7 ms·

Setting goals for 2021 – A brief guide about personal goal setting

176 points by jonmal 6y ago

weinzierl 6y ago
From what I get, this is focussed on SMART, which is good. For goals like the ones that are mentioned in the article ("Workout 3-5 times a week") what I found though, and what did wonders for me, was additionally considering the results of research in habit forming. Especially binding the activity to a trigger instead of a certain date and time was really effective.
- A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
  Can you elaborate on the trigger part? As many, I have established some goals for this year and it already feels like the existing habits are reclaiming their spots.
  - weinzierl 6y ago
    The following video might help. I references the papers it used as sources. I linked right to the part where it gets to the "events not times" topic. https://youtu.be/yv6L_xmjw5I?t=527 https://youtu.be/yv6L_xmjw5I?t=527
CommieDetector 6y ago
Goals are for losers, systems are for winners.
sweetheart 6y ago
Im not the type of person to worry about, or try to optimize for, productivity, because I think it can turn insidious or unhealthy quickly, but from the little that I _have_ read about goal setting and whatnot, this seems like a great explanation of how to quickly get started implementing a system for personal growth. Im glad that it wasn’t biased towards specific systems, but rather general concepts which anyone can implement however they like. This feels like non-bullshit content marketing. Well done, doit.
- jonmal 6y ago
  Thanks, glad that you liked it!
hawktheslayer 6y ago
I attended training at my work where they changed M to Motivating, and I use that with all of my employees' objectives. One might say that if it's Relevant then it should be motivating, but when I ask them if it's motivating I often get an honest no. I find if the person doesn't like the goal despite it being SMART, then they tend to avoid it. The other question I learned to ask for Attainable is "do you think there is an 80% chance or better you'll hit your date--if not it's good to dial the goal back.
- slsii 6y ago
  That’s a great suggestion. Thanks for sharing. Did you encounter problems with removing M for Measurable in that case?
  - hawktheslayer 6y ago
    I just rolled the metrics into Specific and it seems to work
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
zoba 6y ago
The post mentions Accountability Tools. I offer my services as an accountability coach. I’m geared towards helping coding project type goals, but, I’d help with most anything. If folks want help getting their projects across the finish line, I can (personally) help! https://coding-pal.com/ https://coding-pal.com/
- dhimes 6y ago
  Cool! I have a course online for time management and work-life balance. I'm an old guy and I know a few things (don't let the wordpress fool ya!). bizworklife.com
- afarrell 6y ago
  I think your URL is a fantastic choice and hints at what a lot of "accountability coaching" really is: Camaraderie An easily-imaginable person who acts as a reward model[1] you can imagine saying "yea! Make progress on the thing! You're on the right path[2]! Keep going." When you anticipate [social] rewards for an action, that action is motivating. If you watch Dr. Andrew Huberman's talks about the roles of Dopamine in the brain, he'll say it is not a signal of reward, but of anticipated reward. It does spike when you recognise a surprisingly strong reward, (like when you hit a jackpot or an unexpectedly interesting HN link) to help you learn to repeat the path to that reward[2], but mostly it signals "Yep, you're on the right path. Now go make that test green". [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYylPRX6z4Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYylPRX6z4Q [2] https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Dopamine-and-temporal-difference-learning-A-fruitful-relationship-between-neuroscience-and-AI https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Dopamine-and-temporal-diff...
segmondy 6y ago
Most people can set goals, follow through and completion is often where they get stuck. I don't blog, but if I did, "Completing goals for 2021" would be a nice one.
helmholtz 6y ago
Christ I hate the word 'overwhelm'. It's SO jarring. It's like when people say "I'm feeling melancholy". NO! You're feeling melancholic! You did something "on purpose" and not "purposely"! And the world is not full of overwhelm. It's full of emotional overload[1] perhaps. [1] https://www.dailywritingtips.com/overwhelm-is-a-verb-isnt-it/ https://www.dailywritingtips.com/overwhelm-is-a-verb-isnt-it...).
- irrational 6y ago
  Wouldn’t it be “I feel overwhelmed?”
  - helmholtz 6y ago
    Indeed, that would work too. But since the author was talking about the world as one... Also, to preempt other comments, I know that purposely is a word. I just hate the sound of it :)
- quesera 6y ago
  "Overwhelm" is a fine word. It just isn't a noun. From the post: > The world is full of overwhelm. This is a total grammar fail[1]. Ironic, perhaps, hopefully, but definitely unappealing. [1] Phrasing chosen purposely, purposefully, and also on purpose. Sorry!
- afarrell 6y ago
  Note that a person who is likely to feel that way is also likely to be less well-equipped to predict your specific preferences for how to express that.
  - helmholtz 6y ago
    Fair enough, although in writing such a post, the author does take up the mantle of having some kind of expertise in the first place that enables them to preach to others. As in, the advice presumably works for her to not feel overwhelmed. My comment is widely off-topic either way though.
- 6y ago
afarrell 6y ago
