Tuesday, August 12, 2008

GOAL! ! ! ! ! !

Doing the same thing day-in and day-out can take it's toll on a Working Girl. It can cause her to lose ambition and motivation; to give into boredom and not use her time wisely; to just do a bad job.

Lately, I've been bored. I've given into the daily routine of checking e-mail, making phone calls and working quietly on my projects. I'm not being proactive and showing my superiors that I can excel in my position. There is a small chance I could receive a promotion from assistant to coordinator in the fall. So, that needs to change.

I work well with planned out goals that result in a reward for myself. In this case, the ultimate reward is a promotion. Not only would the raise involved be nice but I have go to get the Ass(istant) out of my title.

Goal: Flawlessly execute my projects.
The Deal: It's the nature of the business for advertisers to make several changes and therefore pushback the timelines of projects. Just once I'd like to do everything on time.

Goal: Successfully execute next week's west-coast event on my own.
The Deal: I'll be heading westward next Wednesday to manage a reader and advertiser event. According to our events manager, it'll be a turn-key event. I'm nervous as hell. I'll be the only representative from the magazine. It's all on me.

Goal: Develop a big idea for a big anniversary the magazine will be having in a year or two.
The Deal: I've yet to bring my own flushed out big idea to the table in my department. I've sat in on brainstorms and added to the ideas of others. Now, I want to come up with my own big idea and see how it goes.

This is just the beginning. I should probably also stop gchatting so much and not work on Working Girl posts at work. We'll see how that goes.

30 comments:

Just A Spoonful of Sarcasm said...

Goals are great..but only if they are realistic.
Goal for today: Not bitch anyone out.
Realistically: Try to only bitch out 1 person.....but only if they really deserve it.

Jennifer said...

I've been in a similar rut recently as well (and spending far too much time reading Working Girl when I should, in fact, be working!!) BUT, it does get better - especially with goals in site! Good luck!

Anonymous said...

It is easy to get bored in the mundane routines of the city life, but it always helps me to put reminders on my phone to go off every morning 9am, to "Stay Focused" it's small and some may think it's silly, but it's a daily reminder to stay with your goals.

MARY IN SCOTLAND said...

I love your blog, I feel a part of something fun!

Steph said...

oh man, gchat is my downfall too! to bad promotions aren't based on the amount of gchatting eh?

Antara said...

Really good goals, and i hope you accomplish them all!

Anonymous said...

GOAL: Go far in the near future with this blog. I think you really have something here. Since I discovered this on Blogs of Note, I can't get any work done myself without making sure I visit! It's too entertaining to pass up! Keep it up because it's a great inspiration for all of us working gals out there.

Anonymous said...

Goals are very important. I find without them I wander around aimlessly. Fortunately so far I've been able to resist the temptation to work on my blog at work.

Kerry Anne said...

you go girl!

Career Girl Network Marcy said...

If you ever need to run your ideas by an Events Manager, let me know. I'm happy to be your sounding board.

Just little Old Me! said...

Hey goals are awesome!! I have 100 of them that I am working on personally. Have you ever read any goal setting/achieving books? There is an e-book by Dax Moy called the magic hundred that is the BEST!!! Although technically now I have 101 goals since I noticed this whole blog of note thing! Any idea how one would get on it??
So hey good luck on your goals!

Lisa said...

Hmm yeah, it's easy to fall into an unproductive pattern of boredom. For me, I write down the things I want to accomplish during the day when I get in first thing in the morning, and I try to have those things done by the end of the day.

Elizabeth Marie said...

Brilliant! If only we could all be so motivated and driven to achieve more within our careers! All the most successful people in history have talked about the importance of setting realistic, and achievable goals - not to mention the help that writing them down brings. You, working girl, are ahead of the curve!

Anonymous said...

Whatever you do, don't stop blogging. It gives the rest of us, or well, maybe just me, the motivation to become better "working girls." Then again, it would cause you to slack.

Hmm...its a lost cause.

Kristi said...

i'm totally feeling the same way right now...i guess it's time to pull out the pen and paper and get some goals established...thanks for the motivation!

savor - silence - savor - cin said...

ah. I am nearing lunch time and decided to get a daily dose of the blogging world. I have to agree with "just a spoonful of sarcasm".
goals are best kept when they are within reach. goals that reach the moon can sometimes be discouraging. especially when a working place can be so distracting.

Ginger said...

Good for you, setting some goals! Sometimes I forget that they should be set in the working world too.

Side note: Coordinator is a higher level than assistant?

lol, on the other side of the media fence (buyers and planners) it's the reverse! Go figure!

Anonymous said...

I just want to say that I really appreciate this post. I had to kick m y butt into gear last week, too. Thanks for the reminder and good luck in obtaining the new position.

Anonymous said...

Are you going to reward yourself for the smaller goals? I love goal rewards for myself :)

I'm sure even if you don't totally meet your goals, you'll find your feelings towards work and the quality of your work will go up.

Working Girl One said...

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

Today, one of my projects went out on time (I thought it would, but didn't want to jinx it by saying so) and my boss thanked me for my hard work and noted that he knows it's not an easy project. Day one of being (and staying) motivated went pretty well. Let's hope tomorrow does too!

Mommy said...

Good luck with you new set goals. Not a lot of people actually realize that they are not living up to their potential.

Anonymous said...

Found your blog from a friends page! New at this! Great idea about goals, i just wish i could stick to mine! ;o)

ceemee said...

Hope you accomplish all your goals!
I have my own goals too, albeit mundane, I know I should complete them for the welfare of my family.

Farnaz said...

You have to be cautious as sometimes you may forget your own goals in life and instead take the company's goals as yours. It's tricky, so be careful!

Nikita said...

I so love your blog, it's fun and motivated me to start a blog too. Keep up the good work.

Michelle said...

I've just read your blog for the first time (I've been really bad at "jumping" into the blog world) and I love it! I don't have a real job yet because I'm still in school (Grad school) but at my current job, all I do is bitch to my boyfriend when I leave! Perfect blog for me!

Cosmo chick said...

OMG, so loving this blog. I keep checking this blog all the time, the time difference is killing me- when I'm in work you're not so no new blog.

Over here assistant and co-ordinator are the same thing....

Donna said...

Excellent post!
Good luck with the new job-and the new title!

Anna Routh said...

Good for you WG1! You have inspired me and I now feel like I should do more to stand out and impress my stupid bitch of a boss even though I just want to squeeze her until her head pops off.

My goal: Not jump over my desk a tackle my boss for her snide comments
Realistically: Keep my eye rolls and vomit faces behind her back to a minimum (twice per day would be a miracle)

Sockit2me said...

dear WG1....one way to help ensure the promotion "could" happen is to not make the mistake that a lot of young WGs and WBs make...and that is to try to "flush" out an idea, when you really want to "flesh" it out! This is a commonly mis-used term. The truth is to flush something out is to trash it, 86 it, delete it, kill it and son on. To "flesh" something out is an expression referring to "adding meat to the 'bones' of an idea"

btw...good luck on that promo and on that west coast trip. I hope your anniversary idea gets fully fleshed out by yourself and not FLUSHED by the upper ranks! hint.....when you present it, somehow (fake it) tell them that your idea was sparked by something one of them (management) said or did! they will fall for it! Many managers are "easily seduced" by such fawning, politicking and shenanigans!