I've been told leaders are readers. It doesn't matter what you read. It just matters that you read. I've also never met a successful person that didn't appreciate reading. Successful people seek knowledge from books and as a result, I've made it a personal goal to read for the last couple of years. My goal in 2012 was to read one book per month. Below are the books I read to achieve that goal. Some were easy reads, some took weeks. Some books were for fun while others served a personal growth purpose.

1. If It Were Easy, They'd Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon - Jenna McCarthy
2. Extreme Focus - Pat Williams
3. Girls in White Dresses - Jennifer Close
4. The Long Run - Matt Long (Great inspirational read!)
5. 50 Shades of Grey - E. L. James (I had to see what all of the hype was about.)
6. 30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Know by the Time She's 30 - Editors at Glamour
7. 50 Shades Darker - E.L. James (I had to see what happened since the 1st book left you hanging!)
8. Leadership 101 - John Maxwell
9. Generation X - Jen Lancaster (She's my favorite laugh out loud author. Great read when you just want to be entertained. Start with her first book Bitter is the New Black.)
10. It's Not About the Pom-Poms - Laura Vikmanis (The former dance team captain in me couldn't resist.)
11. Eat and Run - Scott Jurek (Great read if you need some running motivation.)
12. The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
13. Knowing Your Value: Women, Money and Getting What You're Worth - Mika Brezezinski

I am attempting to finish one more book. White Girl Problems by Babe Walter. I fully intended on reading another business book, but the selection at Target was limited. Guess I'll end the year on a funny note. I can always start 2013 with a more sophisticated read.

End of the Year

As the end of the year approaches I can't stop thinking about what my goals should be for 2013. I rush to think about what to accomplish next and I'm tempted to overlook what I accomplished this year. Our lives encourage us to move so quickly and to cross things off our lists so we can move onto the next.

This December, I encourage you to reflect on your 2012. Make note of all you accomplished in the year. You might be amazed at all you did or you might feel disappointed about what you did not do. Either way, you'll be better prepared to set your goals for 2013. The great thing about a new year is that you get a fresh start. Celebrate your achievements, learn from your mistakes and go into the new year ready to make it your best year yet.

Life By Design

We had friends over for Christmas Eve and one friend mentioned how glad he was that 2011 was coming to an end because it was such a tough year. I'm sure they are a lot of people that feel the same way. I, thankfully, feel very differently. I think 2011 was a fantastic year full of accomplishments, new challenges and great memories. I am a firm believer that living life by design rather than default can make all the difference.

What does life by design mean? It means being international about what you want and what you want to achieve. It involves setting goals, writing those goals down, knowing how to achieve those goals and tracking/reviewing your progress frequently. I'll admit I didn't accomplish all of my goals for 2011. I gave up on running a total of 1,200 miles this year when an injury knocked me out of the running (literally and figuratively). I did, however, cross off running Disney Marathon and setting a new PR, running a second marathon (something I had never done before), hitting mt intern recruiting target at work, reading 12 books and running a 5k with my husband (well I'm hopeful this one gets crossed off because the race is tonight). My goals are typed and hanging in my office. I also talked about them frequently with WIN BIG and other supportive people.

I'm making some changes to my 2012 life by design approach. I've already written my design statement and have started to build the habit of reading it every morning. (I had one in 2011 but failed to read it daily). I've also set my goals and limited them to 5. Easy to remember, track and they all have clear achievement deadlines.

Over the next week before we have the chance to start fresh and new, I challenge you to think about what would make 2012 a great year. Write it down, review it and maybe come out to a WIN BIG meeting to discuss. You'll be amazed at what you can do when you know where you are going and how to get there!

All Or Nothing

Do the people you surround yourself with help you achieve your goals or push you further away from your goals? (This same concept applies to the decisions you make, but I'll save that for another blog post). This morning I had brunch with some fabulous ladies. Some I have known for a long time while others I just recently met. Whether they know it or not, my friends this morning helped me get one step closer to a couple of my personal goals. (Grow WIN BIG to 15 strong members and write a book.)

