Setting goals – smart goals for 2018

My 10 top goals for 2018

How (not) to set goals

Is it just me who freezes up every time I try to set goals? Could it because I am afraid that I will most probably not be able to achieve the goals that I have set? Then get depressed and consider myself a failure? Either that or I set a really flimsy goal that I could achieve even quite easily or just reach out for low hanging fruit. A typical case of underpromising so as to overdeliver.

Commitment phobia

Or maybe it just feels more comfortable and exciting to achieve something if I hadn’t really invested my emotions in the end goal? Such that even if I don’t achieve it, I can’t really say I failed because technically I never said it was my goal. I have found that I relate this tendency to the experience below.

You know that feeling when your friends ask you to play a game that you’ve never played before or participate in an activity and the first time you try it, you totally ace it? First of all, it makes you feel like you can conquer pretty much anything and excel at any challenge that you come across. I can already feel the endorphins rushing to the rest of my body as imagine that feeling.

Confidence boost

Every success, however small, boosts confidence. That’s why encouraging children (no matter how they suck at an activity) builds their confidence – although this can sometimes generate undesired results (story for another day).  I remember back when I was no more than 12, I had already told my mother that I want to follow numerous career paths. Not because of the money but because of someone I met in that career path that I looked up to. Nevertheless, my mother encouraged me and told me that I could be anything I wanted to be. Thinking back, this boosted my confidence quite a lot and empowered me such that I did never once thought there was a limit to what I could be/do.This is key.

After much soul searching, I have decided that I will set actual goals for this year. Why you may ask? I have been getting on quite well for all of my 27 years right?

Black history month

Well I have become more aware of my environment, more keen on self development and it is by doing this that I ran into Myles Munroe’s YouTube videos. This being black history month, I feel like I should appreciate the late Myles Munroe in this regard. I am now unashamedly addicted to his content. In a world where so many people have no character and their standards/morals are up for sale to the highest bidder, I must say it is quite refreshing to find someone with so much wisdom.

I will list here at the end of this article some of the most inspiring quotes I have picked up from his sermons.

Meanwhile, these are my goals for 2018.

1. Buy a Nikon D5600 (bundle available on amazon) and begin monetizing my interest and skill in photography. My target income from this is $5,000 per month.
2. Create two niche websites for which I will create content and monetize. Digital marketing is a gold mine in my opinion. My expected earning from this venture is $200 per day. Shout out to Nicole Cooper for her inspiration.
3. Read between one verse and one chapter of the Bible everyday.
4. Read one inspirational book every week. Thanks to Pat Flynns book club.
5. Spend half an hour learning French every day on Duolingo.
6. Study forex trading videos every morning and practice my trading strategy on a demo account.
7. Get my motorcycle license.
8. Buy a Honda XR 250 Baja
9. Travel with my wife to Mauritius and Greece for the holidays.
10. Learn to play the guitar

 

Myles Munroe quotes

• He who does not read is no better than he who cannot read.
• If you aim at nothing, you will never miss.
• Time and change are the raw materials for creating any life you want.
• The secret to living a successful life is managing time and change.
• God is a planner, so to plan is to be like God.
• Sight is a function of the eyes but vision is a function of the heart.
• The distance between you and your vision is a plan.
• You eyes show you what is but your vision shows you what could/should be.
• Planning is the highest expression of divine nature
• Most of the time we’re not broke. We just didn’t plan to be rich.
• If lack is your culture, plenty will destroy you.
• If you don’t plan your time and change, someone else will plan it for you
• Man’s number one problem is that he doesn’t control his circumstance. This is why most people pursue religion. Because most religions promise this in life and death.

How to find out if you’re genius

Tags

browser, google chrome, mozilla, multipletabs., performance, Tabs

Don’t you hate it when you accidentally shut down Google Chrome with 30 tabs of research pages open? The worst thing about Google Chrome is that it does not for a moment think that you may have closed the browser inadvertently unlike Mozilla that asks you very courteously if you really want to close the multiple tabs. Chrome might allow you to reopen the tabs that you had open once you relaunch the browser, but it just doesn’t feel the same anymore.

Are you sure bro?

