The power of 6: goals review after 2 years

Where to start with setting goals

Revisiting and reviewing goals is important, whether they are life or business goals. Spending the time to review what you set out to achieve on a regular basis is imperative to ensure that you succeed. It’s right to test them every now and then to make sure that the path that you have set yourself still feels right and still aligns with where your life has moved to and where you want it to go.

The original plan…

2 years ago i came to the end of 6 months of intensive coaching and mindset development work, which had come off the back of 6 years of what i like to call mindset paralysis. I spent that 6 years knowing exactly what i wanted to do, where i wanted to go and that i was capable of achieving it. But not actually doing anything to take me there. I was scared. I was scared, i was equally as scared of taking the leap as i was afraid of failing. So i carried on doing the same things week after week and month after month. Hoping that at some point something would change for me and all of a sudden the life that i really wanted would just present itself if i imagined it hard enough.

Life’s not like that, i had to do the work. I had to work every day to change my mindset from one fearful of failure and assuming scarcity to one which truly believed that anything is possible. That i was worthy of and capable of following the path that i truly wanted for myself. With all its risks and unconventional ways, that was the one that felt truly right for me. I had to learn to trust my instinct, let go of the worry about what other people would think or that i would offend them by living my authentic life and just be me and trust in my path. As scary as it is, it’s a whole lot less scary than the thought of continuing to follow what others wanted/expected of me and where that might land me.

Some of the work was fun and some of it was harrowing, there were tears of laughter at the recognition of how silly some of my fears were and tears of sadness when i realised how poor my self view was in the emotional intelligence profile. The reflection and self development process gave me the strength to see out my last few months in the corporate life and courage to finally do the things that i had always wanted to do and create the life that i really wanted.

The best sports people in the world have coaches, why not you too?

My angel of a coach Nick, literally forced answers to pressing questions out of me. I wasn’t allowed to say “i don’t know” to anything. I had to work out the whys and wherefores of why i was stuck as it was only me that had got me there. It allowed me to very clearly articulate what was important, where i wanted to be and when and what i wanted my life to look like. It’s all written down formally and informally. Due to being a bit of a nomad for the past 18 months i have scraps of these goals written in various notebooks (just call me Doris!), goal plans, photos, letters and online journals. I have known that i need to revisit them for some time, but have been avoiding it. It’s an old habit, i know as i was fearful of not having made any progress. The irony!

Failure is necessary

But what is failure really? They are my goals, life changes often so things shift forward and sometimes backwards for lots of reasons. As long as i am still on track to where i want to be ultimately then i’m successful in my eyes. If decisions are still feeling light and right then i am on the right track. The issue recently has been heaviness, worry and fear have slipped back into my daily routine. I need to fight that off so i am revisiting my original list from 2 years ago to see how far i have come and see what needs seeing to for the next 6 months!

The original list from 2014

This was the original list from that first post, i’ll take you through where i have got to:

Live in Italy

A long held desire since my first trips there as a teenager, Notice No 1 was all about doing this!

In progress! | Plans are afoot, watch this space…

Learn Italian properly

I have always wanted to live in Italy and i want my children to be able to converse fluently in at least English & Italian from a young age. Currently my Italian is only good post a couple of glasses of wine when my confidence picks up. I can’t expect my children to do it if i can’t do it myself.

In progress! | I am making good progress on this! I had lessons in Melbourne as there is a huge Italian community there. I immersed myself in Italian Meetup groups and cinema etc. I can now watch films and listen to music easily and conversation is starting to come a lot more easily

Italian homework fuelled by cake on my way to the Italian Institute in Melbourne

Live by the sea

Fresh seafood, swimming in the sea. There is something magical about being able to stroll and think by the waters edge. I’ve always been envious of people that grow up in seaside towns, why do they ever leave?!

Big Tick! | I lived in Melbourne for a year, beach runs, cycles and walks were the mainstay of my Sundays there. I loved it and plan to spend a lot of time there in the future, they don’t call it the worlds most liveable city for nothing.

Beach life on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Live in a big city

I want to experience the richness of culture, people and experiences that a big city has to offer. I want to be able to live without depending on my car (impossible in the city of dreams!)

Tick! | I lived for a year in Melbourne which is classified as a city despite to me really feeling like a series of wonderfully character filled villages. How can it be a city when i am constantly bumping into people i know when i don’t really know many people having only lived here for a short time?! I’ve also done a three month stint in the gargantuan city of this Lagos for proper city life. Totally different to Melbourne in almost every possible way, but just as wonderful. They have both stretched me in different ways and i am ridiculously glad that i went to both, they will both be seeing me again soon!

Is there anything more city living than a stunning sunset reflected off the 17th floor?!

My favourite road from Lagos Island to the mainland, it’s a big higgledy piggledy but fabulous in it’s own unique way

Work in a Bakery

I am cake lady, i have always been a cake lady. When i was a child i was always bugging my Mum to let me bake cakes and experiment in the kitchen. I dabbled in the cake business in 2010, but found all sorts of reasons why i couldn’t do it full time.

