Being S.M.A.R.T. in 2019
I despise New Year's Resolutions. The last New Year's Resolution I made was probably in fifth grade because Mrs. Miller made the class commit for an assignment.
Every January your local gym is filled with eager folks with their resolutions to work out more and lose weight. By mid-February, you get your gym back because 90% of resolutioners (is that a word?) have fallen off the wagon.
I was introduced to S.M.A.R.T. goals in college by a professor in the marketing department. As this year wrapped up and my initial goal of 250,000 Cubs cards was accomplished, a few people asked what the goals were for 2019. After some though the past few weeks I have made a few resol....just kidding. I have made a few S.M.A.R.T. goals.
If you are new to S.M.A.R.T. goals, it stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Typically, if you have a goal that doesn't meet these criteria, you will either struggle to meet your goal, or not meet it at all. Losing weight, quitting smoking, etc. are not S.M.A.R.T. goals. Here are my two main S.M.A.R.T. goals for 2019.
Attain 400,000 Cubs Cards I rang in 2018 with somewhere around 60,000 Cubs cards. I'll head into 2019 with just under 253,000 Cubs. That's a great year. How did I come up with 400,000 as the goal? I feel 500,000 is just a bit more than I feel I can reach in 2019. Plus, I have had a lot of fun talking about the hobby, meeting fellow collectors, and just enjoying the journey that there is no rush to one million. And...
Get Caught Up on Cubs Sorting* This in itself is not a S.M.A.R.T. goal, but to make it one here is what I mean.
Specific I have all of my monster boxes alphabetized and sorting Cubs card by player last name and putting them in their designated letter boxes. So, the goal is to have my entire Cubs collection sorted by player last name by the end of the year.
Measurable
The goal for 2019 is 400,000 Cubs cards. I wish to sort (on average) 1,000 Cubs cards per day. In all, that's 400 days, but I already have about 50,000 cards sorted meaning approximately 350 days will be needed to catch up. This is a realistic goal and it's time bound, so now it's a S.M.A.R.T. goal.
Those are my goals for 2019. Collect 400,000 Cubs cards and have my Cubs collection completely sorted by January 1, 2020. I also plan to utilize my YouTube channel more this upcoming year. I received a new web cam and tripod for Christmas, so I'll need to test it out soon.
The next year should be a lot of fun with two big Cubs events planned in January. This coming weekend I'll be at Club 400 with special guests Joe Pepitone, Leon Durham, Ray Burris, and John Mallee. And then two weeks later is the Cubs Convention!