Setting Goals

Ok, I've been getting the impression for a while that I've just kind of been floating around in life, cruising along without any true idea of what I want to do. This could be traced back to the last year, most of which I was unemployed. However, it could also be traced back to my three years at univeristy. While I was at Durham I had no idea what I wanted to do once I'd graduated, and had absolutely no targets for myself whatsoever. Looking back on those years I can see that I made a huge mistake and totally wasted my time, though I won't dwell on that too much because what is done is done. Going back even further, my floating around could be traced back to my days in sixth form. Those were some of the best days of my life. I always knew that I'd get the grades to get into a good university without putting much effort in, and that allowed me to chill out a lot and do a lot of socialising etc... basically I did nothing productive in those two years, and really if I had done even a bit of thinking about the future, my life could have been totally different today.

Reading some of my favourite blogs out there, I see a lot of goal-setting that takes place. This applies to both gambling and life. Apparently, if you want to achieve something then writing it down makes a big difference. I'll get one down straight away - I want to stop eating so much junk food, so expect updates on that battle for a start.

So, using the example of university again, I had no personal targets whilst I was at Durham. In my Freshman year I did a lot of sport and accelerated on the partying front in the summer, then literally put no work in towards the exams and scored 1% below getting a 2:1. This set a stupid benchmark for me, and for the rest of my uni career I knew I could just wing it and get by. In my second and final years I still had no targets and continued my existence of drinking / video games / playing about five different sports / lifting a lot of weights. At least I was consistent - I graduated having needed only 1% more to have got a 2:1.

In light of all this I think it's high time I set myself a few goals, and put some proper effort into achieving them. All of my life I've had deep aspirations to be rich, even when I was a little boy. That will probably sound pathetic and naive and shallow to a lot of people, but that's simply the way it is. And obviously in the last five or six years, I've done absolutely nothing to give myself a head-start on achieving that goal. So hopefully I can start doing something about it from this moment; even if it's purely a change of attitude for the time being.

My group at work was given a talk yesterday from a Chief Staff Manager at Terminal 5 (a very senior position), and I asked him what his career progression had been through BA. He looked very young and I was interested to know. He told me he had been at the company for 12 years and had started in my position, changing position every couple of years, each time moving another rung up the ladder. So, a long-term goal is to gradually scale the heights of BA, knowing that it is possible to reach the upper-echelons in a short space of time if I truly apply myself (something I haven't done since my early days of high school).

To continue plugging away at building my poker bankroll is another, and I honestly believe that over time I can do this successfully. I have been doing it for a while already, though with the limited time I've had recently to dedicate to it, progress has been slow. Profit is profit though, so I just need to be tenacious on this front and keep on learning.

Sports betting. A month or so ago I became pretty disillusioned at my personal ability to be a profitable trader. This is probably an issue for another post, but I know that I'll always bet on sport until my dying breath, but maybe I shouldn't hope for too much from it at the time being.

I know that I haven't actually set any explicit goals here. However, putting my life into some kind of perspective has helped me clear my mind and I feel better just for writing this. This blog is something I can look back on in times ahead (probably with amusement), and hopefully one day I will read this back to myself and recongnise it as some kind of turning point.

Right, this has been long, so good job if you made it this far. I have to go now and buy my mum a birthday present (I can actually afford to get her something now that I've received my first pay packet). I also really need some new shoes and jeans, but that's been the case for years and I doubt I'll get that done today.

Thanks for reading amigos

-J