• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

Regaining focus

Published: Wednesday, 23 January 2013

During my time at Robogals, towards the end of every year, I would lose focus.

Why?  All my major projects for the year would have been wound up.  My goals were usually annual goals, so by December, I'd either have got there, or I wouldn't have.  And there usually wasn't much more I could do to change that by then.  So I'd be unmotivated and slow down.

But then I realised that I just needed new goals and plans for the upcoming year to motivate me and make me burst with excitement.  So I would create new goals that were challenging for me, things that were a step above things that I'd done before, so that I could learn many new skills.  This would make me super motivated and I would leap into action again.

In my final year of Robogals, I deliberately didn't sit down and do this, because I didn't want to get distracted creating new programmes.  Instead, I focused all my goals on succession, because I realised that the best thing I could do for Robogals in my last year was to set it up for the future so that many more people could create their own challenges and learn new skills from the organisation.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Day 6: Succession

      We spoke about our succession plans today.  We did a great activity:  if I were to leave Robogals on November 6, one month from now, what would I...

  • Everything is perfect

    Whatever anyone does, whatever anyone says, is aligned with how they see the world. And so decisions people make are always perfect for them in the...

  • Your work is never done

    When I started Robogals, I thought going to schools and teaching girls robotics should get more to choose physics, chemistry and advanced maths;...

  • Playing with robots

    Playing with robots in the office with Kyle van Dordrecht.  We timed ourselves putting a robotics kit together...  then we modified the kit.  

  • Make a wish!

    Go. Do it. Make a wish. Be wild! Be wise! Be audacious! How much does your wish cost? Can you afford it? Then pay and do it. You can’t? Calculate how...

  • Fetch Robotics

    I visited Fetch Robotics as part of a field trip for a Stanford course I took. Fetch Robotics sold to Zebra Technologies for $290 million in 2021....

  • Don't focus: search for something that sticks

    During my second to fourth years of university, I worked on Nudge, mew and Robogals.  I did various projects with all those initiatives over that...

  • NBN STEMpreneur

    The NBN Stempreneur Initiative is a virtual learning program for kids in eight regional schools. It shows young people the breadth of opportunities...

  • Do what's hard

    In Robogals, I always looked for the hardest possible thing to do.  And then I did it. Because I knew that if I could achieve that, then I would...

  • Holding a successful meeting

    Make sure everyone is clear about the meeting time and location. If you are the one hosting the meeting, show up. Woody Allen has a quote, “80% of...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top