Gotta Get Goals: Looks Like I’m It

I’ve been tagged by Susan Cartier Liebel to participate in Alex Shalman’s Gotta Get Goals challenge that’s wending its way around the blogosphere.  Like Chuck Newton, I tend to be more of a dreamer than a planner.  That’s not to say that my ideas never come to fruition, or that I meander aimlessly, but I’ve never really charted a strategy or course of action to bring me from an idea to reality, and actually followed it through from start to finish.  So at the very least, this exercise has lead me to wonder whether one of my goals ought to be setting more goals.

As for my other ideas or goals, I’ve listed the ones that I’m willing to share right now (some are proprietary, others too embarrassing, for prime time):

1.  Argue a case before the Supreme Court.  I see that I share this goal with Inspired Solo.  For a long time, I thought that a Supreme Court case might come my way through serendipitous accident, but now with so many lawyers eager for a ticket to the high court, I think that I may have to engage in some active planning to figure out how to get there as well.

2.  Work on a death penalty appeal and/or reverse a wrongful conviction.

3.  Live abroad for a year with my family.

4.  Come up with at least one killer app that will change the way law is practiced and make millions!

5.  Go to medical school, or more realistically nursing school.  I’ve never believed that I was cut out for one career, and I think in many ways, law and medicine are analogous in that both professions find ways to solve people’s problems.  This is a longer term goal, at least five more years out, and by that time, I’m not sure whether I’ll have the energy for a residency, which is why nursing is the more attainable goal.

6.  Pay for my daughters’ college education without taking out loans (but of course, requiring my daughters them work (or start their own business) during school and the summer to pay for their own books and personal expenses)

Anyway, that’s what I’m willing to share for now.  I’m tagging Jennifer Rose and David Leffler, Nicole Black, Bob Kraft and Allison Shields.

3 Comments

  1. Chuck Newton on April 12, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    I have four children. Three in college or law school in August. I am not the most successful lawyer financially. But, having practice consumer bankruptcy law in the past I know what debt does. My one great hope (if not a goal) has been to somehow squeeze by and get my kids through collect and/or professional school without any debt. That is really what I want to be my gift to them. They might not appreciate it now, but I hope they will later. I have witnessed so many attorneys (and I am sure other professionals) who cannot do what they want to do, or have to forgo opportunities, because of debt like student loans. To try and make this work, I have insisted that my children go to public universities (although there choice), and work as they can. It does not help when Texas Universities are raising tuition 10% to 14% a year. But, we are going to try.
    Maybe I should have been a rich energy attorney? But, we Texans don’t know nothing but oil wells.



  2. Ben on April 12, 2007 at 7:15 pm

    Interesting goals. I’m sort of working backwards from two of your goals, which interests me. I was in the medical field (not a physician) for a few years, and then decided that as interesting as it was I would probably be better at law, which I am pursuing now. Also, I am currently living abroad with my wife, something we will be doing until late 2008.
    Good luck with all of your goals. I love your blog.



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