All of these present problems in different contexts Specific: This assumes that the picture you currently have of what you want is the thing you actually want. Do you want faster horse, a Model T, or swift reliable transportation of a form you've not yet imagined. Measurable: If you only value that which has a number, you'll lose sight of what truly matters in life because of the Streetlight Effect[1]. Consider the ridiculousness of the question "What NPS score would your children give you?" Attainable: There is a limit to the degree to which you can "be sure" of anything, especially without 2020 vision. Relevant: This requires really knowing what your values are so that you can practice the subtle art of not giving a fuck[2] about other things. Determining those can be hard emotionally-painful work, but in any context it is a good problem you want to have solved. Time Bound: Sometimes deadlines spur action, sometimes they paralyse or cause you to lose sleep. Sometimes, they are so far off in the future that you don't think about them until it is too late because you thought you could do them. If you're looking at a timescale longer than 6 weeks, consider instead that you might want a CGP-Grey style Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect [2] https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Subtle-Art-of-Not-Giving-a-F-ck-Audiobook/B01MG9416Z https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Subtle-Art-of-Not-Giving-a-... Highly recommend this to anyone who spends lots of time thinking about personal goal-setting.
- kritiko 6y ago
  All great points. Is there any research that SMART goals work or are they just a management fad / anecdotally useful?
  - lbotos 6y ago
    The point of SMART is that it's a framework to help you communicate your goals. They are often used in management because if someone says "i wanna build x" you and that person may have a different definition of what that means. If you agree on specifics and how you will measure done you've clearly communicated. If you can't communicate what you will deliver and by when how can someone know if you've done what you've set out to do? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal#Goal_setting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal#Goal_setting covers some empirical research. For example, 'purpose' can be nebulous, but a goal should be reasonably specific.
cosmojg 6y ago
CGP Grey has an excellent video on this exact kind of goal setting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO1mTELoj6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO1mTELoj6o And another on New Year's resolutions more generally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE
mr-wendel 6y ago
My contrarian take: 1) Write out your goals in the form of a personal letter to yourself. Focus on the things you think are making you unhappy, not what you think will make you happy. Read it out loud in private. After that, hide it away for a while where only you will find it. 2) Keep your goals private. Especially keep progress private. Trying to stop smoking/drinking? Folks will notice, but politely decline to answer that infamous "how long since...?" question. Don't externalize the rewards. 3) Focus on very small results. Find a way to make them stick. Build on that and in time you'll find that amounts to a LOT more progress and personal satisfaction. IMO build from the ground up and the fancy big goals will come more easily and naturally. You won't have to game it.
- serverholic 6y ago
  Definitely agree with #2, especially with big goals (or what they call BHAG in the article). Seriously, go around and tell people that you want to write a new york times best seller and see what kind of reactions you get lol. Talk about destroying your motivation quickly.
  - mr-wendel 6y ago
    I think it's a trap either way. The flip side can also be just as problematic. Having people sincerely wishing you the best, congratulating you on your initiative and dream-chasing tends makes it feel like you're doing something positive. All you've done, however, is talk about it and are already getting rewarded. That undermines real motivation to start/continue far too easily. Let those rewards come naturally and from within with actual progress.
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
      There was a discussion here on HN perhaps 8 or 10 years ago that led me to realize I was doing essentially that. I talked about getting in shape and other goals, and got an emotional high (of a sort) from the response I got and from thinking about what I would do to get in shape and be able to do once I was in shape. But I never followed through. Then I shut up about it, and actually got in shape. And when I ran into some people who I rarely saw, and they were shocked by my 40+ lb weight loss and how good I looked, I got that same emotional reward but also the actual reward of being in shape and being able to do the things I'd only imagined being able to do. Now I discuss what I'm doing with some like minded friends and we keep each other accountable (Hey, how's the running going? Made it a full 10k yet?). But I don't discuss it with other people in general unless it's brought up by them. A kind of happy-medium between the talk-too-much and just-shut-up-and-work modes of operation.
visviva 6y ago
I don't quite get the advice to come up with a "big hairy audacious goal (BHAG)" for one's self. It's one thing if one already has a personal BHAG, but going through a process to develop one as a personal goal seems almost... backwards to me. I would find it difficult, if not impossible, to come up with something so specific that "sums up" the way I'd like my life to turn out, but maybe that's just my personality.
stakkur 6y ago
Stop setting goals.
