university (completed 1/26/2011)
- Be fluent in Japanese so I can communicate better with my friend in Japan
- Be fluent in Spanish because my past and future tense verbs are practically non existent and I need to speak Spanish nearly every day
- Visit Stehekin because it sounds like an interesting place to visit
- Get a complete physical because I haven't been to the doctor in ages (completed 7/29/2010)
- Get an iTouch because everyone raves about these (completed 6/2010)
- Do a total health month--no junk food, no caffeine, exercise daily, etc. (completed 7/31/2010)
- Be totally debt free (debt free at 43 is my mantra!) (completed 2/11/2011)
- Write a book because I have always wanted to
- Do dermabrasion because it is cheaper than a face lift
- Do laser treatment (ditto)
- Go to Europe because we always go to Asia but never to Europe
- Go to New Orleans because I have never been there
- Earn a Volksmarch Award (I love Volksmarching!) (received award pictured above 4/24/2010)
- Be a size 6 (this blogger butt has to go!)
- Have six month's worth of expenses in my emergency fund (if I am debt free this will be much easier to do) (completed 2/10/2011)
- Develop a portable business so we can travel more (began traveling 2/11/2011; have some income from portable business but need to develop further)
- Have 20k hits a day on one of my webs/blogs
- Sell one of my businesses so I will have more time to travel (main business closed on 12/31/2010)
- Have a beautiful home (either do some renovation work in our current house or renovate the new place) (sold home and began traveling 2/11/2011)
Last week, when I turned 43, I made up a list of 43 goals I wanted to achieve during my 43rd year of life. Previously I had tried various lists of goals--100 goals in 1001 day (boring), 400 goals in 400 days (too many!)--so this year, I figured I would focus on 43 difficult yet achievable goals. Yesterday I achieved one of the goals on my list--to walk a marathon--and today...well, let's just say that my feet have never hurt this bad in my life. For one thing, I am not as young as I used to be, and for another, I probably should have practiced more before I attempted this goal (since previously the longest I had ever walked was 13 miles). Oh well, live and learn. I did, however, achieve my goal of walking 26 miles. And it only took me eight hours (I am not a fast walker). The financial part: With so many expenses this month--a very expensive car repair, getting the house ready to sell--I was nearly flat broke and actually had no idea how I was going to achieve this goal. Fortunately, as what usually happens when you focus on a goal and put it out to the universe, the money part of it just kind of fell into place. I had registered for the marathon on a whim nearly six months ago so the entry fee was already paid. Since it was my birthday last week, a friend had given me a $50 Visa gift card which we used for gas, I was able to find a really nice hotel on Hotwire for $60 (this was a $150/night hotel and I am really picky about my surroundings so I simply don't do crappy hotels), and, also for my birthday, I got a couple of Starbucks gift cards from other friends so all of our meals for the overnight trip and throughout the day while I was walking was provided for free via Starbucks. Plus another friend met us when we got into town and took us out to dinner so we had a great meal at no charge to us. Financially the trip cost me a total of $60 which was a lot less than I thought it would. For a look at my other upcoming goals, here's what I will achieve during the next year: Note: green=completed, blue=not completed, red=impossible to complete, purple=situation changed enough to make this mute 
I am originally from New Orleans, born and raised; relocated about 4years ago. Im about to relocate again to FW, Texas. It has been my dream to visit Vancouver ever since I saw its beauty during the Winter Olympics. I am a tight size 6 right now. I need to lose 8 to 12 pounds so I get back to wearing ALL of the clothes in my closet.
ReplyDelete