One True Sentence

OK. I need a serious reality check, y’all.

This past weekend a friend of mine came down to visit me in Chicago. I’ve known him since we were young, but we were never the closest of friends. He said something to me that really struck me, but not necessarily because of what he said, but how I reacted.

We were enjoying some delicious BBQ and wheat beer when he hit me with it:

“You have an ego.”

This coming from a dude I’ve always thought had a pretty big head himself, but the more we grow up, the more I realize he’s got this whole life thing figured out.

Like I said, that didn’t necessarily surprise me as he’s been known to accuse me of all sorts of ridiculous things, but what shocked me was my own response:

“Yeah.”

Really?? I mean, I know acceptance is the first step toward recovery, but I never imagined I’d be so nonchalant about getting too big for my britches. To be honest, I was pretty embarrassed.

After dinner, I was able to push the thought to the back of my mind until this morning when I got a timely e-mail reminding me to “put on the apron of humility, to serve one another.”

Sometimes it’s just hard to dismiss these things as a phase or an “off day.” This time I have to be serious.

So now what? I’m honestly not sure. All I know is I need to seriously regain some perspective and take a step back. First and foremost, I know I need to do some serious introspection and figure out where this ego is coming from.

Have you ever had to keep your own ego in check? How did you do it?

Is it just me, or do you feel a sense of renewal when you move to a new place?

It’s a fresh start. And believe me, I need this. It’s a chance to have one room in which I don’t end up with too much clutter. It’s a chance to keep everything just so and organized. But more than that, it’s a new chance for me to grow.

In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m nowhere near perfect. There are quite a few things about myself that I would like to improve upon, and I always love these new shiny opportunities to become a better person. I try my best to do right by everyone around me and be a good person day-to-day, but I will be the first to admit I lose sight of the big picture sometimes.

If I let someone jump in front of me on the train, does that excuse my short fuse when my roommate leaves dirty dishes in the sink (again)? Not at all. Does keeping my mouth shut when I’m thinking something snarky excuse the mean thought in the first place? Not so much.

I always come up with the same problem, though. I set too many big goals for myself instead of smaller, measurable ones. Being the incredible nerd that I am, wouldn’t it make more sense to set these smaller goals? So here’s the plan: I’m going to set three small goals for myself each week. Can you help me stick to it??

Week 1 – Renewal

1. Renewing my morning running routine. I will kick off this week by running at least three times in the morning. One down, two to go! I can do that seeing as how I’ve been complaining about missing running.

2. Rediscover my wardrobe. Moving all of my clothes made me realize how much I don’t actually wear anymore. It’s time to weed out those pieces I haven’t worn in a year, donate them and figure out what basic pieces I’m still missing.

3. Re-devote myself to reading the Bible. I will let you in on a secret: I’ve never read the Bible before. Ever. It was just never part of my upbringing, but I decided earlier this year exploring religion was important to me. I have continue this exploration through discussions with my close friends, but I admit I have been neglecting my daily readings lately. Not anymore.

How do you set goals for yourself? How long before you let them fall by the wayside (or am I the only one guilty of that)? Will you help me keep up with three goals each week?

I posted the below blog post about four months ago, and I thought I would give y’all an update since I am officially two years away from being 25. I also have a post in the works about what it means to me to be 23 and why it’s not quite as scary as I thought it would be.

A little while ago, I asked y’all how you measure personal success, and your responses were overwhelmingly helpful! So I decided to take a moment and share my goals with you. I’ve come up with my top 25 goals that I’d like to achieve before I’m 25 years old. Because I’m such an organization freak, they’re broken down into categories.

Personal Goals:

1. Adopt a dog to be the start of my new, grown-up family.
2. Run a second triathlon, this time with my dad, and walk/run a half-marathon with my two best friends (who I did the first triathlon with).
3. 3. Make my old friendships a priority by setting up phone and Skype dates with my friends and family who I can’t see on a regular basis. – Not to say that this goal is completed, but I have made several weekly dates with friends, and I feel a lot better about keeping in touch.
4. 4. Nurture new Chicago friendships and have a Chicago friend family that can be relied on much like my oldest and dearest friends. – Done. And I couldn’t feel better about my new Chicago family.
5. Volunteer at PAWS Chicago at least once each week and find a way to give back to UNC, too.

