TEMBA Gazette, Running Commentary, January 15, 2010

Mark Twain once said that “now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” The “now” he was referring to is New Year’s Day. I’m assuming the “paving hell” part is a reference to the proverb, attributed to John Ray, about the road to hell being paved with good intentions.

Whatever the case, Twain was simply saying that most of us make New Year’s resolutions that we simply don’t keep. Yes, we have every good intention of seeing them through, but then don’t take the necessary actions to do so.

If you’ve read my previous columns – and I’m confident that there are at least two of you who have – you know that I’m a big believer in goal setting. In fact, I have stressed the importance of putting goals on paper, telling family and friends about them no matter how crazy they may sound and then crafting an action plan to successfully achieve them.

A few weeks ago, I met with a gentleman who works with a number of top athletes, as well as complex organizations, on this very topic. He told me about the process he uses with his clients and the importance of having and adhering to a written plan to achieve desired goals. The process starts with the big picture – the dreams – and then gradually funnels down to a workable action plan to incorporate into everyday life. If his clients are any indication – and, believe me, you have heard of most of his clients and their successes – then this stuff really works.

Each year, I spend a day in late December reflecting on the previous twelve months and then setting goals for the next. It usually starts with a long run where I collect my thoughts and then a few hours in a coffee shop where I physically grade my progress on the goals I set for the prior year and then develop and write down goals for the coming year. I was particularly excited to go through the process this year given the knowledge I gained in that meeting.

So, on December 30th I ventured out on a run that would eventually take me to Mt. Bonnell. This has long been one of my favorite spots to think and reflect and, on this particular day, I surprisingly had it all to myself. I spent roughly an hour up there before returning home and eventually setting up shop at my favorite table at Rio Rita to put pencil to paper.

Over the next few hours I looked at what I had done, what I wanted to do and then developed a detailed action plan to get there. The twist this year was starting with the long-term goals – the dreams - and working backwards from there instead of being singularly focused on 2010.

Some of my goals involve friends and family. Others are career-focused. Some involve travel. Others relate to running and fitness. I wrote these goals on the first page of a Moleskine journal that I carry daily to serve as a constant reminder of what I plan to achieve in the coming year and beyond.

So, why am I boring you with all these details about my personal goals? I began thinking about this column while at the gym earlier this week. I noticed that the number of people exercising at roughly 5:30 PM (prime gym time) had already dwindled considerably from the previous week. It was the 12th of the month – the first month of the year - and people were already paving hell with their well-intentioned resolutions. I resolved then and there to not let that happen to you.

When I returned to the office, I began contacting recent TEMBA graduates – you know, those people who all of a sudden have an additional 20 to 30 hours per week to do something other than school work. I asked them about their new year’s resolutions and, yes, about their action plan. I was very pleased with the enthusiastic response. My hope is that these resolutions will serve as inspiration and motivation for you as well as generate some ideas as you set your own goals for the year.

New Year’s Resolutions from the Class of 2009

Paul Terranova. Paul is an ironman in every sense of the word. While still in school, Paul was working on a project in Dallas that kept him out of Austin for up to four days each week. Oh, and he was also training for this little thing called the Ford Ironman World Championship. Paul successfully completed the grueling triathlon in 9:54:13 and finished 239th overall – an incredible feat, especially considering everything else he had going on.

Paul actually started the resolution process early. His post-triathlon was to start twittering. You can now follow Paul at http://twitter.com/terranovapaul. There’s some good stuff on there about his training for the 50K n Bandera….yes, 50K. Paul’s other resolution is to be working back in the Austin/Central Texas region by July 2010 instead of spending four night a week on the road.

Good luck Paul. Maybe when you get back in town you can come out for some TEMBA Trots.

Vasudha Prabhala. Vasudha has stayed busy post-graduation in her new role as a Senior Associate at Infosys Consulting. I had the opportunity to travel to Chile with Vasudha and some of her classmates a few years ago and was pleased to see that one of her goals this year involves her photography…which is extraordinary. Vasudha has three resolutions. She wants to run a marathon, position herself for a promotion and, as I mentioned, get back into photography. Here’s what she said about each one:

“I have been a non-runner my entire life and after graduation needed a challenge which involved an activity I have never done before. So, I started to train myself for a half marathon and successfully finished one in 2009. I will be running a couple more in early 2010. Now that I know that I can run, I would like to take it to the next level and actually run a complete marathon! The idea for 2010 is to train for a marathon on my own or I may join Rouge or another training group.”

“I am currently working as a Sr. Associate at Infosys Consulting and the last year has been pretty much learning the ropes of consulting and getting used to traveling and achieving work/ life balance. Taking it to the next level needs some dedicated work, including business development, contributing to the firm development, articles, generate some IP, etc... I would like to diversify myself in different areas, thereby making myself eligible for promotion in 2011.”

“I love photography and it has taken a backseat recently with all the work. I plan to start making myself a name in a couple of ways. First, I plan to build my portfolio online and start offering services, and second I plan to get involved and contribute to crowd sourcing websites…(including our own TEMBA FocalPop… yay!”