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  There's nothing wrong with setting goals. But you usually have to create a system to go along with the goals in order to achieve them. Having goals, though, can direct the systems you want to create for yourself. Goals (for me) over the past few years: 1. Be able to play 140 minutes of soccer in one go without wanting to die (or feeling like I would). 2. Be able to stop taking a statin. 3. Get my blood pressure down from 130 over 90 to a healthy level (not critically high, but worrisome high) 4. Become a better GM for my bi-weekly RPG games 5. Become a better whole-system software developer/designer Those are all goals I achieved, but in order to achieve them I established systems that enabled them. 1, 2, and 3 were created by a focus on always exercising MTWR, occasionally F (but that was left open for social events) and of specifically going to the grocery and shopping in specific sections (stay on the perimeter, ignore most aisles) and cooking at home. 4 was achieved by creating a habit of increasing fiction/RPG book reading and setting aside time to draw up/write down material for sessions so it was less improvised, but the fiction reading also gave inspiration for better improvisation. I also explicitly asked for feedback about sessions rather than letting players stew and be pissed at me because I made something too hard or seemed to be targeting a specific player. 5 was achieved by a similar approach, though around creating personal projects and reading technical content and carving out the time to do it. Creating various short term objectives (like being back in school) that would exercise specific areas I felt I was weak in, along with soliciting feedback from others (peers and managers).
  - stakkur 6y ago
    Most of what you're describing is habits and systems, not goals--and that's what I'm saying, too. James Clear's article here espouses what I'm talking about: https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
      Well, I am setting goals, but I'm specifically creating systems to enable achieving and sustaining those goals. That's my point. Systems aren't better than goals, and goals aren't contradictory to systems. They feed on each other. Goals are motivation to create systems, systems are mechanisms to achieve goals. Goals can also be "repeated" goals. Like my fitness example, I didn't want to make it through 140 minutes of soccer on just one Saturday (this is a problem with "I want to run a marathon" goals, it's a singular achievement). I wanted to do that every Saturday throughout the season so the system enabled perpetuating that ability throughout the years.
lazyant 6y ago
Process beats goals. Don't set a goal of running a marathon or losing x pounds/Kgs but rather run every day x distance and eat / don't eat every day x healthy food / y unhealthy food. Once a process or habit is in place, you can look at goals and more ambitious processes. Small goals are good to start with and having huge life goals is fine (having a "purpose").
amysox 6y ago
Here's the question I struggle with: How do you set "goals" when you don't know what you want? I have been stymied by this time and time again. If you don't know what you want to accomplish, how do you set any "goals"?
- wsinks 6y ago
  Goal 1: Figure out what I want. SMART Goal: Spend 30 mins on Sunday researching what new thing I will try that week. During that 30 minutes, identify the smallest reason why I find that thing interesting. Repeat for 8 weeks. I'm currently in this stage. :D
- Jtsummers 6y ago
  I have few long term goals, primarily health/fitness (now at the sustainment phase of this) and financial (to be able to properly retire without needing supplemental income). Most of my goals are near-to-medium term. I base them off of things I want/need to do but cannot for some reason. I cannot, presently, understand the systems at work to the extent I want to (astrodynamics, satellites and such; calc, linear, and physics are 15 years in my past). So I'm deliberately setting aside time to study and practice those topics to enable my understanding of astrodynamics and what we do at work. I don't intend to master it (that is, to the extent of the literal rocket scientists in the office), and I don't know that I'll need or use it after this current position. But I do want/need to know it now so I've established goals around it. I want to make furniture, and have the ability to do decent work. I took some courses and enjoyed it, and demonstrated to myself I wasn't incompetent at it. But I have no equipment in my home to do it. So I'm setting aside money to buy some basic equipment, and planning to set aside time to spend on it once I do. What, in your life, is currently blocked from you or are you not at your desired level? Create near-term goals to remove the blockers or achieve your desired capability/level. If you start to make a habit out of thinking this way and developing routines and systems to enable these goals, it may become easier to make long term ones. Or you may never really make long term goals, we don't all need them.
- Torwald 6y ago
  You set a goal "find out what I want" and start working on that goal on a daily basis. The OP lost me at "SMART" which is the very first word in his article. SMART goals are not smart. They stem from "management by objectives" and are not a good way for individual personal goal setting. Personal goals develop as you work on them. I recommend Mark Forster's SOPP book on more of this: https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/1820695/secrets-of-productive-people/mark-forster/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/1820695/secrets-of-product... (not affiliated)
oumua_don17 6y ago
>> 'I want to spend an hour of time a day with my child' is both specific and measurable. This is probably not a goal but a system and systems are much preferable to goals. This has been discussed elsewhere and I personally prefer to have systems than goals. I have still not reached a stage where I can define systems without a goal as a starting point. Even then I let the system make the goal fade into the background and eventually make it invisible/irrelevant. The key difference is systems eliminate the end stage of a goal and the resulting emptiness after completing a goal.
fokinsean 6y ago
> The act of simply showing up, no matter how you feel or what else you need to do, is hugely powerful. Anthony Trollope was a prolific English novelist who published 47 novels while maintaining a “regular” full-time job. He did this by committing to write 250 words every 15 minutes every single day. He did that every day, without fail, and achieved amazing results. How the hell does one write 250 words every 15 mins every day while having a job.

