I did it!! I ran/jogged 8.5km this morning!! It is a public holiday and I got up at 5.15am to meet 5 other ladies to run at 6am. The ladies I ran with are training for a 42km marathon and I ran 8.5km with them and did not lag behind like I thought I would - such an achievement for me!!
So then I started thinking about the links between exercise/training and professional development.
For a long time I have been doing some form of exercise everyday - walking mainly - but at times it was aerobics, swimming, bike riding but always the base of walking.
I like chocolate and I'm not a slim person so exercise is my way of justifying the 100g of M&M's I have every night.
However, since going to bootcamp I often get asked what am I trying achieve? Do I have a goal or goals?
I usually provide a very vague answer about wanting to get fitter, being able to eat chocolate without guilt and losing a couple of kilo's. Nothing definite.
You see, I'm not very good at setting goals because of fear of not reaching them - failure!! So I set vague targets so if I don't meet them I won't be disappointed.
Unfortunately, I feel I'm the same when it comes to career goals. If someone asks me, where do you want to be in 5 years? I'll most likely answer - employed! Which probably isn't such a silly answer with the changes coming up in NSW local government. But what do I want to achieve in the next 5 years - career wise?!? Well, I have never really thought about it because I don't want to set something and not get there - fail!
When I was at school it was easy - you got marks/grades for work. You knew how you were achieving and you could set yourself goals. Although I was the same in school - while I always wanted to get high achievements - I would convince myself to be happy with a high so that I wasn't disappointed if I didn't get there.
When I first started work, it was hard to know where I was and what I wanted to achieve. There was no benchmark - no goals - no grading. So I said, I want a full time job. Then when I got the full time job, it took me a while, but then it was that I wanted to move up a grade and so on.
Then it was, well I want to get my librarian qualifications - and yes I convinced myself to be happy with a pass so I wouldn't get disappointed if I didn't get a distinction. I really wanted a distinction but didn't want to fail!
Then it was, I want a librarian position, then a supervisory position and so on. But there was always the fall back - it's ok if I don't get there because I'll be happy with ...... so I wouldn't feel a failure!
Now back to exercise. I have recently taken up running again and have set myself little hurdles - like I described in my previous post - I will run to that point, then to the next point and so on. So why is it so easy to do this with running but not with my career?? 8.5km is not that far, but prior to running it I had convinced myself that I'd probably lag behind and finish a long time after everyone else - I set myself up so I wouldn't feel disappointed if I didn't finish - so I wouldn't fail!
I'd really like to change my way of thinking and really set myself some goals without thinking about failure. Because I think if I did this, I'd feel better about myself and feel the sense of achievement (like I am feeling this morning) more often and that will keep me moving forward.
How do you set goals? Do you fear failure? Is fear holding you back?
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goals. Show all posts
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Year
Excuse me if this post appears to be a little rushed but I'm taking my window of opportunity seriously. For the past few days the internet has been dropping out by 8.20am so I have only an hour to get all my internet catch up done. Plus I have two little girls bubbling around the lounge room after a sleep over with very little sleep (well maybe it was me who had very little sleep).
So a New Years post probably should have some resolutions in it. I'm not one for resolutions, usually! And I suppose I'm not really one for goal setting either - yeah I know that's bad!! I think I just try to get on and do the job and don't spend too much time glancing at the horizon - well I do when it comes to our profession but when it comes to my personal life I'm lucky to see past the next day, let alone 5 years down the track.
However, I do have some things I would like to achieve this year. I would like to finally see consistency across the 3 branch libraries I manage. You will note in a past post that I discussed this a little so now the foot is coming down.
I'd like have at least one traineeship position introduced to the library service. I'm constantly aware that I am the youngest staff member in my team - at 34 (will be 35 in 30 days - hint hint), with the next youngest being 49. So we need some young people coming up the ranks ready to assist me when those that have been here 15+ years decide to move on. We are undergoing a restructure so I hope this is one of the outcomes. I'm working on a proposal - aiming high with 4 traineeship positions but hoping to at least get one - but am yet to cost it out and show benefits - will not think about this till I return to work.
