Aimee E. Cowher

I’m going to take a slight personal detour before writing more technical guidance of tools.  However, it isn’t completely unrelated to the overall theme of Seek the Art of the Possible or the topics about which I commonly write.  It is important to set goals - personal, professional or even project goals.  Goals give us something to work toward, a means to keep us focused (difficult for those of us with a Low C Predictive Index profile) and a measure to judge success.  Of course, we don’t always achieve our goals, which doesn’t necessarily mean we have failed if we view it as an opportunity to learn, improve and maybe even try again.  So, I am sharing these tangential thoughts because I have just received my certificate for completing the Detroit Free Press Flagstar Marathon.  It is still somewhat surreal to me that I actually ran 26.2 miles, until, of course, the residual pain in my knees and toes without toenails remind me that it, in fact, is a reality.  It isa goal I set on my 30th birthday to run a marathon before turning 40.  That goal I beat by a little over a year.  Once I started training, I set another goal to run it in 4 Hours, 30 mInutes.  Well, that one I didn’t accomplish.  I hung with the 4:30 group thru 18 miles then fell behind.  Considering the challenges I faced in the weeks leading up to the race (pulled calf muscle, bronchitis, sick kids, etc.) I’m satisfied with my performance.  Further, the reaction of my almost-5-year-old daughter when I returned home from the race and she saw the medal around my neck is even more gratifying than finishing - “Mommy, you WON!” and that’s exactly how I feel!  Set goals, stay focused, measure success and learn from failing.  If we can do that personally, professionally, in Six Sigma projects, in the turn-around efforts in businesses and communities, WOW!  Think of the possibilities!

Saludos,

Aimée

Tags: Goalsetting, Predictive Index, Six Sigma