Coming soon | This is yet to happen post Sparkle Cakes, but still very much in the pipeline for the next 5 years. So on track!

Let them eat cake!

Learn about cake in every place i visit. Food culture and the associated rituals, stories and traditions tell me a lot about a place. Cakes are celebration food and hold their own reverence for many societies. I want to get under the skin of local delicacies so i can understand more about the people in the places i go.

Ongoing project! | This is very much in progress and i even found a mentor at my last Aussie farmers market. Plans for how this translates into work are baking as we speak.

The Flour Market at Collingwood Town Hall, there is no better way to spend a Sunday. This is a quarterly pilgrimage for those that have the patience and the passion to queue around the block to get in!

Environment

Enjoy a different one! Make the most of outside space, take up sports that i have never done before and meet new people

Tick! | I did this in Melbourne. I was far more active than i have ever been. Tramming it everywhere meant lots of walking, or cycling to get to where i needed to be. Sunday cycling, walking and running were the norm for meeting and hanging out with friends. This was the wonderful thing about Melbourne, there is a beautiful cityscape to enjoy and when the sun is out it feels rude not to enjoy it. Or to visit my home away from home at KPs near the beaches of Torquay. I ran so much that i did my first long run and completed the 15km city to sea, totally knackered my knees in the process but that’s beside the point!

Smiley faces after successfully completing the 15km City to Sea in Melbourne

Have a Season ticket at the Rugby

I LOVE watching this sport and don’t get to watch enough of it. There are never people to go with. I figure i’ll meet a few people if i go more often!
Not done yet | AFL was the game in Melbourne so i embraced that and NRL when it was in town.

Run a B&B

This is a long held dream, beautiful place in Italy… taking all the experiences i have had of hospitality around the world and create that for other people in my beautifully situated and tranquil home.

On track | Post 2017

Be a freelancer/work for myself

I love to take care of people, but i also like to use my brain to solve tricky problems. I would like to maintain my business skills and construct a path that allows me to work in cake, marketing and sharing my home.
Big Tick! | I did this by accident in Melbourne and ended up setting up my own business as a marketing consultant. Details on that are for another post, but immensely proud that i was able to sustain my life by working for myself in Melbourne. It was high stress at first as i felt the pressure of having to make a success of it, i used that energy positively and had a good run at different types of businesses and sectors.

My beautiful logo designed by the wonderful Mickey of Mickey loves Jacqui fame

Love and be loved

Truly.

Kind of tick | I was open to it and fell in love on my way down to Australia. Circumstances were such that it wasn’t meant to be. I’m working on being more open to being taken care of. I have family in Melbourne and Lagos now too, that’s a different kind love but just as precious.

Sunset on the river in Bangkok

Find my forever home

Find my sanctuary, the place where i can escape from the world, wrap my friends and family around me and chill out.

Working on it | This is the project for 2016/17

Drive a Fiat 500 round the boot of Italy

I loved my Fiat 500, and i will have another one. We will go on one almighty adventure! meeting people and tastes around the beautiful boot.

Plans are afoot | Medium term!

Live a flexible and empowered work life

I want to use all my skills and strengths, in an authentic way delivering something positive back to the world. – Tick!
I took three months out to go and work with an organisation that i am a staunch supporter of in Nigeria. I have never been as happy at work as i was for those three months. Doing something that has a real impact with people that i love dearly and enjoy working with. Everyone is a winner! I’ll be back soon 🙂

Run For a Cure Africa dream team!

Teach English as a Foreign Language

What did i do the qualification for if i am not going to use it?!

Not complete | I’m not sure about this one, it may come off the list. I bombed my last assessment and am not sure i really want to do it. It was a tool for another life… this one is a maybe.

Travel across Canada by train

A theme will develop here, train is the most civilised and friendly way to travel anywhere in the world (apart from maybe Vietnam!)

Not complete | As soon as the little Potters move there i am on it! 😉

Travel across the Southern States of America by train

Stopping in New Orleans in carnival time!

Plans afoot | This is an early year trip, maybe 2017?!

Get the train from London to Beijing

Humungous tick! | A once in a lifetime magical journey, i want to see all the sights from the comfort of a train carriage and then head down to SE Asia to see the sights around the Islands around Thailand. – Big tick! My gosh i did this and it was a million times better than i ever imagined it could be. I loved every second of that journey and met some wonderful people. The sights were incredible, watching weather, places and faces change as we passed through Siberia and into Mongolia was something else. It was magical and i am so glad that i did it. I was terrified when i stepped on the train, of boredom, of people and all the weird reviews that get written about it. But it was a fabulous experience that i would recommend any anyone who likes slow travel. The month in Thailand that followed was mostly train travel and loved it all just as much, i have so many “this is what life is all about…” moments when i travel by train. It gives me thinking space, appreciation for life and our natural environment and the beauty of passing through the countryside and meeting people as i travel.

Me somewhere in Siberia in the middle of the night!

Eat Steak in Argentina

Learning Spanish as i munch

Not complete | Medium term plan

Salsa in Cuba

See what Hemingway saw, drink Mojitos and eat scrummy food.