So, starting off with a joke, or rather, a funny little back story – when I was typing the title of this post, I didn’t mean to call it “goalz,” I meant to call it “goals.” At least initially, in its roughest draft form – but I just instinctively keyboarded in “goalz,” and it made me giggle, and so “goalz” it shall be.
I’m really enjoying getting to know my colleagues a bit more, particularly my two bosses (both of whom are fantastic so far). In a one-on-one touchbase earlier today, one boss (we’ll call her “K”) and I got on the subject of performance measurement and goal-setting. K, like me, is relatively new to Stanford, and is very achievement-oriented. We’re entering the performance/goal-setting phase of our year as employees, and I was asking her about goals to set. We ended up on a huge tangent, talking about how people measure success, what makes people feel satisfied, and whether an accomplishment has to have a tangible outcome to truly be called an accomplishment.
K encouraged me to set personal, private goals outside the formal performance/development module, and shared that it was one of the best ways she’d managed to feel like she was making progress onboarding here. Hers weren’t all business-based, either – they ranged wildly and covered a huge gamut of areas that are affected when undergoing a job change. She was quick to point out that the changes I’ve elected to make recently are much more far-reaching than merely changing jobs – moving cross-country, starting a new job, trying to make new friends and establish a routine and build an entirely new life. These changes and choices all conflate to create an environment that could easily feel unsettled, transitional and insecure. Goals (goalz, hahaha), in K’s eyes, provide a framework by which to reduce some of that uncertainty.
And so here I am, sitting at my desk and writing a blog post about goals, with my boss’s permission and, moreover, encouragement. (What is my life?!) It feels like I’m preparing to set New Year’s resolutions again – and I think that this fits right in with my big theme for 2017 of trying to be intentional.
Without further ado:
Lizzie’s California Goalz
1. Get to know my coworkers. Have lunch with someone new at least once a week, and ask someone at least one non-work-related question a day.
2. Move every single day. Keep taking two quarterly fitness classes through Stanford, and keep making use of the on-campus gyms (bonus: I can get in the athlete gym, and watch football/basketball boys work out while I work out. Eye candy for days.).
3. Explore one new neighborhood in San Francisco, or one city/town, every weekend that I don’t have company. Get to know my new homeland.
4. Have regular phone dates with Kelsie and Hannah, my Minnesota loves, on designated/scheduled days if possible, to ensure that we stay in the best touch that we can.
5. Write or journal for at least ten minutes every day.
6. Get involved in one community/club/interest group of some kind outside of Stanford.
7. Make it back to Minnesota at least three times a year.
8. Create and stick to a balanced, conservative (but fun) budget in this land of insanely high cost of living.
9. Take some time every month to look back and reflect on how things went last month, and to plan and prioritize and set mini-goals for the next.
10. Remember to be excited and happy and positive about this change, and grateful for everything it brings. Change leads to growth, and it’s scary and unsettling, but it brings so many good things, and I can’t wait to see what those will be for me!