Are you one of those people who’s computer ends up being unresponsive due to the ridiculous number of tabs that remain open at any one time?

If so, fear not. I’ve got good news and bad news for you. Which do you want first? Let am typically a ‘glass is half full’ person so let me start with the good news.

Well the good news is that you are not alone. I do it too. More often than I am comfortable with. While there is safety in numbers, keep in mind that I am in rehab and slowly limiting the number of tabs (not to mention the number of browsers) that I open to five at a time.

The bad news is that you are a hoarder; not a full blown hoarder but well on your way to the point of no return.

I recently read a book that changed my life (see link at the end of this article). I should however mention that it – the life changing – is not a process that is as drastic as it sounds but one that you need to first accept and be patient so that it might forge its own path.

Back to the important stuff. In this book, I saw a quote that went like this, “If a disorganized and cluttered workspace symbolizes a disorganized and cluttered mind, what does an empty workspace symbolize? I by no means intend to insinuate that looking and being disorganized should be your goal in life. All I’m saying is that maybe you need to stop beating yourself about it and let the chaos run wild.

Perhaps this is exactly the environment you need for you to channel your inner brilliance. Well, that and a more powerful computer because you can only open so many tabs at the same time before your processor gives in. Maybe it just means that you are a creative genius with so many ideas brewing that you sometimes don’t have the physical resources to bring them all to life at once. So you open a new tab, search for it, read some of and then leave it – in the hope of coming back and reading all the information there is about that particular topic.

I am slowly learning to let go of all the things that cause me psychological distress. Thin line I must say between this and looking like a complete fool who starts a bunch of tasks at once and finishes none.

I’m sure I will soon find balance – nay – counterbalance point such that I will be able to keep the tons of ideas flowing into my head and still have the mental capacity to execute them all. Even if not all at the same time.

Read – The one think by Papasan and Keller

How to become a professional photographer

Tags

canon, creativity, events, photography, review, shoot

The three things you MUST do in order to become a professional photographer are:

1. Shop for and buy a decent camera
2. Study the manual repeatedly from cover to cover. Read online guides as well
3. Go forth and click as much as you can.

So there I was – a young man fresh out of campus loving my new job and finally having some extra cash to spend. Unfortunately, I’ve never been much of a saver.

Well, technically I tend to think of myself as a saver-investor – I store my money in assets. Which basically means I buy stuff that I think will somehow preserve or otherwise increase it. I digress.

So I ran into a page on Facebook where Expatriates sell their stuff to locals and I ran across the Canon 350D camera in all it’s glory. Manufactured in 2003 it is by all means a dinosaur among the cameras such as the legendary 6D mARK II but who cares?

I forked out $250 for this baby back in 2014 and I couldn’t wait for my career as a professional photographer to take off!

It came with the stock 18-55mm lens, the manual, a battery charger and the seller was kind enough to throw in an extra battery.

My new camera

Canon 350D

Ever since I saw my godfather looking so cool with his polaroid when I was a little kid, I always wanted to own one a professional camera. So this was my chance. As you can imagine, I knew almost nothing about manual settings so for the longest time all I could use was the trusty green box (fully automatic mode). I couldnt really do a review because what standards would I be comparing its performance to?

Slowly I read the manual and learned how to operate the non-auto modes –  and more important stuff like the exposure triangle review and what the millions of details on the screen meant.

Truly intriguing stuff whose results  I will share with you soon enough. I have covered a few events professionally but I struggle a bit with low light scenarios (will share all that in a separate post)

But overall I would recommend newbies who are getting into photography to start with a second hand camera. Nothing too beat up but not too fancy with too much automation going on. For example I did not know that this camera (the 350D) could only allow you to focus on your subject by squinting through the viewfinder like our grandparents did! Forget the fancy LCD displays.

I will mention that I did at one point have the chance take photos using a canon 1200D and honestly I felt like an international journalist! I was instinctively able to find my way around the settings an the large LCD screen with live view helped a great deal!

Anyway I didn’t want this to be a long post. I just felt like I needed to share my journey with anyone out there who is thinking of starting out. I will put down some useful links that helped me learn lots of neat tricks that will shorten your time in photography kindergarten!

Nairobi

Kenya