The Year of Accomplishing BHAGs

 
On January 1, 2022 I began a running streak - meaning - that I vowed to run at least 1 mile a day. The duration of this streak was not decided until a month into the venture. Now it has been every day including today, December 16, 2022. I hope to continue this practice into the new year and beyond as it demonstrates that I can set and accomplish Big goals, dare I say Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). 

If you asked me on December 23, 2021 if I would run even 1 mile I would have laughed it off - I hated running. Now I love it. This year I participated in three 5K runs and each helped me build focus and confidence. I ran through rain, snow, injuries, and extreme heat along mostly roads, sidewalks and some trails in Connecticut, California, Maryland, Virginia, and New Mexico.

Ironically, usually I advise my clients and students to be aware (or beware) of setting BHAGs because they are hard to achieve. But now that I have pursued several, I know that they can keep you inspired, motivated and on-a-journey. There is the runner's high and also the achievement high of setting an intention and making it a reality. 

Here I am at 2022 Thanksgiving morning 5K Turkey Trot in Virginia.

The next BHAG on my list is to complete my Doctoral dissertation (Doctor of Business Administration) at Golden Gate University. I began this program in 2018 and have taken the slow and steady route of one course per semester. The pandemic allowed me the time to focus on this BHAG. Slow and steady wins the race.

UPDATE: I ran all 365 days in 2022 for a total of 1126.45 miles. The streak continues in 2023.

So, here's to you 2023, the Year of Accomplishing Big Hairy Audacious Goals!

See you at the finish line.

Love in the Kitchen

This quarter I created a new first assignment for the Culinary students in my Management, Supervision and Career Development class. They have reflected on their Culinary inspiration through images and text, and then articulated their career intentions.

To try out the assignment I made my own inspiration board. This was both an enlightening and empowering exercise that resulted in me realizing my culinary vision is Love in the Kitchen. Today the students will share their inspirations and goals - I'm eager to learn about their paths.

La Raza Chronicles Radio Archive

If you want to hear me on KPFA's La Raza Chronicles talking about Flyaway Productions' 10 Women Campaign on November 8, visit this link. I'm on at about 35-40 minutes into the show. It was a good broadcast. Too bad the host butchered my name. Then again, I butchered the Spanish language.

Goal for 2012: Learn to speak Spanish!

Transitional Moments

As a teacher, you live for the transitional moments when students evolve. Today I was lucky enough to experience three such moments. My teaching days on Mondays run from 8am to 7:45pm and the traditional moments were perfectly spaced throughout my day.

The first moment was at the end of my morning class when just one of the students and I were still in the room packing up our belongings. The student said to me, "you know what, I like what we are discussing. Next quarter I graduate and I would like to pursue this as a job focus." Wow! Fantastic! During the class I noticed that the student was catching on to the concepts and presenting some very sophisticated ideas. I told the student I had noticed this and their eyes lit up.

The next transitional moment occurred on the elevator between classes when I ran into a student from a previous quarter. This student told me that they had figured out how to balance their workload and get A's. Three classes was the perfect balance and they had recognized what work with that mix and were trying to increase their load to four classes with all A's. "I'm keeping my eye on the end goal" said the student - we had discussed goals in their class.

My evening class had the third transitional moment. A student with a big personality had been wavering between adding to and distracting (as well as detracting) from the class with their powerful presence. I talked to the student before class and said, "you are a leader in this class and set the tone. How can we use your powers for good?" The student came up with some ideas and in class they demonstrated their positive leadership. Other students who were on the fence responded to the this student's new focus and were also more engaged.

For me, these interactions were also learning experiences. I am recognizing when to step in, step back and step aside. Perhaps this an evolution of my work as a teacher. Confrontation is not easy for me and I believe that I embraced my personal values of open-heartedness and helping people reach their dreams to be successful. Plus, I found my grounding.

Every day is a learning experience as a teacher.

Lack of Responsiblity or a Sense of Adventure?

For some reason I find myself reminiscing this evening. Perhaps it is being back in the US for two and a half years and that London feels like a lifetime ago. Or, that I have had so many lives, really. I've lived in so many areas of the country, so many homes, with different people, and even in a different country. Each time I reinvent myself and I wonder what I take from the past life to the new one?

Looking at my siblings and their lives - filled with children, partners and homes - and then mine, which really is more like a college student - I wonder if I am stuck in time. Is this a lucky life I lead - where I can pursue anything and everything with little accountability - or is it a life where I keep dodging responsibility? No, I am quite responsible. Three years ago I would never have expected that I would be on this journey of continuous self-discovery.

I suppose it was being sick these past few weeks that has made me think about the past, present and future. My friends are my family and my family are my friends. I live without a partner, kids, a pet, a mortgage, following whatever path interests me.