Best of luck Vasudha. With the marathon training going on, perhaps we’ll see you at the TEMBA Trot, too? I look forward to seeing your work online soon. Also, thanks for promoting FocalPop.

Eddie Howard. Speaking of FocalPop, Eddie Howard was a part of the team that brought this concept to life last year when the team won the Texas Moot Corp Finals. Eddie moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina after graduation where his wife, Elaina, is completing her post-doctoral work at UNC. In addition to his work with Datran Media, Eddie spends his spare time hanging out with Anoop Desai of American Idol fame (I had to throw that in there…Eddie and Anoop are friends from undergrad). Anyway, I enjoyed catching up with Eddie the other day. His resolutions involve getting better connected in the local business community and improving his golf game. Here’s what Eddie has to say:

“I want to join some professional networks around Raleigh and Durham, NC. This is a great way to meet people, share ideas, and stay up-to-date with industry trends. I will accomplish this by using sites such as meetup.com as well as by going to events that my current network already attends.”

“I'd like to also improve my golf game by 20%. Now that I'm out of school and living back in North Carolina, I should have the time and resources to accomplish this goal. It's not only a fun hobby for me, but it's also calming and relaxing, which will help relieve stress from work.”

Best of luck Eddie and hope to see you in Austin again soon.

Matt Bryce. Matt joined Alvarez & Marsal upon graduation and has been spending a great deal of time on the road since then. In fact, he was in Hong Kong for last week’s national championship game and watched it over breakfast with a group of Texas Exes. Must have been hard to go to work after that. Despite the travel, Matt has attended nearly every TEMBA information session since graduation and is a great representative of the program.

Given the new job and travel, Matt divided his resolutions into professional and personal. Here’s what he had to say:

“On the professional front, my first goal is to begin positioning myself for a promotion to Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal. To do that, I have to get involved with selling work for myself and others, leading projects, and developing/coaching younger consultants.”

“On a related front, my second goal is to get involved in a large project within my region and business unit to strengthen my internal brand. Since I joined the firm, I have been working on a restructuring project half way around the world. While this is a high profile project that gives me great exposure within the firm overall, it doesn’t really help my internal brand within my region and business unit. I’ve been doing a lot of internal marketing to help this along.”

“On the personal front, my resolution is to simplify my life. Since I travel for work, I spend very little time at home. I want that time to be more efficient so that I can enjoy more time with friends and family. One area of focus is clutter. I’m trying to reduce the amount of physical stuff and get better organized. We moved into a new home during my last year in the TEMBA program. Since we lived in our pervious house for nearly 10 years, we had collected a bunch of stuff. While I was in the program, I didn’t really have the time to deal with it. So, we just moved everything into our new house. Right after I graduated, I started a new job and jumped on a plane to Asia. As a result, we never really settled into our new home. We are trying to reduce the amount of physical stuff in our life (and thus the amount of time we have to spend caring for it) and get better organized. I’m starting with all our media. My goal is to get all my CDs, cassettes, LPs (I know, I’m dating myself here), DVDs and VHS tapes stored in a central location so that we can enjoy them anywhere without the hassle of physical media and extra equipment. Kinda geeky, but I think it will help our daily lives.”

Cassettes, Matt? Really? Best of luck to you and thanks again for all of your help with the program. Look forward to seeing you soon…Shiners on me next time.

Neena Needel. Since graduation, Neena, along with fellow TEMBA ’09 graduate Adnan Khaleel, have been busy preparing the launch of ApplyGenie, an online solution designed to ease the pain of applying to college. The concept was developed while Neena and Adnan were in school and successfully showcased during the Moot Corp competition last year. I’ve enjoyed getting periodic updates on the venture over coffee with Neena and am confident in their success. Not surprisingly, her professional resolutions are related to the launch of ApplyGenie, but others involve friends and family. Here’s what Neena had to say:

“My resolution is to get our product to market and spend more time with my family and friends - but not necessarily in that order. We're actively - sometimes furiously - developing the ApplyGenie offering, and we'll launch the first step of the marketing strategy in the next few weeks.”

“On the family and friends end, I resolve to just make more time and follow through with plans. Admittedly, this is a staid mantra every January, but being in class for three years introduced me to a new world of friends whom I miss now that school is done and graduating from school reintroduced me to friends whom I had overlooked while in school. This year I will reconnect those ties and live the January mantra throughout the year.”

Best of luck, Neena. I have thoroughly enjoyed the coffee chats and updates. I know it’s going to be a successful venture and year!

Sandeep Waghchoure. Sandeep and his wife, Sheetal, had a beautiful baby girl a few days before the New Year. When I got in touch with him, he simply said that his only resolution was to be “the best possible dad he could be” for his new daughter.

Now that may be the best resolution of all. Congratulations Sandeep and best wishes for a wonderful 2010.

Happy New Year to all TEMBA students and alums. I look forward to an exciting and successful 2010. May all of your resolutions – and dreams – come true.