176 points by jonmal 6y ago

From what I get, this is focussed on SMART, which is good. For goals like the ones that are mentioned in the article ("Workout 3-5 times a week") what I found though, and what did wonders for me, was additionally considering the results of research in habit forming. Especially binding the activity to a trigger instead of a certain date and time was really effective.

A4ET8a8uTh0 6y ago
Can you elaborate on the trigger part? As many, I have established some goals for this year and it already feels like the existing habits are reclaiming their spots.
- weinzierl 6y ago
  The following video might help. I references the papers it used as sources. I linked right to the part where it gets to the "events not times" topic. https://youtu.be/yv6L_xmjw5I?t=527 https://youtu.be/yv6L_xmjw5I?t=527

CommieDetector 6y ago

Goals are for losers, systems are for winners.

sweetheart 6y ago

Im not the type of person to worry about, or try to optimize for, productivity, because I think it can turn insidious or unhealthy quickly, but from the little that I _have_ read about goal setting and whatnot, this seems like a great explanation of how to quickly get started implementing a system for personal growth. Im glad that it wasn’t biased towards specific systems, but rather general concepts which anyone can implement however they like. This feels like non-bullshit content marketing. Well done, doit.

jonmal 6y ago
Thanks, glad that you liked it!

hawktheslayer 6y ago

I attended training at my work where they changed M to Motivating, and I use that with all of my employees' objectives. One might say that if it's Relevant then it should be motivating, but when I ask them if it's motivating I often get an honest no. I find if the person doesn't like the goal despite it being SMART, then they tend to avoid it. The other question I learned to ask for Attainable is "do you think there is an 80% chance or better you'll hit your date--if not it's good to dial the goal back.

