Hey!
Maybe I got a little anxious when I signed up.
I have never participated in a forum before so I would just like to meet some new people.
I like your goals there! What kind of business do you have in mind? I currently have an internet business that is working well for me allowing me to travel and such. I am currently in New Zealand and I have been traveling for about 3 months. I started in Hawaii for 1 month then Tokyo, Japan.. Beijing, China.. Hong Kong, HK... Bangkok, Thailand.. Auckland, New Zealand.. next is Sydney, Aus. Traveling is not as hard as people think and it doesn't take as much money as people think in many cases. Find yourself a cheap flight and book your reservation in a hostel and your good to go. You will meet many people and you will be able to see the country for a good deal. I was living like a king in Bangkok and I spent maybe $600USD including private room at a hostel but not including the flight costs and I was there for about 1 month!
I was thinking although I wouldn't be in the group meeting just chatting with the group online and staying in touch and seeing how we can help each other out. I wont be home for about another 6+ months..
"Livin' a dream" as I like to say.
What you want to do for your middle east goal if you really want to make it a reality is decide where you want to go exactly and there could be more than one city. Remember that more flights equal more money but sometimes there are other methods of travel (i.e Train, Bus) or you could always go back at a later date. Sometimes you will realize the country isn't quite what you would expect, good or bad. Check out: LonelyPlanet.com and Travel.Yahoo.com for information on where to go, ratings, and cost related information of staying in the country can be found in the lonelyplanet site under each cities' "Practical Information" section. Then determine about how much a hostel will cost at Hostels.com if its not already included in the "Practical Information" section or if you have alot of money and/or you don't like socializing you can look for a hotel. Add up all your costs and figure out how long it will take for you to save that much money. Say you need $4,000 then can you save $500 per month? $250? Then decide how many months will it take you to hit $4,000 then just go for it. When I make goals what I find that helps is picking a date. For instance, write on your wall "I will go to XXXXX in the middle east in December of 2009". Make sure you can see it!
Do the same with the health goals as well, say you want to lose X pounds a month then how are you going to do that? You got to ask yourself these questions because things don't USUALLY magically happen. "How will I be changing myself to get to these goals that I want in X months?"
"The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work."
-- Vince Lombardi
How about this.. eating less to lose weight will save you money.. That money could go toward your trip to the middle east. To goals at once and working on one will be making the next one come true!!
Just some thoughts.
I started a thread to get a group together as well in the "Local Groups" section so maybe we can get something going.
Take care,
Jack