Benjamin Lowy/Getty Images
Georgia politician and voter rights activist Stacey Abrams has been using a spreadsheet to document her life goals since the age of 18.
"I realized that I'd been so focused as a young person on titles," Abrams told Business Insider. "That's one of the reasons I've always gone back to the spreadsheet, because part of it is not just to anchor titles that I want, it is to think about the work I wanted to do."
Abrams spoke to Business Insider about fighting against voter suppression with her organization Fair Fight, producing a CBS drama based on her novel "Never Tell," and her advice for young black female politicians.
In college, Georgia politician Stacey Abrams created a spreadsheet to plan her life goals. More than 25 years later, she is still using that same spreadsheet.
"When I was 18, I spent an evening in our college computer lab, the fluorescent lights crackling overhead reflecting off the near-green screen," Stacey Abrams wrote in her memoir "Lead From the Outside." "In the lab that night, I created a spreadsheet. The Lotus 1-2-3 document laid out my life plans for the next 40 years. Seriously."
For Abrams, goal-setting with a spreadsheet — including columns for the year, her age, her desired job, and tasks — helped her envision what she wanted to achieve and begin creating a concrete roadmap to get there.
At age 18, Abrams' goals included writing a best-selling spy novel by age 24, being a millionaire running a corporation by age 30, and becoming the mayor of Atlanta by age 35. Abrams' inspiration for writing a goals spreadsheet was John D. Rockerfeller — who she had read kept detailed lists of his goals — but the impetus was her college boyfriend who had suddenly broken up with her. Instead of wallowing over the breakup, Abrams got serious about plotting her future, and she put it all in a spreadsheet.
Abrams' turn towards introspection and goal-setting has paid off big time. She's even accomplished versions of the very goals she set as a teenager: Abrams has written eight romantic suspense novels (one of which will be turned into a CBS drama), cofounded the financial services company Nowaccount Network Corporation, and served as minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives.
Abrams was the first black woman to be nominated by any major party to run for governor. She ran for the position in Georgia in 2018 and lost in an extremely close election in which Abrams says voter suppression played a role.
Business Insider spoke with Stacey Abrams about her thoughts on goal setting, voter suppression, and her advice for young black female politicians.
Here's a look at Stacey Abrams' goals spreadsheet
Stacey AbramsAbrams on the value of maintaining a career goals spreadsheet for more than 25 years
Michael A. McCoy/AP Images
"What I want people to understand about the spreadsheet is not that it's a task list that I must be X by Y date," Abrams said.
"It is much more of a guide map that says, here are the things that I want, here's why I want it. And it helps me concretize the steps necessary," she said. "Because, without that anchor of, here are the steps between where you are and where you want to be, people often wander. My goal is to give myself a bit more of a GPS directional path."
Abrams set a goal at age 18 to become mayor of Atlanta
Paras Griffin/Getty Images
"At the time I wrote the spreadsheet, there had never been an African American woman to serve in any higher office than mayor, other than Congress — there had never been a woman senator, there had never been a woman governor, or a woman president, and certainly not a black woman," Abrams said.
Writing down her goal of becoming mayor on the spreadsheet led Abrams to take concrete steps towards achieving her goal. She knew she would have to get to know the city of Atlanta and learn how government works, so she attended city council meetings. Eventually, she was hired by the city.
"Each time I had a new step, my approach was to go back to the spreadsheet and really think about: what does this mean, how does it fit in, and what can I do with this new opportunity to make certain I'm still focused on my ultimate goal," Abrams said.
Abrams leaves room for career spontaneity and focuses on work instead of titles
Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters
Abrams told The New York Times in August that she "would be honored to be considered by any nominee" in the 2020 presidential race, which suggested she is open to serving as vice president to a democratic candidate. Business Insider asked Abrams how she makes room for career spontaneity, like a potential vice presidential offer.
"Part of the spontaneity is to always harken back to the 'why' of what you're doing," Abrams said. "What my spreadsheet helps me do is to remember the 'why' — the 'what' can change."
Abrams explained that a career opportunity may not present itself under the title you had originally envisioned. For example, she ultimately did not run for mayor, despite her spreadsheet goal at age 18, because she focused on the work she wanted to do separate from the title.
