Never Ending Goals

[theBruiser500]

I can be lazy and recently started setting goals for myself. It's worked pretty well about making me work more on things I care about but it is also giving me a lot of stress. My goals are broad, to get good at piano, to get good at frisbee, to get good grades in my classes. They never end, if my goals are important then I can always get better and better at them, I can always take more and more time to practice piano or study for classes.

In that sense, I don't have any free time I can always work more and more on these goals. I've tried breaking it down into long term goals and then short term goals to acheive the long term ones with little success. Do you see what I'm getting at? Any advice on how to think about these goals in my head differently?

Personally, I admire your first goal. Setting the goals. I've spent a lot of my life re-acting, and not enough act-ing. Congratulations.

The few times I've ever sat my bony butt down, with the intention of setting goals, I made a classic mistake. I set too many. Someone told me I was "setting myself up for failure." They were right. I was accustomed to multi-tasking (before it was even a word) and running around putting out other people's fires. Thought I was Superman/Mighty Mouse rolled into one.

I'd suggest you just take a few at first. Achieve them and add more.

You've taken the first step on a long, long road.

G/L [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[mosquito]

A long term goal should be motivation in itself, else it is not worth pursuing.

However, setting intermediate goals that are easier to reach, targets if you will, could help you keep focus.

[Justin A]

There are some good books that tackle the subject of setting goals, usually business or sports type books. I don't know of any off hand, but I think a trip to the local bookstore might do you some good. There's a lot of info on effective goal setting out there.

[Dan Mezick]

Concentrate your focus on one well defined goal. Diffusing your focus across several unrelated goals never gets you there.

Set a goal. Break it down into component sub goals.

Then, don't even get out of bed unless and until getting out of bed hits 3 or more of those sub goals.

Test every activity of every day against the sub goals and avoid (RUN AWAY) from any activity that does not hit at least 3 of them.

Be a real jerk about this for 3 weeks and notice the intended results manifesting VERY quickly.

Run quickly towards activities that clearly address 3 or more sub goals.

As an aside...when you get good at this, you will find that deferring a candidate activity that is 'almost there' really pays off. Be discriminating. Say a candidate activity hits 2 goals now, but some other activities hit 3 now. Defer the hits-2 activity and do the hits-3 activity, Now.

Later that hits-2 activity will ripen and become a hits-3 because circumstances change. Now you can go and do it.

This overall idea is a key technique that can make you appear to be 3 times as productive as the typical person, who is by nature quite Random.

Test all activities that compete for your time against your short list of objectives. Give time only to those activities that are highly leveraged.

[theBruiser500]

"Then, don't even get out of bed unless and until getting out of bed hits 3 or more of those sub goals.

Test every activity of every day against the sub goals and avoid (RUN AWAY) from any activity that does not hit at least 3 of them. "

i'm nto sure what you mean by the first sentence, of this idea of one activity adressing multiple goals. for instance, if i play piano that just adresses one goal, getitng better at piano. if i study for class, that just adresses one goal of getting better grades. i can't really combine the two into practicing piano while i read a school book, not sure what you mean...

[Dan Mezick]

Pick one item. Then align your daily decisions with your intentions.

It appears your intentions include diffusing your available focus and power across several non-correlated and potentially opposing goals.

Begin to clarify your intentions by choosing one item and setting a specific date for intended, clearly defined results.

This may allow some serialization of goal-setting, and intended result-getting.

It appears your issue is non-correlated goals that may actually be in opposition to each other.

There is a theory that says this situation is actually your intention, or exactly "what you want". The assumption is that actual results are highly indicative of actual intentions. Central to this idea is the assumption that, whether you accept it or not, you are 100% responsible for all the results you are getting.

[Ulysses]

Make one of your goals "Have fun." Then, if you find yourself getting burned out while pursuing your other goals and feel too much stress and not enough free time for relaxation and fun, you can focus on the "Have fun" goal. "Bang lots of bitches" is a goal I think you should add as well.

[Lucky]

[ QUOTE ]
Make one of your goals "Have fun." Then, if you find yourself getting burned out while pursuing your other goals and feel too much stress and not enough free time for relaxation and fun, you can focus on the "Have fun" goal. "Bang lots of bitches" is a goal I think you should add as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

thats why he gets the money. nice post.

[MicroBob]

I dated a girl just after college who had a list of 100 'things to do' taped to her wall next to her bed.


They were fairly random and all over the place and some of them were clearly not going to be achieved (at least not in the near future) while others were something she needed to deal with that very day.

They ranged from:
1. Learn to play guitar
2. Learn a few basic phrases in at least 10 different phrases
3. Write a novel
4. Get published
5. Help someone around me improve their life for the better
6. Get at least a B in Econ
7. Fall in love with a cute boy
8. Wash the car
9. Live life with a purpose
10. Exercise more and lose 10 pounds
11. Smile more
12. pick up clothes at the dry-cleaners


I really don't know if compiling such a 'things to do' list is helpful in achieving one's goals....but I kind of liked the general idea.

It seems in line with what Diablo is saying.