Writing, Rewriting, and Reviewing Goals

I’ve spent the last few weeks reviewing all of my journals from the last 32+ years. My first journal entry was in August 1989 when I was still 19 years old and a sophomore in college.

It took months to get mind, and therefore my writing, away from the latest party or drama with girlfriends. It took a few years to write anything that I would consider “wise”. or thoughtful. And a decade or even two to share anything that I would today consider novel or uniquely insightful in addition to “wise”.

That said, often it’s the simplest and obvious advice that is most helpful.

On December 13, 1994, a few weeks after I turned 25, I had an epiphany.

It’s amazing that whatever I write down I tend to have a better chance of accomplishing. It’s almost like magic.

In 1993 and 1994, when I wrote this, I had met and surpassed – actually blown away – almost all my goals while working in a very competitive medical devices industry for Ethicon Endo-Surgery. I wrote everything down. I obsessed over my monthly objectives and annual goals. I rewrote the same goals over and over again, throughout the year. I committed them to memory. And I absolutely killed it.

What I wrote in 1994 sounds so simple and obvious. But for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on I don’t do such disciplined goal-setting today like I used to, and haven’t for some time. If I thought it was magic back then, I’m guessing the process of committing your goals to paper, reviewing them, rewriting them, and reviewing them yet again – over and over again – still has some magic left in it today. It’s one of my New Years Resolutions for 2022.

Happy New Year – to a 2022 where we all gets to experience a little magic in our lives 🙌🏼