"When I realized that I'd been so focused as a young person on titles, I really hadn't given myself the space to think about why did I want this job," Abrams said. "That's one of the reasons I've always gone back to the spreadsheet, because part of it is not just to anchor titles that I want, it is to think about the work I wanted to do."
"Instead of running for mayor, I ran for state legislature, and then for governor. And when that didn't work out, I thought through what jobs would help me, again, do the work I want to do," Abrams said.
Abrams is fighting against voter suppression, and she's passionate about getting people involved with voting rights advocacy in 2020
Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Abrams is currently running her organization Fair Fight, which is championing fair elections in her home state of Georgia and the country while educating voters about their rights.
The second piece of the puzzle is Fair Fight 2020, which Abrams describes as the organization's nationalized, more political approach to addressing voting rights and fair elections in 20 states.
"Part of what Fair Fight is looking at is not just fighting back against voter suppression, but our core mission has always been, how do we expand voter access?" Abrams said.
The issue of voter suppression is important to Abrams, as it impacted the gubernatorial election that she lost in Georgia in 2018: 1.4 million voters were purged from the voting rolls, 53,000 votes weren't processed, and thousands of voters were given provisional ballots, Abrams told The New York Times Magazine in April.
"We've been very aggressive about encouraging local government to expand their voting rights apparatuses; I think that's something that local citizens can do," Abrams said.
"We keep waiting for action on the federal level and sometimes at the state level, but we forget that cities and counties often have some say over how they will engage," Abrams explained. "I encourage folks to think about, how local can you be with your work? Can you volunteer to be a poll worker or poll observer? Can you work with a registration organization in your community?"
"You don't have to live in a state that faces voter suppression to be able to help," Abrams said. Virtual phone banks and text banks are one way citizens in other states can help. Abrams gave the example of a virtual phone and text bank that Fair Fight ran, which had participants from around the country — in New York, Texas, and Tennessee — helping to notify 300,000 Georgians at risk of being purged from the voter rolls.
Abrams will be producing a CBS drama based on her novel "Never Tell"
Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images
In November, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Abrams would be producing a CBS drama based on her novel "Never Tell" about a professor and a journalist who work on cases for the New Orleans police department.
"One thing I want people to understand about this spreadsheet is that it wasn't just about political goals," Abrams said. "I tried to think about the different dimensions of my life and how I could be successful and accomplish and achieve the things I wanted."
That included writing novels. Her intention at 18 was to become a best-selling spy novelist. Under the pen name Selena Montgomery, Abrams has written eight romantic suspense novels.
Abrams on not achieving every goal and becoming an entrepreneur
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
"Part of my goal was to be a millionaire by 30 — completely missed the mark there," Abrams chuckled. "But, because I thought about how I could engage in entrepreneurial ventures, how I could create financial opportunity for myself, I became an entrepreneur."
Abrams cofounded Nowaccount Network Corporation, a financial services company that Abrams said is "doing exceptionally well." Abrams is currently a chief shareholder.
"Because of the spreadsheet I was able to really put into context my mission of financial security and financial capacity," Abrams said. 'This allowed me to be more open to opportunity."
"So whether it was starting a financial company or being able to take the work, my writing, and monetize it not only as a book but also as a television series, these are real opportunities that I also included in that spreadsheet because it helps me continue to look at and think about what are the multiple pathways that can go from the core of who I am and what I do," Abrams said.
Abrams on deciding to pass on a run for Senate
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
"That spreadsheet helped me really think about the fact that I didn't want to run for Senate because the Senate could not do, in the way I like to operate, the work I wanted to do," Abrams said.
Abrams told The New York Times in August that her current focus is fighting voter suppression and setting the stage for fair elections in 2020.
"I declined to run to the Senate because that's not the job that I want to do," Abrams told Business Insider. "It's a fantastic opportunity, but also if you run because you think you should and not because you want to, it becomes incredibly difficult to win or to even do the work."
The three things Abrams would tell young black women considering a run for office
Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
"One, it's going to require money, and learning how to raise money is a skill. It's a skill like learning the law, and you've got to learn that skill and understand it. Two, run when you're ready. Don't wait for someone to ask — call yourself. And then three, when you run, make sure you're running for the job you want, not the job you think you should want," Abrams said.
Read the original article on Business Insider