Goal Setting IRL
What did you do last Saturday? And how does it differ from the Saturday prior? In the age of Covid, sometimes I find days blend together. For better or worse, there’s not much to differentiate some weekends from others. But, hopefully that’s not the case if you’re one of 150 students at UBC’s Sauder School of Business in Comm 486M: Strategy & Integrated Decision Making.
Over the last two Saturdays in January a handful of fellow UBC BCOM alumni* and I led full-day workshops to teach COMM 486M students four life-strategy topics we wish we learned about before graduating. The tutorial is called Sauder In Real Life (IRL). The four topics included: Energy Management, Strategic Thinking, Vulnerability & Courage, and Goal Setting.
Goal setting has always played a pivotal role in my life, which is why I opted to lead this session alongside my incredible teammate Ed Blunderfield. Together we led students through a unique process of setting goals that combined learnings from our personal life experiences and my time setting goals at lululemon. Ed and I worked with students to help them get clarity in what they wanted in life, set a meaningful goal, gain the confidence to work towards that goal, and put a framework in place to follow through with their goal. Big shoutout to all the students who gave up their weekend to set some goals — I hope your Saturday was a little more memorable than the last!
Midway through our Goal Setting session, when we were going through an activity, I reflected on a goal I have around reading. I love to read. Every year I set a goal relating to this hobby, and in 2021 it’s to read 21 books. You might be able to guess what my goal was in 2020… While my reading goal is currently underway, I have also been working on a different book-related goal.
Whenever I talk to someone about the books I’m reading, I inevitably start listing off titles and authors. Sometimes it’s also sending a text to get the spelling right. Late last year, after having these repetitive conversations, I had an idea. In the midst of quarantine and the sun setting at 4pm, I decided to set a new goal: I will create a website to share my personal library with others by the end of January 2021.
Over the last few months I’ve been learning to use a no-code web app to build out my virtual library (thank you Bubble.io) and crush my goal. I’ve stumbled through creating a website from scratch in the past (LoganParker.ca), and specifically chose to use a no-code web app this time around. I didn’t see myself becoming a web developer anytime soon, so I wanted to learn something that would broaden my skill set.
Almost three months after setting the goal, the first iteration of my virtual library was finally completed. You can check it out for yourself: LogansLibrary.ca. In the famous words of the internet: it ain’t much, but it’s honest work.
I’m excited to have my library online because I can now spend more time talking with others about our thoughts on books I’ve read (or haven’t), and less time rattling off a list of titles and authors. And, if that’s not enough, I can also talk about how much I have to learn about web design! So, if you’ve made it this far and you’re curious about books or design, check out my website and let’s chat!
Prior to writing this article, I reviewed some of my favourite blog posts for inspiration on structure and delivery (thank you Jonathan Woahn and Daniel Debow & David Pardy). Most posts I read have a “so what” section: a learning, a takeaway, a call to action, or an introspective question. I’m not sure I have a “so what” section, and don’t think I necessarily need one, but bear with me for a second.
While teaching the Sauder In Real Life Goal Setting sessions, I preached the importance of sharing goals with others. Sharing goals encourages commitment, invites peers to help, and motivates others to think about their goals. Ironically, during these sessions I realized I haven’t been following my own advice lately.
With Covid prohibiting social gatherings, opportunities to chat about goals in person have been few and far between. Online, all I see are the huge goals others are accomplishing — getting a dream job, starting a company, or receiving an award. I still think reading 20+ books in a year or making a website are big accomplishments so I don’t mean to downplay my efforts. But still, I feel intimidated sharing anything on Medium or LinkedIn that’s not life/career changing.
So, what am I getting at? Leading Goal Setting for Sauder In Real Life reminded me to focus less on what others are doing and more on what I’m doing. I’m sharing two of my goals because they’re some of the things I’m doing to make 2021 at least a little better than 2020. I hope reading this also encourages you to think about how you’re working to make this year better than the last.
- I will read 21 books in 2021
- I will create a website to share my personal library with others by the end of January 2021
Does that now count as a “so what” section? I’m starting to have second thoughts… regardless, thanks for reading!
Logan
