Peer to Peer Magazine

SMART MOVES "Every year I set goals for my career, my health, my finances and my family life." believable. I then break them into smaller goals that I can take action on, so I can start seeing progress. For example, after I attended my first ILTA conference and met many wonderful volunteers, it became clear in my mind that I wanted to become involved. I wanted to help with the conference and share my knowledge, which would ultimately lead me to grow and learn even more. The intial goal was to help with the conference, so I started to learn as much about the organization as I could. I set smaller goals, such as writing an article, speaking at an event and joining a peer group. All of those goals were achieved because I envisioned myself working on the conference committee, and, once I became part of the Server Operations and Security Peer Group, guess what happened? My first assignment was as a conference committee member — certainly one of the most enriching experiences of my career. Goal-setting is a continuous process. Once you reach your goals, you must set new ones so that you continue to grow and live your life the way you envision it. After my first term as a conference committee member, I was asked to participate again. I was glad to do so and right then I asked myself: "What's next?" I started to analyze my experience 30 www.iltanet.org Peer to Peer with the conference and realized that I could do more for the organization. When the position of vice president of our peer group became open, I applied for it and got it! ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS THROUGH VISUALIZATION In the book "Mind Gym, An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence," authors Gary Mack and David Casstevens state: "It has been said that extraordinary people live their lives backward. They create a future, and then they live into it." Athletes are great at this. In the book, the authors illustrate how baseball player Carl Yastrzemski described his visualization process: "The night before a game, I visualize the pitcher and the pitches I'm going to see the next day. I hit the ball right on the button. I know what it's going to feel like. I hit the pitches where I want to." The next day he would go into the game having already experienced it, and he usually did pretty well, as his career shows. I visualize very often. I close my eyes and see how my day will go or the end result of the project I am working on. Part of my preparatory routine for taking a certification exam involves visualizing the day of the test. I'll close my

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