One of my 2006 “resolutions” was to fulfil my goals.  

This would be so much easier if I actually had some.  Somewhere in 2005 I realised that I had “lost my way”, gotten so involved in being busy, that I was no longer sure about what this was all for.  

Part of the problem, of course, is the problem of being a high or over-achiever.  I set my goals, I meet them.

In 2005 I found myself with my lists ticked off (except for some miscellaneous items that somewhere along the way got relegated to “no longer important”, “maybe I’ll do sometime when I’m bored” or “what was I thinking when I added that to the list?”), and no clear road map to guide the way ahead.  

Going on holiday last year got me to the point of “I’ve done it all”… I was away from the office for 5 weeks, and when I got back, the office was still standing and running.  There were other issues to solve, that I had never noticed before, but pretty much, it was all done.  

2006 started in confusion. 

I picked up some old books, I looked at what I was doing and what I wanted to be doing… and I realised I needed to spend some time in reflection about what is actually important.  Where do I want to be in 10 years time?  If I die at the ripe old age of 96 what do I want people to remember me for?  

As you can imagine, I’ve spent the last 4 days house-cleaning.  I’ve found it’s a perfect form of procrastination.  If there’s a decision to be made or thinking which needs to be done, house-cleaning is certainly one good way of ignoring it.  I’m sure men have a different form – they go fishing or something.  

But in cleaning up, I found all sorts of memorabilia from previous accomplishments, as well as post cards, letters, photos, and titbits from life so far.  I put them away, all neatly and in order… and decided it was perhaps time to start giving tomorrow some more thought. 

I learnt something very good from Alice in Wonderland – if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up there. 

What I really set out to do was to write a set of goals to fulfil this year – but I found I couldn’t actually do that, because I didn’t actually know where I wanted to be in 10 years… and this year’s goals are heavily dependent on a long-term plan. 

So, here’s a stab at a long-term plan, or at least… the principles that might guide that plan.  Ideally, I want to get it down to one page long… so I need to get the scissors out.  What do you mean, long-winded?

Mission Statement