slsii 6y ago
That’s a great suggestion. Thanks for sharing. Did you encounter problems with removing M for Measurable in that case?
- hawktheslayer 6y ago
  I just rolled the metrics into Specific and it seems to work
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

zoba 6y ago

The post mentions Accountability Tools. I offer my services as an accountability coach. I’m geared towards helping coding project type goals, but, I’d help with most anything. If folks want help getting their projects across the finish line, I can (personally) help! https://coding-pal.com/ https://coding-pal.com/

dhimes 6y ago
Cool! I have a course online for time management and work-life balance. I'm an old guy and I know a few things (don't let the wordpress fool ya!). bizworklife.com
afarrell 6y ago
I think your URL is a fantastic choice and hints at what a lot of "accountability coaching" really is: Camaraderie An easily-imaginable person who acts as a reward model[1] you can imagine saying "yea! Make progress on the thing! You're on the right path[2]! Keep going." When you anticipate [social] rewards for an action, that action is motivating. If you watch Dr. Andrew Huberman's talks about the roles of Dopamine in the brain, he'll say it is not a signal of reward, but of anticipated reward. It does spike when you recognise a surprisingly strong reward, (like when you hit a jackpot or an unexpectedly interesting HN link) to help you learn to repeat the path to that reward[2], but mostly it signals "Yep, you're on the right path. Now go make that test green". [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYylPRX6z4Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYylPRX6z4Q [2] https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Dopamine-and-temporal-difference-learning-A-fruitful-relationship-between-neuroscience-and-AI https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Dopamine-and-temporal-diff...

segmondy 6y ago

Most people can set goals, follow through and completion is often where they get stuck. I don't blog, but if I did, "Completing goals for 2021" would be a nice one.

helmholtz 6y ago

Christ I hate the word 'overwhelm'. It's SO jarring. It's like when people say "I'm feeling melancholy". NO! You're feeling melancholic! You did something "on purpose" and not "purposely"! And the world is not full of overwhelm. It's full of emotional overload[1] perhaps. [1] https://www.dailywritingtips.com/overwhelm-is-a-verb-isnt-it/ https://www.dailywritingtips.com/overwhelm-is-a-verb-isnt-it...).

irrational 6y ago
Wouldn’t it be “I feel overwhelmed?”
- helmholtz 6y ago
  Indeed, that would work too. But since the author was talking about the world as one... Also, to preempt other comments, I know that purposely is a word. I just hate the sound of it :)
quesera 6y ago
"Overwhelm" is a fine word. It just isn't a noun. From the post: > The world is full of overwhelm. This is a total grammar fail[1]. Ironic, perhaps, hopefully, but definitely unappealing. [1] Phrasing chosen purposely, purposefully, and also on purpose. Sorry!
afarrell 6y ago
Note that a person who is likely to feel that way is also likely to be less well-equipped to predict your specific preferences for how to express that.
- helmholtz 6y ago
  Fair enough, although in writing such a post, the author does take up the mantle of having some kind of expertise in the first place that enables them to preach to others. As in, the advice presumably works for her to not feel overwhelmed. My comment is widely off-topic either way though.
6y ago

afarrell 6y ago

All of these present problems in different contexts Specific: This assumes that the picture you currently have of what you want is the thing you actually want. Do you want faster horse, a Model T, or swift reliable transportation of a form you've not yet imagined. Measurable: If you only value that which has a number, you'll lose sight of what truly matters in life because of the Streetlight Effect[1]. Consider the ridiculousness of the question "What NPS score would your children give you?" Attainable: There is a limit to the degree to which you can "be sure" of anything, especially without 2020 vision. Relevant: This requires really knowing what your values are so that you can practice the subtle art of not giving a fuck[2] about other things. Determining those can be hard emotionally-painful work, but in any context it is a good problem you want to have solved. Time Bound: Sometimes deadlines spur action, sometimes they paralyse or cause you to lose sleep. Sometimes, they are so far off in the future that you don't think about them until it is too late because you thought you could do them. If you're looking at a timescale longer than 6 weeks, consider instead that you might want a CGP-Grey style Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect [2] https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Subtle-Art-of-Not-Giving-a-F-ck-Audiobook/B01MG9416Z https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Subtle-Art-of-Not-Giving-a-... Highly recommend this to anyone who spends lots of time thinking about personal goal-setting.