Last week I had my culinary students write out their goals and if they had a panic-zone goal, how could they bring it into the stretch-zone. One student wrote that her greatest fear is becoming the crazy cat lady who sits in a rocking chair and looks out the attic window. I wrote on her paper that I share the same panic-zone visual. It is just difficult to imagine, as I age, that I will not become more unusual and eccentric as I live for myself. Maybe that is a good thing - being my own character? Sometimes I wish I could see the future and the twists and turns that I will maneuver. But at the same time, I don't really want to know what lies ahead. Is this denial or a sense of adventure?

Recommitting to My Career

Over the past few weeks I've questioned my career choices - consulting vs. being inside a company. What I've recognized is that I love my career.

Earlier this week Leah and I presented a workshop for the Center for Cultural Innovation helping artists write their personal vision and mission, identify their core values and set goals for moving forward. While Leah was presenting the values and mission components of the course I followed along with the participants and had several "aha!" moments. I shared these with the students when I presented the goal setting section. Instructors make visioning sound so easy but when you put yourself in the student role you realize - it is hard when you do it for yourself.

Here's what I articulated:

Vision: I believe that people need to lead-together to reach community goals.

Mission: I support people in reaching their goals by guiding team building so that they can lead-together.

Values: My core values are the ability to pursue new ideas, practice self-expression, be creative, build a sense of community, work in teams and always have variety in my projects.

Goals:
Make enough money to cover all my expenses, save some money for the future, and not incur debt.
To have excellent life-work balance.
To travel, teach and facilitate nationally and internationally.

This last goal got a huge response from the group and one woman said it gave her chills. How's that for accountability - sharing your goals in front of 25 people.

Search for Greater Meaning

I'm still on this quest for greater meaning in my life. Yes, it is exciting that I'm forging my own path and living out loud and all that jazz but what am I working towards? Ever since returning to the States 10 months ago I've felt unsettled, like I've seen the world and I'm back in the nest.

I look around me and people are raising their kids, working to pay the mortgage, hunkering down to stay employed. That's not interesting to me and I often feel lucky that I'm free from those obligations. I have this inclination to further simplify my already simplified life and travel, teach, consult, and dig-in all over the world. Fly, land, connect, fly, land, connect...

The client projects I'm working on these days are very interesting. They challenge and stretch me to learn and teach. School is pushing me even further - both intellectually and financially (so expensive) yet again I want to be out there in the world, beyond San Francisco. Presenting the leadership course last month in the UK was spectacular. That's the kind of work that revs my engine. Now to figure out with my coach Simone how to secure more of those projects.

I keep envisioning that I have a small house or condo someplace that allows me to have all my favorite things in one place (not in storage in Houston) and that I use this as a home base. But nearly 50% of my time is invested in travel. I think this is possible. After all, this is the Year of Research and Development.

Strategic Planning for Individual Artists: From Vision to Reality

Next month I'm presenting a strategic planning workshop for the Center for Cultural Innovation.

Strategic Planning for Individual Artists: From Vision to Reality

Evolving your arts business begins with articulating goals that are ambitious, inspirational and accomplishable. You will learn how to use coaching tools that provide a foundation to the strategic planning process, keeping it grounded and solution-focused.

This workshop will cover:
Strategic planning
Mind-mapping, past, present and future
Articulating goals in your stretch zone
Using the GROW3 coaching tool to create a plan
Thinking partnerships: peer coaching

Date: Monday, April 27, 2009
Time: 6:30-9:30pm
Location: SF State, 835 Market Street, 6th floor, San Francisco, CA 94103 (next to Westfield Shopping Center, Powell Street BART/Muni stop)
Cost: $35 (BOA / CCI Members) / $40 Non-members

Reflections on the Year of Amy

Tonight over dinner my friend Hisun said she often thinks about my statement that this is the Year of Amy. Officially that year came to a close on March 8. That was essentially the anniversary of me being out of my marriage for a year. I promised myself that I would take that year to reflect on me, what I want, my values, my friends and family, and my personal development.

I am in a happy place. No challenge is too big. Panic goals are pulled into stretch goals.

Recognizing that the marriage was not working for me was a giant step. Bringing it to a close was so disappointing as it felt like failure. In comparison to these major life choices little things like presenting a training session on the 33rd floor of a London skyscraper was peanuts (although looking at the photo on this blog link does get me a bit woozy). Applying and being accepted into a a Doctoral program was another huge step...which resulted in me being in Statistics which is even more surprising. But I'm doing it.

Now I've hired my friend Simone to help me build my consulting biz plan. She is an amazing coach. In just one session I've gained so much more clarity on what where I've come from and where I'm going. Strategic planning for a strategic planning consultant.

More to the point - I've learned to love and value ME over the past year. As Drew Barrymore says in the Feb/March issue of BUST magazine quoted from Harper's Bazaar, "I've been single for months now, and I've turned my attention toward my passions, my friends, and the causes I believe in. It's about learning who I am, not through a man but for myself." Notice she has set a moving-towards as opposed to moving-away from goal. Digging it Drew.