Anybody else have problems planning goals?
Hey guys I am trying to take a stab at something,
I find that I frequently come up with things I would like to accomplish such as starting a business, learning a language, getting more physically fit, making money, etc. But these goals are technically not well-defined. They are somewhat arbitrary.
When I say I want to "get more physically fit," there is nothing that displays when I have accomplished the goal. If I do one more pushup have I technically accomplished that goal? I did in fact do something that makes my muscles stronger. But I would probably not accept that I have become more physically fit. So when defining the goal itself I have found that it should be very specific and that helps with completing the goal. "I want to run 3 miles every day for the next month" is a better goal since I know when I attained the goal, and there is a deadline.
Now that would be easy to track with most habit tracker apps. Just check off that each day you accomplished running 3 miles each day. But there are things that are much more arbitrary or hard to define.
For example, I have a goal to "become a millionaire," it's well-defined since I have something to obtain. But the stuff on the way to becoming a millionaire is poorly defined and I can't tell if I am getting closer easily, or set out goals for myself to get closer to being a millionaire.
I think a problem such as this might be solved by setting milestones. Like in video games they have level systems and when you reach a certain level you feel a sense of accomplishment. I think it should be similar for even something like becoming a millionaire. First milestone might be $100k then the next $500k.
So instead of having this huge, monstrous task, I can break it up into easier to obtain tasks. And if the tasks are easy enough I can just do it.
I've outlined a few of the problems that I find difficult at least with creating my goals properly. Most of the time I just think "oh that would be cool to do" but never properly follow through. So having a way to start defining my goals the proper way, and then somehow having tasks that will help me obtain my goals would definitely improve follow-through.
tl;dr
So essentially my idea is that I could create a goal tracker that will help with first defining your goal. Setting deadlines that you'd like to meet. Setting milestones for your goal. Setting up initial tasks. And displaying the progress to your goal.
Just wondering what everyone else's thoughts on this would be? Do you find that you have a similar problem?
IMO, I think you're taking the wrong approach. Goals are really helpful for relatively short term things (what do I want to accomplish today, this week, month, year). They are also helpful when an organization exists to fulfill a particular function (deliver the best streaming music experience, digitize all data on the internet, etc).
But when it comes to life, they tend to be a poor tool because life is too dynamic. And in general, one seeks meaning in their life, which goals rarely represent unless you are someone like Elon Musk with a very mission-oriented life. For example, your "become a millionaire example", why? What does being a millionaire matter? You can accomplish that multiple ways too. You could get a good paying job and live in a dumpster eating ramen and save all your income. Within a decade you could have a million bucks in the bank. You'll probably have terrible health and have experienced very little in life. But also, there could be a financial crisis which would impact that goal, so it's not necessarily within your control.
For these things, I suggest taking a principles based approach. By a "principle" I mean those beliefs that serve as your foundation. What do you actually believe in? For example, I have a principle "We are more a like than different", which informs how I interact with people that I have disagreements with. Or I have another one "Maximize personal independence" which informs what kind of relationships I want to have with people, as well as employers (I want to maximize flexibility in my working schedule). All of these principles have a little explanation with them for what they mean. For me, my personal independence principle informs my decisions around employment. I have no interest in working at a Bank or at Google because they want people who work long hours, so I'm willing to take less money if the opportunity allows me more freedom.
You might have a principle such as "maximize income" and "minimize spending", and if you can explain why those things are important to you, you then have tools to look to when you need to make a decision. Friends want you to drop some money to fly to Las Vegas? Well that conflicts with your minimize spending. Have a job opportunity that triples your income but requires you to move or something else that you might not want to do? Well your "maximize income" principle says you should do it. Of course you can have as many principles in play as you want. But this also means if a financial crisis does happen, your life's goal is not at risk, you can still make decisions informed by those principles whether you're making $5/hr or $500k/yr.
But the point is, for one's life, I think it is more effective to understand what you believe in a way that informs how you make decisions. I do not believe goals accomplish this.
For more principles talk you can read Ray Dalio's book on the subject. The book has a bunch of other fluff stuff in it that isn't that important, but the principles stuff might be useful.