I would like to write a conference paper or an article but am unsure what to write about. This has been plaguing me for a number of years. The last conference paper I presented was back in 2006. I have done some short articles and informal presentations since but nothing that I have really researched. I had an idea for research but feel it is a little sensitive and am not sure how to approach it so I will sit on it for a while. There are also some great scholarships available through Public Libraries NSW so that is on my radar.
A colleague of mine from Narrabri came up with the idea of staff swaps with metropolitan library staff while we were at the SWITCH conference. Narrabri has a metro sister city so she thought she would approach her management and their management and see if a staff swap could be arranged. The staff member could spend a week at Narrabri while she spent a week at their library. Then comparisons and differences could be experienced and reported on.
Thinking back to my secondment research, I was excited by the idea and said that I could do it with her. Although, now the logistics are a little hard. It is hard to leave my family for a week. If I do it during school term then they can't accompany me and if I do it during holidays then there are the extra travel costs with them accompanying me. Also, my POW does not have a sister city so I would have to make some contact with some libraries I'm interested in and see if they are interested. Then there is the issue of accommodation for the swapping person - do you do what happens in staff exchanges and let them live in your house??!! Anyway, something requiring a little more thought.
To visit home more than once a year would be another goal. Since moving here 3 years ago I have only manage to get one visit home to Qld each year. We love having people staying with us - we now have 2 fold out sofa beds (hint hint) - but I also love getting back home to catch up with family and friends. It is hard to drag myself away from this beautiful place and the ocean but it is also good to get back to the city so that I appreciate where I am even more. I'll be looking out for some professional events in Qld that may be a drawcard for throwing in a visit.
To up the ante on my exercise regime. Hmm this is a hard one. I currently exercise during my lunch break - either a 45min walk or a 30min swim depending on the season. During winter I was doing a make shift boot camp on my own but lost motivation - I don't particularly enjoy running and it got a bit lonely doing the workout components on my own. I would love for the town gym to be open at lunch time so I could go there but alas it is not. So I will be looking at some different ideas I can throw into a lunch break to challenge myself a bit more.
I'm not on a weight loss program or anything like that - I just want to feel better. That is how I initially started 2 years ago. I have always walked, and back in the 90's when I lived in Central Qld I even taught aerobics, but I wasn't challenging myself. And the big wake up call was when I tried on some work uniforms and had to go for a size that even shocked me. So that was when the bootcamps started and the walking and the swimming (I don't swim correctly but it gives me a workout regardless). So since my wake up call I have dropped 7kg, 2 dress sizes (depending on the store you buy from) and am feeling a lot better.
I will participate in #readit2012. My reading tastes at the moment are stuck on contemporary romances - eg Nora Roberts. Oh and cowboy romance. So I will try to venture outside of my comfort zone when it comes to reading.
Well I suppose they are the main things I want to focus on. I will add that I would like to participate in more blog challenges, tweet more and actually get to view the webinars that I signed up for to get the archive version of - and use my eportfolio more - and why not add, learn to reflect better!!
What are your goals for 2012?
PS I just want to add that I follow a number of blogs but there is one in particular that I enjoy and actually admire the blogger for their openess and dress sense (much better than mine which is why I don't think I'll be participating in daily image) - http://buntotinglibrarian.wordpress.com
So a New Years post probably should have some resolutions in it. I'm not one for resolutions, usually! And I suppose I'm not really one for goal setting either - yeah I know that's bad!! I think I just try to get on and do the job and don't spend too much time glancing at the horizon - well I do when it comes to our profession but when it comes to my personal life I'm lucky to see past the next day, let alone 5 years down the track.