kritiko 6y ago
All great points. Is there any research that SMART goals work or are they just a management fad / anecdotally useful?
- lbotos 6y ago
  The point of SMART is that it's a framework to help you communicate your goals. They are often used in management because if someone says "i wanna build x" you and that person may have a different definition of what that means. If you agree on specifics and how you will measure done you've clearly communicated. If you can't communicate what you will deliver and by when how can someone know if you've done what you've set out to do? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal#Goal_setting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal#Goal_setting covers some empirical research. For example, 'purpose' can be nebulous, but a goal should be reasonably specific.

cosmojg 6y ago

CGP Grey has an excellent video on this exact kind of goal setting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO1mTELoj6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO1mTELoj6o And another on New Year's resolutions more generally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVGuFdX5guE

mr-wendel 6y ago

My contrarian take: 1) Write out your goals in the form of a personal letter to yourself. Focus on the things you think are making you unhappy, not what you think will make you happy. Read it out loud in private. After that, hide it away for a while where only you will find it. 2) Keep your goals private. Especially keep progress private. Trying to stop smoking/drinking? Folks will notice, but politely decline to answer that infamous "how long since...?" question. Don't externalize the rewards. 3) Focus on very small results. Find a way to make them stick. Build on that and in time you'll find that amounts to a LOT more progress and personal satisfaction. IMO build from the ground up and the fancy big goals will come more easily and naturally. You won't have to game it.

serverholic 6y ago
Definitely agree with #2, especially with big goals (or what they call BHAG in the article). Seriously, go around and tell people that you want to write a new york times best seller and see what kind of reactions you get lol. Talk about destroying your motivation quickly.
- mr-wendel 6y ago
  I think it's a trap either way. The flip side can also be just as problematic. Having people sincerely wishing you the best, congratulating you on your initiative and dream-chasing tends makes it feel like you're doing something positive. All you've done, however, is talk about it and are already getting rewarded. That undermines real motivation to start/continue far too easily. Let those rewards come naturally and from within with actual progress.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    There was a discussion here on HN perhaps 8 or 10 years ago that led me to realize I was doing essentially that. I talked about getting in shape and other goals, and got an emotional high (of a sort) from the response I got and from thinking about what I would do to get in shape and be able to do once I was in shape. But I never followed through. Then I shut up about it, and actually got in shape. And when I ran into some people who I rarely saw, and they were shocked by my 40+ lb weight loss and how good I looked, I got that same emotional reward but also the actual reward of being in shape and being able to do the things I'd only imagined being able to do. Now I discuss what I'm doing with some like minded friends and we keep each other accountable (Hey, how's the running going? Made it a full 10k yet?). But I don't discuss it with other people in general unless it's brought up by them. A kind of happy-medium between the talk-too-much and just-shut-up-and-work modes of operation.

visviva 6y ago

I don't quite get the advice to come up with a "big hairy audacious goal (BHAG)" for one's self. It's one thing if one already has a personal BHAG, but going through a process to develop one as a personal goal seems almost... backwards to me. I would find it difficult, if not impossible, to come up with something so specific that "sums up" the way I'd like my life to turn out, but maybe that's just my personality.

stakkur 6y ago

Stop setting goals.

Jtsummers 6y ago
There's nothing wrong with setting goals. But you usually have to create a system to go along with the goals in order to achieve them. Having goals, though, can direct the systems you want to create for yourself. Goals (for me) over the past few years: 1. Be able to play 140 minutes of soccer in one go without wanting to die (or feeling like I would). 2. Be able to stop taking a statin. 3. Get my blood pressure down from 130 over 90 to a healthy level (not critically high, but worrisome high) 4. Become a better GM for my bi-weekly RPG games 5. Become a better whole-system software developer/designer Those are all goals I achieved, but in order to achieve them I established systems that enabled them. 1, 2, and 3 were created by a focus on always exercising MTWR, occasionally F (but that was left open for social events) and of specifically going to the grocery and shopping in specific sections (stay on the perimeter, ignore most aisles) and cooking at home. 4 was achieved by creating a habit of increasing fiction/RPG book reading and setting aside time to draw up/write down material for sessions so it was less improvised, but the fiction reading also gave inspiration for better improvisation. I also explicitly asked for feedback about sessions rather than letting players stew and be pissed at me because I made something too hard or seemed to be targeting a specific player. 5 was achieved by a similar approach, though around creating personal projects and reading technical content and carving out the time to do it. Creating various short term objectives (like being back in school) that would exercise specific areas I felt I was weak in, along with soliciting feedback from others (peers and managers).
- stakkur 6y ago
  Most of what you're describing is habits and systems, not goals--and that's what I'm saying, too. James Clear's article here espouses what I'm talking about: https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    Well, I am setting goals, but I'm specifically creating systems to enable achieving and sustaining those goals. That's my point. Systems aren't better than goals, and goals aren't contradictory to systems. They feed on each other. Goals are motivation to create systems, systems are mechanisms to achieve goals. Goals can also be "repeated" goals. Like my fitness example, I didn't want to make it through 140 minutes of soccer on just one Saturday (this is a problem with "I want to run a marathon" goals, it's a singular achievement). I wanted to do that every Saturday throughout the season so the system enabled perpetuating that ability throughout the years.

