Goal Setting: Planning and Keeping Your Mouth SHUT
Make sure you watch this video first. Tt’s barely over 3 minutes long. I’ll get into the content of it in a second.
This weekend has been rather uneventful, in that I didn’t have a ton of stuff to do, so I kind of sat around, answered some emails, meditated, and chilled out for a change. It was kind of nice.
I also took the time to review my old goal sheet that I created almost exactly a year ago.
This particular sheet was formatted nicely using Word, printed off and laminated for safe keeping. I actually wrote out the goals while I was spending time with one of my friends in Los Angeles last August.
As I review the sheet, it’s pretty damn awesome to see how I’ve accomplished some of these goals.
Some of the goals started out as joint goals – stuff that he and I would work on weekly, including Skype calls and accountability. Needless to say it was a commitment we just couldn’t keep.
And then I have the goals I completely missed, or just didn’t put much effort into.
So here’s what I did today.
I sat down and wrote a new list of goals but instead of putting a 1 year mark on them, I made 6 month goals instead. This way, the timeline is cut in half, and I’m more realistic of what I can accomplish in 6 months as opposed to a year.
However, the time frame is fairly unimportant. The most important thing about these goals is that I remain consistent.
When I look at what I accomplished, consistency was always the common factor. In fact, it’s like blogging. Last week, I said I found it funny, I’m making a career out of being a writer.
Next month, JCDFitness will be 4 years old. I’ve been at this writing thing for 4 years!
Anyway.
Here’s What I’m Doing Different
I’m not going to tell a ton of people like I have in the past. After watching that video, reviewing various sources, and my personal thoughts on the matter of sharing goals publicly, I’m gonna skip on that this time. The only way I’ll reveal what I’ve been working on here is when I complete them.
The only person I’ve shared my goals with are my friend in LA, whom I emailed a copy this morning.
Also, I don’t have a HUGE list of goals. I simply have 4.
3 of them are daily habits I’m building and 1 of them is actually a 6 month goal I’m pushing really hard for, but there’s not a deadline. I just want to hit it, no matter what – even if it takes me a year. I just set a 6 month time limit on it because I think I can do it in that time frame.
The 3 habit-related goals will be checked on every month and thoroughly assessed at the 6 month mark.
I will admit, I’m pretty tempted to tell people about this, but I won’t. I will keep my mouth shut, and plug away on a daily basis.
As a result of this, my morning habits will likely change. I’m gonna start getting to bed before midnight, and being out of bed before 8 a.m. every morning.
If you’d like a tool for setting your goals, you can use this web application:
http://www.Gtdagenda.com
You can use it to manage your goals, projects and tasks, set next actions and contexts, use checklists, and a calendar.
Syncs with Evernote and Google Calendar, and also comes with mobile version, and Android and iPhone apps.
I like Leo Babauta’s articles on having no goals. I remember last summer I had a huge list of goals and I was going to email it to 30 people to keep me “Accountable.” I have little or no passion for most of them now and I would look like a complete asshat if I actually hit send.