I brought up this blog during one of our many conversations and shared with the group my purpose for starting this blog and also the guilt I feel for not writing more frequently. The response I got was very positive and relieving. Writing once a week is enough and writing short posts improves readability. Wow! I don't have to write the perfect post or fill an entire page with my thoughts? I was approaching this blog with the wrong approach. All or nothing (my competitive, type A personality at its best)!  So what if I don't write multiple times per week or if I only have time to write a few sentences here and there. Each time I  write, I am one step closer towards my goal of writing a book.

I wonder how many other people go after their goals with an all or nothing approach? While this approach can certainly produce some dynamic results on occasion, my opinion is that it hinders progress more often than not. I challenge you to do one thing every week to move one step closer to your goals. It can be something small that does't require a lot of time. As long as you are moving in the right direction, you should ultimately reach your end destination.

Measurement Improves Performance

On a conference call at work today, a consultant shared with us his perspective that measurement improves performance. I couldn't help but think about the truth in this statement. If you don't measure where you are going, anywhere you up end is fine. If you have a vision and goals to achieve, I doubt you want to end up just anywhere. You want to end up at your vision or desired outcome. 

The most relevant example I can think of that illustrates this point is my running performance over the last year. I started running about six years ago. When I first started running, I didn't care about time. In fact, I was the girl in the gym with the towel over the clock on the treadmill so I couldn't see the dreaded amount of time I had left to run. I ran nine half marathons, two marathons and several smaller races with this approach. My ultimate goal was to get across the finish line. The idea of breaking two hours in a half marathon crossed my mind, but I never really focused on it and I certainly didn't track the times and distances of my training runs. 

Fast forward to 2010. At the beginning of the year I sat down and wrote goals. One major goal was to break two hours in a half marathon. I printed Hal Higdon's training schedule from online, hung it on my fridge and tracked every run. I invested in a Garmin watch so I would know the distance, time and pace per mile of every one of my runs. I was more prepared to run a half than I had ever been and I also measured my performance along the way. In September I ran the Disneyland Half Marathon and crossed the finish line in 1:54...goal achieved! I did it again in the Lewis & Clark Half Marathon in October with a time of 1:52, and I set a new PR in the Los Angeles Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon with a time of 1:47 in late October. Measurement definitely improved my performance. Tracking my runs, recording the times and focusing on logging the right amount of distance ensured I was prepared on race day. 

How are you measuring what you plan to achieve this year? Are you doing enough of the right things to be successful? The first important step is to write down your goals. Next, make sure your goals are specific and measurable. You need some sort of system or matrix to know if you have achieved your goal. Lastly, you have to review and record your progress. 

There are only a couple of days remaining in March. 2011 is essentially 1/3 of the way over. Are you on track to achieve your goals? If you are not measuring, how will you know?

Time for a Rewrite?

I was talking with one of the women in WIN BIG the other day and asked her about her progress towards achieving her goals. She mentioned that she did in fact plan a trip (one of her goals), but it wasn't the trip she originally talked about planning. During the planning process she realized what she truly wanted to get out of taking a trip and visiting a tropical time share just wasn't it. What she wanted was to reconnect with family on the east coast.

This interaction made me realize that we can discover a lot about ourselves and our true desires through the pursuit of achieving goals. How many times do we set goals around things that we actually think we want to achieve? How many times are those goals not in alignment with what we truly want?

I think it is time to review the goals we set at the beginning of the year (if you haven't set goals yet, there is no better time than the present!). What is it that you are truly seeking to achieve with the goals you set? Do you have the right goals in place? Are your goals helping you move closer to your vision?

I always thought of goals as being set in stone. Once I wrote them down that was it. I would either achieve them or not, end of story. I am starting to open up to the idea that goals can't be so black and white. Going back to the interaction I described above, did this woman achieve her goal?...No. Did this woman achieve something greater than her original goal?...Probably.

I think it is ok to rewrite and edit goals based on new life circumstances, new learnings about yourself and new desires. Just be sure to check in with yourself to make sure you are not rewriting a goal because you are giving up on the pursuit of that original goal.