So as the Unstoppable course continues, this week I have been asked to list a set of short term and long term goals directly correlating to my purpose statement. A purpose statement is a description of what you feel your purpose is in like. My purpose statement is:
Change the world one line of code at a time sharing my journey and experiences along the way.
This statement is ultimately is what I see my purpose to be. Having this statement in mind and setting goals, my goals should help progress me towards this purpose. Provides a certain level of focus. Also setting these goals I want to be able to see and imagine how they are going to get me closer to this purpose. With all of that said I have a few short term goals and a few long term.
Short Term Goals:
1. Read the book Introduction to Neural Networks for Java and code the examples within the 2016 calendar year.
2. Read the book the Pragmatic Programmer and share thoughts in a blog post within the next 3 months.
3. Write my own scheduling software for the 2016 ALYBF season
4. Complete the Chinese Remainder Theorem in NesC and post code to GitHub and update the report I wrote for my Masters by the end of December 2016
5. Create and publish a screencast by the end of 2016
6. Complete all of the How to Program in Java podcast in the next 4 months.
Long Term Goals:
1. Become a conference and event speaker on any development topics I can share expertise in within 3 years.
2. Write a document/paper/book on Git Workflows in the next 5 years
3. Create and implement an inventory system for the ALYBF to use within the next 3 years
4. Host an “Hour of Code” event at a school for kids within the next 3-5 years
5. Get to a place where I am coding at least 10 hours a week every week in the next 2-3 years.
With these goals I see myself more fully filtering out the clutter and focusing on what matters to me more. I have long been distracted by “noise” and used it as an excuse to not get the thins I want to accomplish done. I imagine myself having a well polished blog and appealing social media presence through this effort. I can see having more details about my project and even code available for some of them. The only thing I really see holding me back from this is the “noise”. That is something I certainly need to work on.
In achieving these goals I believe I have to keep my health in mind too. Thus I have a the following goals for my health:
Short Term:
1. Run a 7:30 mile in the 2016 calendar year.
Long Term:
1. Run 750 miles in a calendar year within the next 5-7 years.
2. Run 13.1 miles continuously in a workout in the next 2-3 years.
Overall, these goals don’t seem to fit the purpose statement well at all, so what gives??? well, if I am not health conscious and trying to stay healthy I won’t have the energy and motivation to work hard. I am not trying for a layup. I want to take the long three pointer and to do that I need to continue my physical activity and in some ways continue to challenge myself and keep health a top priority.
I love the basketball reference! :). Something that stood out to me immediately, Victor, is how your purpose statement is completely focused on creating code and sharing code, which is admirable. However, I have to believe there is more to you and your purpose in life than coding (which is obvious in the health goals). I wonder if you can work in these other pieces as you continue to mold your purpose statement. My final thought is around your goal to be “Become a conference and event speaker”. This speaks to me as a communication scholar and former Public Speaking Professor – I love it and the possibilities that will come from it! If you ever need presentation feedback, I’d love to review videos, etc. :).
I once dreamed of coaching Biggest Loser contestants as they moved to motivational speaking careers. That dream floated off in the distance somewhere, but coaching Victor Pudelski could be just as rewarding!
Charlotte, thanks so much for the offer and I will definitely keep that in mind. I am always happy to have a mentor for anything I am looking to achieve. Mentors have provided the guidance I needed to get where I am. I can only dream where I might go in the future with more great mentors guiding me.
On my purpose statement, I have been thinking about that. Mainly, because my baseball playing and coaching is such an important part of my life too. I run and exercise to keep fit so that every summer I can keep pitching or at least playing baseball. Now to share that experience I coach fast pitch softball and baseball. That being said, I look at the one line of code as more symbolic, more like one action or experience and then sharing that. Code is a great way for me to express the thought, though, since I am a programmer. I will definitely look at better wording or at least better explaining that because you are right there is more than just code that I can offer.