lazyant 6y ago

Process beats goals. Don't set a goal of running a marathon or losing x pounds/Kgs but rather run every day x distance and eat / don't eat every day x healthy food / y unhealthy food. Once a process or habit is in place, you can look at goals and more ambitious processes. Small goals are good to start with and having huge life goals is fine (having a "purpose").

amysox 6y ago

Here's the question I struggle with: How do you set "goals" when you don't know what you want? I have been stymied by this time and time again. If you don't know what you want to accomplish, how do you set any "goals"?

wsinks 6y ago
Goal 1: Figure out what I want. SMART Goal: Spend 30 mins on Sunday researching what new thing I will try that week. During that 30 minutes, identify the smallest reason why I find that thing interesting. Repeat for 8 weeks. I'm currently in this stage. :D
Jtsummers 6y ago
I have few long term goals, primarily health/fitness (now at the sustainment phase of this) and financial (to be able to properly retire without needing supplemental income). Most of my goals are near-to-medium term. I base them off of things I want/need to do but cannot for some reason. I cannot, presently, understand the systems at work to the extent I want to (astrodynamics, satellites and such; calc, linear, and physics are 15 years in my past). So I'm deliberately setting aside time to study and practice those topics to enable my understanding of astrodynamics and what we do at work. I don't intend to master it (that is, to the extent of the literal rocket scientists in the office), and I don't know that I'll need or use it after this current position. But I do want/need to know it now so I've established goals around it. I want to make furniture, and have the ability to do decent work. I took some courses and enjoyed it, and demonstrated to myself I wasn't incompetent at it. But I have no equipment in my home to do it. So I'm setting aside money to buy some basic equipment, and planning to set aside time to spend on it once I do. What, in your life, is currently blocked from you or are you not at your desired level? Create near-term goals to remove the blockers or achieve your desired capability/level. If you start to make a habit out of thinking this way and developing routines and systems to enable these goals, it may become easier to make long term ones. Or you may never really make long term goals, we don't all need them.
Torwald 6y ago
You set a goal "find out what I want" and start working on that goal on a daily basis. The OP lost me at "SMART" which is the very first word in his article. SMART goals are not smart. They stem from "management by objectives" and are not a good way for individual personal goal setting. Personal goals develop as you work on them. I recommend Mark Forster's SOPP book on more of this: https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/1820695/secrets-of-productive-people/mark-forster/ https://www.ebooks.com/en-us/book/1820695/secrets-of-product... (not affiliated)

oumua_don17 6y ago

>> 'I want to spend an hour of time a day with my child' is both specific and measurable. This is probably not a goal but a system and systems are much preferable to goals. This has been discussed elsewhere and I personally prefer to have systems than goals. I have still not reached a stage where I can define systems without a goal as a starting point. Even then I let the system make the goal fade into the background and eventually make it invisible/irrelevant. The key difference is systems eliminate the end stage of a goal and the resulting emptiness after completing a goal.

fokinsean 6y ago

> The act of simply showing up, no matter how you feel or what else you need to do, is hugely powerful. Anthony Trollope was a prolific English novelist who published 47 novels while maintaining a “regular” full-time job. He did this by committing to write 250 words every 15 minutes every single day. He did that every day, without fail, and achieved amazing results. How the hell does one write 250 words every 15 mins every day while having a job.