• 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

  • 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....

  • Manufacturing Leadership Summit, Grand Rapids Michigan

    After a long pandemic hiatus from giving speeches in person, I was invited to be the in-person keynote speaker at The Right Place’s Manufacturing...

  • Writing my memoirs

    Today I asked myself, what do I want to have achieved in life by the time I’m 50? I wrote down all the major things I would be proud to have...

  • Hardy Group interview

    The Hardy Group invited me to speak with them about healthcare, robotics and leadership.  Here I am riffing about those topics!

  • Ogilvy

    A lot of successful entrepreneurs dropped out of school (Richard Branson) or university (Bill Gates).  But Ogilvy, who went on to become a famous ad...

  • Highlight reel and backstage

    When I became the Young Australian of the Year, I was so excited.  I had a glamorous ideal that my life would change completely!  It changed a lot – I...

  • In the news: Entrepreneurship in Australian universities

    My business partner Mark Parncutt was quoted in this article in StartUp Smart about the state of entrepreneurship in Australian universities.  Happy...

  • The stars won't align

    I was thinking and plotting and planning my startup. When to begin.  Was it too early?  Was the market ready?  Would I waste my time?  Would I waste my...

  • Love is...

    Spending long, snug evenings with your significant other. Making time to look after your family. Jesting, gabbing and chilling with friends. Building...

  • YouthActionNet Global Fellowship Summary of the Week

    YAN was an amazing experience.  I believe the more you put into something, the more you get out.  And so I put in as much of me as I could, and I had an...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top