Hello Family, Friends... (Betsy)

When Scott and I began dating, we, like many other young-and-in-love couples, shared interests/goals/dreams and found that we had a lot in common. We both love to travel. We both like to try new things. We both want to give back to our community (both monetarily and with our time). And, we are both guilty of constantly coming up with excuses, excuses that ultimately keep us from doing the things we say we are going to do or traveling to the places we say we want to see.

I will be the first to admit that we have been blessed with many opportunities to travel together this summer; however, for every place we go, for every city we see, there are three times as many places we want to visit. Unfortunately, without motivation or proper planning, these dreams and ideas will remain just that: dreams and ideas.

I recently attended a seminar in Chicago for work. They keynote speaker spit out some alarming statistic about goal setting and explained a study conducted on Harvard graduates. After a few minutes of surfing the Web, I was able to locate a summary of that study:

"Perhaps the most revealing exposition on the importance of goals comes form a Harvard study. A synopsis of the study that was conducted at Harvard Business School between 1979 and 1989 is presented below. In 1979 the graduates of the MBA program at Harvard were asked a simple question: “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” The results were very interesting. 84% had no specific goals at all, 13% had goals but they were not committed to paper, and only 3% had clear goals and plans that were written down. In 1989, a good ten years after the first phase of the study, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class. Their results were even more startling. The 13% that had goals but not written down were earning twice as much as the 84% that did not have any goals. An even more interesting statistic is that the 3% who had written down plans and goals were earning on average ten times more than the other 97%. Further more the mere act of writing a goal down on paper increased its chances of being accomplished by a staggering 90%."

http://www.mattbrooks.com/2008/12/18/positive-goal-setting-for-2009/

Moral of the story: if you write down your goals and dreams, you are more likely to get 'er done.

This, in combination with an idea I borrowed from a great friend (Thanks, Casey!), Scott and I have compiled a list of thirty things we want to do before I am thirty and Scott is thirty-four. We even wrote them down (see left).

I am certain my five-year-old cousin Christopher has nicer handwriting than Scott, so in case you are having trouble reading our list, I'll post them for you :) They are in no specific order:

1. Go skydiving.

2. Volunteer: frequently, consistently, long term.

3. Go to Hawaii.

4. New York City: Tavern on the Green, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty.

5. Go camping: hardcore camping. Legit, no b.s. camping. The real deal-tents, fire, etc.

6. Learn to snow ski.

7. Visit wineries in Napa Valley.

8. Zip Line: We prefer Costa Rica, but we will settle for anywhere!

9. Make a lobster dinner.

10. Read 10 or more books together.

11. Play a round of golf together.

12. Road trip out West together. (Don't worry, Teta! I'm still going to road trip out West with you too!)

13. Scuba Dive.

14. Take at least one guitar lesson together.

15. Play put-put.

16. Visit Wine Tastings Downtown.

17. Join a church.

18. Annonymously buy an old, cute couple dinner (must be someone we do not know).

19. Throw someone a surprise party.

20. Get Married (to each other of course :) )

21. Go to a Cubs game.

22. Take an all day bike ride.

23. Take a cooking class.

24. Run a mini marathon (RUN the whole 13.1 miles).

25. Attend a dating and/or marriage conference.

26. Take a train to Chicago.

27. Grow a garden.

28. Have NO debt except for a house.

29. Go white water rafting.

30. Visit Colorado.

Scott and I are both new to the blogging world, but I thought this would be a neat way to keep our families and friends posted with what is going on in our lives. So, while the main purpose of this blog is to recount our experiences when we accomplish something on our thirty before thirty list, we will also post about random, but significant events! Scott has graciously agreed to blog along with me, so you will be reading both of our thoughts as we make our goals and dreams realities!

Please feel free to leave comments!

Betsy