However, I do have some things I would like to achieve this year. I would like to finally see consistency across the 3 branch libraries I manage. You will note in a past post that I discussed this a little so now the foot is coming down.
I'd like have at least one traineeship position introduced to the library service. I'm constantly aware that I am the youngest staff member in my team - at 34 (will be 35 in 30 days - hint hint), with the next youngest being 49. So we need some young people coming up the ranks ready to assist me when those that have been here 15+ years decide to move on. We are undergoing a restructure so I hope this is one of the outcomes. I'm working on a proposal - aiming high with 4 traineeship positions but hoping to at least get one - but am yet to cost it out and show benefits - will not think about this till I return to work.
I would like to write a conference paper or an article but am unsure what to write about. This has been plaguing me for a number of years. The last conference paper I presented was back in 2006. I have done some short articles and informal presentations since but nothing that I have really researched. I had an idea for research but feel it is a little sensitive and am not sure how to approach it so I will sit on it for a while. There are also some great scholarships available through Public Libraries NSW so that is on my radar.
A colleague of mine from Narrabri came up with the idea of staff swaps with metropolitan library staff while we were at the SWITCH conference. Narrabri has a metro sister city so she thought she would approach her management and their management and see if a staff swap could be arranged. The staff member could spend a week at Narrabri while she spent a week at their library. Then comparisons and differences could be experienced and reported on.
Thinking back to my secondment research, I was excited by the idea and said that I could do it with her. Although, now the logistics are a little hard. It is hard to leave my family for a week. If I do it during school term then they can't accompany me and if I do it during holidays then there are the extra travel costs with them accompanying me. Also, my POW does not have a sister city so I would have to make some contact with some libraries I'm interested in and see if they are interested. Then there is the issue of accommodation for the swapping person - do you do what happens in staff exchanges and let them live in your house??!! Anyway, something requiring a little more thought.
To visit home more than once a year would be another goal. Since moving here 3 years ago I have only manage to get one visit home to Qld each year. We love having people staying with us - we now have 2 fold out sofa beds (hint hint) - but I also love getting back home to catch up with family and friends. It is hard to drag myself away from this beautiful place and the ocean but it is also good to get back to the city so that I appreciate where I am even more. I'll be looking out for some professional events in Qld that may be a drawcard for throwing in a visit.
To up the ante on my exercise regime. Hmm this is a hard one. I currently exercise during my lunch break - either a 45min walk or a 30min swim depending on the season. During winter I was doing a make shift boot camp on my own but lost motivation - I don't particularly enjoy running and it got a bit lonely doing the workout components on my own. I would love for the town gym to be open at lunch time so I could go there but alas it is not. So I will be looking at some different ideas I can throw into a lunch break to challenge myself a bit more.
I'm not on a weight loss program or anything like that - I just want to feel better. That is how I initially started 2 years ago. I have always walked, and back in the 90's when I lived in Central Qld I even taught aerobics, but I wasn't challenging myself. And the big wake up call was when I tried on some work uniforms and had to go for a size that even shocked me. So that was when the bootcamps started and the walking and the swimming (I don't swim correctly but it gives me a workout regardless). So since my wake up call I have dropped 7kg, 2 dress sizes (depending on the store you buy from) and am feeling a lot better.
I will participate in #readit2012. My reading tastes at the moment are stuck on contemporary romances - eg Nora Roberts. Oh and cowboy romance. So I will try to venture outside of my comfort zone when it comes to reading.
Well I suppose they are the main things I want to focus on. I will add that I would like to participate in more blog challenges, tweet more and actually get to view the webinars that I signed up for to get the archive version of - and use my eportfolio more - and why not add, learn to reflect better!!
What are your goals for 2012?
PS I just want to add that I follow a number of blogs but there is one in particular that I enjoy and actually admire the blogger for their openess and dress sense (much better than mine which is why I don't think I'll be participating in daily image) - http://buntotinglibrarian.wordpress.com
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