What makes me happy list

Need to add to this list

Giving unconditionally without worrying about whether it is going to come back.

Hearing people laugh

Clicking a picture that is not easy to click

Going on a long walk

Holding her hands

Seeing the twinkle in her eyes when she notices the full moon

Catching up on the savings !

Let us see if I can start catching up on the savings !

The Personal Mission Statement

After a lot of back-and-forth on Goals, I think I realized that a mission is much more effective than goals atleast to begin with...I remembered the 7 habits as a place to start with. I got back to it probably after a good 10 years this time with a specific need ! It was much more meaningful. I would be very eager to know what you guys think about the above mission. It is a product of several weeks of introspection and improvement. (the research includes the happiness post you saw a little while back)

Happiness !

Since I was getting restless about visualizing goals, I decided to take a step back and look at a mission statement...I need a mission to be able to set goals right? So here is what makes me happy (not necessarily in any order)

• Working Hard and Being busy doing things I enjoy
• Visiting a new country (adding stamps on the passport is a wierd pleasure I seem to have)
• Buying a standing souvenir from the country
• Being home
• Being appreciated and loved
• Winning in close contests
• Changes - changes for the better
• The third drink with friends / people I enjoy being with
• Roller blading, squash and tennis
• Learning something new
• Making money, and at times even just counting money
• Introspecting
• Shopping for cars, electronic gadgets, or stationary
• Listening to Jon Denver / Richard Marx (and who are they you think)
• Going on a long drive with me behind the wheel and people I like/love in the car
• Coming across to people as knowledgeable
• Scratching lines off a task list
• Being able to understand people
• When I remember what I need to remember
• When I am not embarassed about what I usually am embarassed
• Watching a funny movie, especially a romantic one
• Making someone feel special

The Goal 2: Financial Planning and Execution

When Goal 1 was about following my passions, Goal 2 is about discipline. A crucial financial discipline I seem to have consistently lacked throughout my 20s. Infact I have been in a teen-ager way been rebelling against what my parents have held dear. Being extremely judicious and systematic in planning their finances. I could afford doing it when I did not have any personal commitments and my ambitions were big. However now is the time to shift gears. I hope from the day I hit 30, I hope to save the above percentage of every dollar I earn in the above way.

The Goal 1: See the world

Inspired by a book named "The power of focus" I decided to create images of my goals. The first one also took some inspiration from the clustermaps around here in blogospere. The idea is to show my goal "See the world" - Red Stars are the first city in a given country I saw first (Approximate neighborhood) and the Blue Stars are the second or later cities I spent time in - in a given country. Of course, I have ignored countries where I transited or spent just a day or two in. I did spend about 1/2 hour on this exercise and hope this will prove to be useful. The target areas are (highlighted in the blue shaded zones)
(1) Eastern Europe and Possibly Russia (Before Mid 2008)
(2) Africa and South America (Before End 2009).