2011 has started off for us with a lot of thinking about what we are doing here with this blog and how we wish to be moving forward. I have been mulling over certain features and exactly what we want to do about them. It has taken me awhile, but I think I have come up with a plan for a new feature.
Goal Setting
As most people embrace the New Year with resolutions, I have been thinking a lot about goal setting. I wrote about this in our most recent newsletter. I must admit I am not a big lover of goal setting because of how rigid they can become, and I don’t belief life operates like this. It is constantly changing. But, you definitely need to have some idea of where you want to head and what some of your pit stops are along the way.
When we stayed at Hermosa Beach, Craig and I would begin each morning with a pier to pier beach run from Hermosa to Manhattan Beach. As I was on my return leg, I would look into the far distance at the Hermosa Pier and it felt so far away. I would begin to feel overwhelmed, and with that came the feelings of I am not going to make it, let’s just stop now.
Each time, I would retort with “At the next life guard tower.” Once I got to the next tower I realized I could get to the next one, and then the next one, and before I knew it I was back at the pier and had successfully finished the run quite effortlessly.
Just one more tower
Goal setting is exactly like this. Have your ultimate vision, what you really want to achieve and then break it down into smaller achievable steps. For each step you want to put a time frame on it. Put a plan of action into place that will help you make this goal by this time frame. Set goals that really make you push yourself.
All of this can be really tiring work, and sometimes your goals won’t be realized by the time frames that you hoped they would be. This is okay. Any step forward is a step in the right direction. It doesn’t matter how slowly you are moving as long as you are moving slowly.
Celebrations
One of the most important things, that I think so many people overlook when working toward their goals are the celebrations. We think the celebration should come at the end when you finally reach the pier in the horizon. But the celebration needs to come with each small achievement. It doesn’t matter how small it is, if it is a step forward celebrate it. This keeps you focused on what is going right, and keeps motivating you to keep on going. Sometimes it is hard to celebrate on our own and we need others to help us. this is a powerful energy force.
We used to have a feature every Sunday on this blog where we would share our favourite reads for the week. I have had several people request for it back and I have been thinking of how to bring it back with some changes. Instead of just making it about sharing our favourite reads, I want to make it about celebration.
So our new feature will be Sunday Celebrations and it will start next week. In this feature I will include anything I discover, or you help point me towards, that deserves celebrating.
I will still highlight any inspiring posts I read, but I will also be highlighting things such as the fact that Anygelina from Bacon is Magic this week decided to cut her ties to a job she does not want to do anymore and start creating her own digital lifestyle. Or Jamie from Breakaway Backpacker who decided to leave on his round the world tour earlier because he wasn’t happy with his job. Or Brooke Schoenman who just launched her new website Her Packing List. And of course that our friend Andy made the travel section of Australia’s biggest newspapers about his memorable moonwalk tours. Woop Woop!
These celebrations don’t just have to be those from the travel blogging community. It can be from anyone who has something to celebrate in their lives.
At the Brazen Head Pub in Dublin, 2003
As with anything, this could all change if I don’t feel it is working as I would like or some adjustments are maybe needed.
I was having a conversation with someone today about how becoming successful can give you a platform that you can use in either a positive or a negative way. I love Oprah because she uses her platform to help others in a positive way. This is one of the things that drives Craig and I. We want to be successful because we know the more we are the more we can help others. We don’t believe in scarcity, we believe in abundance. We like to share and we like to celebrate. We are the party backpackers remember!! Let’s all party together!
So what do you think? Love it/ hate it? Let me know.
I love it and think it’s a great idea! I have been trying to set goals for myself, my site, and how I want to go about actually making this whole thing into an actual career. And you’re totally right about breaking it down into smaller steps. I can’t just start off by saying, “I want to make $40k/year through my site and freelance work.” Honestly, that’s just unrealistic at this point and is going to take a good deal of time and effort. So back in the fall, I told myself, “I want to break into Brendan’s Top 100 by the end of 2010.” I got there a few weeks early, and it was very cool and exciting to meet a small goal. I love what Todd from Todd’s Wanderings is doing as well with his new Travel Blogger Challenge site. I think it’s a fantastic idea, and I love the idea of all of us pushing each other and sharing ideas.
Happy 2011 to you both, and I’m excited to see what you come up with for next Sunday’s post! You two always come up with inspirational posts to keep me motivated and going.
Great idea. More inspiring positivity from this blog!
Partying? Count me in any time. I’m the rocking glamour granny, Want to know my secret? Read my latest post.
I love all the positive vibes you two put off and totally agree in abundance as well. I do have one big goal that set this year and that’s to meet more bloggers in person. Hopefully we can run into each other in some dark but sunny beer all somewhere in the world.
Can I just copy and paste what Adam and Todd said-
haha… Love the idea, love the motivation of fellow travelers and love helping each other achieve their goals- 2011, let’s do it!
Such a positive post and I can completely relate to your running story! I get that all the time. I think the key though is to set many smaller obtainable goals. If you set one big goal it can be demoralising when you look at how far you still have left to go.
With the blog I have just started we did just that. Its about baby steps, ok so one thousand visitors isn’t that great of an achievement in the big scheme of things, but it was still a landmark for us and we where very pleased to reach it! Start small and work your way up, but more importantly have a great time getting there!
Thanks for more inspiration. Completely agree with your goal-setting philosophy and the need to celebrate achievements, large, small and in progress. Love the idea of your Sunday Celebrations.
Love it and I’m with you every step of the way!
I am such a believer in making time to celebrate the achievements, big and small. I love that you’re taking a day a week to formalize the process.
in love with it! it’s a way to make sure you’re growing and then to acknowledge it in a fun way and spotlight others doing so. what a bundle of positivity
Love it! It’s so important to celebrate the successes in life and to share in others successes!
I think this is a great idea! I often forget to celebrate the things we have accomplished. I think when it comes to our blog, I feel like it’s hard to explain our accomplishments to my non-traveling friends. So it would be great to have a place for this in the travel community.
Thanks for this encouraging post! I admit I am not the most optimistic person and sometimes it is very hard to set goals and keep moving when you get discouraged. For me, my lack of time and busy schedule makes it hard to achieve what I want. However, I need to be inspired to be more disciplined and celebrate the successes. You’ve given me something to think about and I am going to come back and read this again when I have more time to give me inspiration when I need it!
I love it! Setting goals is definitely something that I need to start doing immediately, including to stop procrastinating because it’s been so bad lately I haven’t gotten anything done.
I look forward to seeing what other are accomplishing and celebrating with them and you!