2007
Welcome to 2007!
My favorite part of the year is the dawn of a new one. It's a time to look back at my achievements of the previous year and define new goals for the year to come.
On the final days leading up to the end of the year, I looked at my goal list for 2006 and determined the balance of goals still left to complete. I mounted a frantic effort on a procrastination free week to complete some of my important goals.
In one fell swoop, I finished the post production on the Sweet Graffiti photo shoot, earned my Ontario driver's license (I've been holding a Portuguese license since I arrived in Canada), made a photo DVD to send to my family in Portugal, bought new furniture to organize my growing business documents and stationary, I registered my company, Marqx and won photography contracts to end 2006 on a very high note.
2006 started off with me hitting the ground running. I was determined to travel to several of my must see cities right from the entry into the year. I packed my bags and was off to San Francisco to see a Steve Jobs Apple keynote and tour the city I've many times considered living in. I went on a dream road trip down the California coast through mountains, 17 Mile drive, through Carmel valley, visiting One Infinity Loop (Apple HQ) in Cupertino, Monteray (and visiting the famous aquarium) to Santa Barbara and finally to L.A.
The dream ended in a nightmare when my car was broken into, my documents and computer stolen and thus began a frantic race to leave the country.
This event knocked the wind out of me for some time, pushed my goals back indefinitely and I went into crisis management mode. Soon, however, I was back on track but running into a chaotic stream of taking on challenges that despite the lack of planning, I could see were a key to the direction I wanted to take myself in.
It was only recently that I could take a breath and look back to notice that I had completed so much. I became an overnight event photographer and here I found my niche. It's something I love to do, that pays well and allows me to mold my schedule to do the other things that I love... that involves travelling. Despite the problems in L.A., I returned to the USA the same year, this time to tour another one of my favorite cities: Chicago.
Now that the year is complete, it's becoming clear to me that networking is the key to success in life. You make friends through networking, you make professional connections through networking and you may potentially meet your better half through networking. These three items are important to me so I intend to become an expert networker.
2007 will be a year that I want to look back on and remember as the year when I became professionally independent. I want to rely solely on myself in my professional life. I want to control what I do and how I do it. I want to ensure that I love what I do. Marqx C3 is the key to that. Creative Communications is what I want to do in life and the knowledge of that is in itself an achievement. Knowing what you want to do is no easy task, but I know that I want to spend my professional life with photography, graphic design and creative writing.
You may have read my prior blogs regarding running my life as a business. In my January 2005 post Pedro Marques Life Enterprises®, I proposed running my life as a corporation would run their operations. Defining goals at the beginning of each year, and attributing each of them into digestible Quarters has proven to be a resounding success. I have moved myself forward dramatically and have completed many of my life goals since then.
This year, I'm taking it a step forward and defining a title for each year that encompasses the priority for that year.
I'm looking forward to 2007, and declare it
2007: The Year of Networking & Professional Independence
2007 is shaping up to be a great year. Happy New Year!
My favorite part of the year is the dawn of a new one. It's a time to look back at my achievements of the previous year and define new goals for the year to come.
On the final days leading up to the end of the year, I looked at my goal list for 2006 and determined the balance of goals still left to complete. I mounted a frantic effort on a procrastination free week to complete some of my important goals.
In one fell swoop, I finished the post production on the Sweet Graffiti photo shoot, earned my Ontario driver's license (I've been holding a Portuguese license since I arrived in Canada), made a photo DVD to send to my family in Portugal, bought new furniture to organize my growing business documents and stationary, I registered my company, Marqx and won photography contracts to end 2006 on a very high note.
2006 started off with me hitting the ground running. I was determined to travel to several of my must see cities right from the entry into the year. I packed my bags and was off to San Francisco to see a Steve Jobs Apple keynote and tour the city I've many times considered living in. I went on a dream road trip down the California coast through mountains, 17 Mile drive, through Carmel valley, visiting One Infinity Loop (Apple HQ) in Cupertino, Monteray (and visiting the famous aquarium) to Santa Barbara and finally to L.A.
The dream ended in a nightmare when my car was broken into, my documents and computer stolen and thus began a frantic race to leave the country.
This event knocked the wind out of me for some time, pushed my goals back indefinitely and I went into crisis management mode. Soon, however, I was back on track but running into a chaotic stream of taking on challenges that despite the lack of planning, I could see were a key to the direction I wanted to take myself in.
It was only recently that I could take a breath and look back to notice that I had completed so much. I became an overnight event photographer and here I found my niche. It's something I love to do, that pays well and allows me to mold my schedule to do the other things that I love... that involves travelling. Despite the problems in L.A., I returned to the USA the same year, this time to tour another one of my favorite cities: Chicago.
Now that the year is complete, it's becoming clear to me that networking is the key to success in life. You make friends through networking, you make professional connections through networking and you may potentially meet your better half through networking. These three items are important to me so I intend to become an expert networker.
2007 will be a year that I want to look back on and remember as the year when I became professionally independent. I want to rely solely on myself in my professional life. I want to control what I do and how I do it. I want to ensure that I love what I do. Marqx C3 is the key to that. Creative Communications is what I want to do in life and the knowledge of that is in itself an achievement. Knowing what you want to do is no easy task, but I know that I want to spend my professional life with photography, graphic design and creative writing.
You may have read my prior blogs regarding running my life as a business. In my January 2005 post Pedro Marques Life Enterprises®, I proposed running my life as a corporation would run their operations. Defining goals at the beginning of each year, and attributing each of them into digestible Quarters has proven to be a resounding success. I have moved myself forward dramatically and have completed many of my life goals since then.
This year, I'm taking it a step forward and defining a title for each year that encompasses the priority for that year.
I'm looking forward to 2007, and declare it
2007: The Year of Networking & Professional Independence
2007 is shaping up to be a great year. Happy New Year!
