My 3 Words for 2011
Over the past week I have been working on my goals for 2011. These goals include a mix of personal and professional challenges, including financial, fitness, blogging, and project goals. For each of these goals I have defined the steps to achieve that goal (e.g. to pay off a debt during 2011, I must make a specific payment each month) and then what the next action is to achieve that goal (e.g. set up an automatic payment so it is “set it and forget it”).
Each of these goals are tangible and within reach but they will be challenging and will push me to stay focused on achieving them. As part of this, with inspiration from Chris Brogan, I set 3 words for the year that will serve as my navigational system. I don’t set my 3 words first then goals second. Instead, I set my goals and next action steps. I then step away and look at the list objectively to see what the consistent themes are throughout all of the goals. After defining my 3 words I then go back through my goals to see where I need to add, remove, trim or make more specific.
Here are my 3 words for 2011:
Consistency, Growth, and Create
Consistency – Throughout 2010, and for that matter, much of 2009, consistency has been hard for me. With the growth of New Marketing Labs and Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse, remaining consistent has been a challenge. While I’m always producing content and consuming information, if you look in between the threads, you’ll notice that it tends to come in waves. For example, I’ll blog daily for 3 weeks and then not publish another post for 4 weeks after that. This is almost always certainly because I’ve gone heads down in a project and that I devote all of my attention to and then when I come back up for air, I realize that it’s been 4 weeks already. This doesn’t just apply to my blog, though it is the primary reason for me choosing this word, it also applies to projects at Caminito, fitness and several other areas. I want to make to build in consistency to areas of my life whether that includes better scheduling of posts, simplifying and streamlining the number of projects I’m working on.
Growth – Growing will be a major part of 2011. I want to grow and expand as a speaker, writer, content producer, business owner and team member. I have growth goals financially, for my blog, for my soon-to-be launched (finally!) personal newsletter (you can subscribe here), my restaurant, the next edition of my book and for other projects that I’ll be sharing with you soon.
Create – In order to to build more consistency into and grow many of my projects, it will include the creation of more content. It will involve creating teams and opportunities and relationships that will lead to new opportunities. To achieve some of my personal goals it will include creating new revenue streams and creating time in my schedule to spend more time wife and friends.
So there we have it. Those are my 3 words for 2011. Throughout the year I’ll check in on these 3 words regularly and assess how I’m doing with them and how they’re assisting me in achieving my goals.
What are your 3 words for 2011?
