My 2015 Goals

When I was younger I had two life goals. One was to play in the WNBA and the second was to be the first female to become a Harlem Globetrotter. I became obsessed with basketball in sixth grade and although we didn’t have much money, my parents sent me to Doug Bruno’s basketball camp one summer. Doug Bruno is the head girls coach for the DePaul Blue Devils, a man who has gone hoarse from years of yelling and coaching. He’s a spark for anyone with even the smallest ounce of passion. I was 12 the summer I went to his camp, and although it was only four days long, it still remains one of the most influential experiences of my life.

Doug Bruno told us that if we want to achieve anything you have to make goals. He said that every six months you should take out a piece of paper and write down everything you want to achieve. Then place that list somewhere you’ll see it constantly and work like hell to cross everything off that list. Since that fateful summer, I have religiously made goals. Some I’ve achieved, but for the most part, I have failed.

I look back at all those failures and I don’t feel remorse or regret or longing. Instead I feel my 12 year old self’s blind ambition to be something greater than I ever thought I had access to become. There weren’t many people telling me I couldn’t do something back then. There was encouragement and support by the dozens. Today I still find support and a you-can-do-it kind of hurrah, but it seems like I almost have to earn it and have success before anyone gets on board.

I don’t make goals to please other people. I don’t do a lot of things just to look good in front of others. I do things because it’s the person I want to be, the person I want others to use as an example or a guiding light. You don’t have to go with the flow, in fact, I think it’s better to push your way up stream, if not for the challenge, than for the sheer experience of knowing you’re strong enough.

My goals for 2015 are for me. They will be what you’ll be reading about as the New Year approaches and carries on. I hope these inspire you to write your own goals and stick with them no matter how hard the current is pushing you back. You are more powerful than you ever imagined, if you just stopped listening to everyone’s chatter and trust your inner voice.

2015 Personal Goals

•  Eliminate pop from my diet
• Work out at least five times a week
• Get at least 8,000 steps a day on my Fit Bit
• Daily recording of food intake in my Food Journal
•  Run in (3) 5K and (1) 10K
• Finish first year of my Master’s in Library and Information Science Program
• Publish my first book
• Blog every day for the entire 2015 year
• Pay off my car
• Meditate at least three times a week
• Write another book (60,000 words)
• Journal daily
• Become an ensemble member on Laugh Out Loud's Mainstage