Professional Goals:

1. Improve my understanding of social media channels and how Edelman is using them.
2. Ask questions early and often, and be willing to turn in a project late if it means doing it right the first time around.
3. 8. Seek out new and different projects where I can help out and learn more about measurement and social media. – While this goal will be one I continue to strive toward, I have recently jumped onto several awesome projects which are already expanding my horizons!
4. Read and absorb anything and everything about social media measurement in order to broaden my skills and to better help clients.
5. Become the go-to measurement guru in the Edelman Digital Chicago office.

Blog Goals:

1. 11. Claim my own domain name and begin learning (and using!) HTML coding. – Done.
2. Write blog posts each week about something that I love or am passionate about.
3. 13. Become a regular contributor or guest post-er on a group blog or on social media nuts’ blogs. – If you haven’t yet, check out my posts over at PRBreakfastClub.com!
4. 14. Find a way to keep DR. WHAW? a regular feature without committing to posting it every single day (with my schedule, I can’t seem to make this work every day). – All thanks to my awesome contributors!
5. Increase reader engagement as marked by number of comments, return readers and Tweets.

Chicago Goals:

1. Move to an apartment in Lakeview.
2. Attend Lollapalooza in the summer.
3. Try a Chicago-style hot dog and a sandwich from Lucky’s.
4. Take the architectural boat tour.
5. See the Boston Red Sox play at Wrigley Field (I know this may not even be possible but definitely worth a shot).

Travel Goals:

1. Visit Washington, D.C., for the first time and do all of the typical touristy things. – So I got to go to D.C. for a conference, but I didn’t get to do ANYTHING touristy. Half-done.
2. Visit my older sister in Amherst, Massachusetts, and my younger sister at the University of Minnesota.
3. Visit Austin, Texas, to attend the SXSW conference in 2011 and visit friends.
4. Visit my mom’s parents in Kentucky and see my cousin wrestle in a state tournament (it will happen, Sean!).
5. Travel to the ACC or NCAA tournament to watch the Tar Heels play their way into history again.

So there you have it. I know that some of these are lame and some may be quite difficult to achieve before I’m 25. Still, I believe these are all quite reasonable (and measurable!) goals for me. Just having written this list has made me happier, and really, isn’t that the real goal?

So I’m sure y’all have noticed that my blog hasn’t been exactly active lately. This little lady could spout off literally hundreds of excuses as to why my writing has taken a backseat lately, but it all boils down to the same thing: I needed to focus on my offline wellness.

If you live in Chicago or follow lots of folks from the Windy City, you probably know by now that I tend to make an appearance at a lot of events. I mean A LOT of events. I’m one of those people that likes to be a social butterfly, I always have. One of my biggest weaknesses, though, is that I care too much about what other people think and I try to be all things to all people sometimes. Both of these things are absolutely foolish, and I know this.

Social media and Twitter in particular allow me to indulge this bad habit pretty easily. Way too easily actually. Add this nasty habit to a couple of losses and struggles in my personal life, and it was time for a full social media disconnection.

I won’t bore you with all of the details, but disconnecting completely for about a week really did me good. It helped me to really think about what’s important to me (cliche, I know) and how I want to live my life. I’m continuing some personal introspection in my offline life, and I’ve decided to give myself at least a few hours each day to be disconnected.

With that being said, I’m back. I have a few posts in the works, and I’m hoping to be finally bringing you some regular content again. So get pumped, y’all! Also, please let me know what you’ve been missing the most. Tell me if you want me to write about something. Ask my friends Danny and John, if you ask for my thoughts on something, I’m likely to write about it.

So how have y’all been?