Bees Can Fly, Setting Goals No3

Good Morning, I am assuming you are reading this in the morning but you may not be, it may not be that good a morning either, by that I am being incredibly British and referring to the weather as here in West Yorkshire there is rain, wind and a little more rain, which is what we call a lovely summers morning!

Today I am talking about setting goals, I will talk from a personal perspective but you can think about what you want yourselves while reading if you are female and able to multi task, guys, one thing at a time please!

If you missed the 1st too blogs in the bees can't fly series they are here

http://beescantfly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/bees-can-fly-believe-no1.html

http://beescantfly.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/bees-can-fly-start-now-no2.html

Setting goals is a new thing for me, I have drifted through life just expecting things to work out and assuming I would find a way to be successful in everything I do, I have no idea why? why would anyone assume anything?
Well, because we are human and so we are fallible, all of us, yes even you reading this thinking "I'm not, I'm perfect" you are capable of bad choices, failure and mistakes. This is perfectly fine, even Superman has his failings, and weaknesses, underpants on the outside, silly haircut, gross underestimation of how disguises work and of course kryptonite.

It's absolutely fine to admit you can get things wrong and still hold yourself in high regard, or consider yourself good at something but still make errors, I am good at brushing my teeth, seriously I can brush them accurately and some mornings while making toast or putting socks on (men can multi task, no gender discrimination required here), yet this morning I still managed to smear toothpaste across my face and swallow a little of it too as I for no apparent reason decided to try and sing along to the radio, friends in the US.... we do brush our teeth here in the UK.... we just don't have beautiful smiles like you all do.

Setting targets however, it is not about what I get wrong and more about what am I capable of? I always thought I was only capable of what I was actually achieving, like I would just find out what I'm good at and wind up doing it, but life is not like that.

I know some people, lets use Rory Mcilroy as an example, just know they are going to be good at something when they are like 3 or something, thats great but if I was to use what I was like as a 3 year old, falling over all the time, talking incoherently and rowing with my brother over nothing as a template for life then I would have become a drunk!

The reason I didn't become a drunk is because without even realising it I did set myself targets and goals, this does not mean I was lying earlier on in this blog post it just means rather like my occasional Tea breath I don't notice and just carry on regardless.

I was not aware at that time that I could achieve so much more than I believed possible if I had targets. As grand as that may sound setting the target of getting up early was as simple as I needed it to be, it can be as simple for you.

I will move on slightly though, look at the goals I have set myself as I kick start my life, or re start it.
I feel the need to make changes because I am going nowhere, I'm like a cow, being milked for what I'm worth daily (are they milked daily? ouch, that must smart a bit) and just standing in my field content until a bony fella in a black cloak carrying a scythe pops to see me.

I'm 34, trained as a cook, I'm not that good at cooking but no one has died yet so I class myself as successful. I became a stand up comic in 2012, I make people laugh and bookers pay me, but I am lazy and have progressed slowly. I have had achievements, a pilots license that I traveled to San Diego in 2006 to complete, I have a football coaching badge (Even though an Englishman coined the word I just can't call it Soccer, feels wrong) and I am qualified in activity management, although I still don't really know what that means!

I have recently split from my girlfriend too, I didn't want to but she had become more focused on her career and, well lets be honest, bored of me sitting around expecting to one day be successful without really knowing what I expected to be successful in. It was this break up that made me look at myself, 4 stone (48lbs) over weight, no day job, no car and living in a house that was, well girly apart from the corner of the room that had that 'man' smell (otherwise known as sweaty)

I had to do something, your own reasons for change may be different and whatever they are they are worthy reasons, but deciding to make self improvements needs to be targeted and so I looked at what I wanted.

Target 1, to be slimmer, well fitter really... I'm 34, parts of my body ache that I didn't even know I had and other parts, well I would like to be able to see them when looking down, i mean my toes of course and if you thought anything else shame on you.

I decided 4st in 6 months would be my 1st target, there is a timescale and a definite target there, one without the other is like a car without a steering wheel, it will go but not necessarily in the direction you want it to.

You may not have weight loss targets, they may be work related goals, Hal who I mentioned yesterday has a target in the number of copies of his book he wishes to sell, see the link here for a nosey at that.
www.MiracleMorningBook.com and www.MiracleMorning.com

My work related target, to write a comedy book, I like writing and it is the side of my comedy that needs the most work so why not write something that is not stand up, something different that requires me to work a little harder, especially when you consider that I procrastinate, I keep putting off sorting that out!

I set a target of 90 days to write this, so far I have the 1st chapter! I am 80 days in, ok thats a joke, I'm on day 2! I may not publish this, its more for me to have something to work towards and to make myself answerable to someone.... Me.

I set one further target, to learn a new skill, I have chosen to learn French, it could have been anything, to juggle, to eat 100 hot dogs in 5 minutes, which would have made thew weight loss tricky granted.

I chose French because, well the French are a lot nicer than we give them credit for and I kinda have a celeb crush on Audrey Tautou so y'know, in case I ever meet her. I have given myself 12 months to be able to hold a conversation in French.

So those are my targets, my goals, can an average nobody like me who makes people laugh for a living because well they laugh at me anyway and it seems easy actually achieve these things?

Yes, we human flavoured beings can do so much, we are a talented bunch, all of us. All I need to do now is work out how to make my targets a reality, what steps I need to take to get there and set little points along the way of where I should be so I don't stay in bed all day pretending that I need to guard the pillow in case a spider tries to take up residence behind it.

Thanks for joining me again today, see you tomorrow with the why's and hows and whatever other nonsense comes into my head, hopefully I will also be able to help a few of you feel you can achieve things, lets be honest, if a fat northern lad with no real talents for anything can, you can, I have to do it for all of you and you can do it for yourself.

much love

J