Goal Setting

Welcome!  This is a post about goal setting.  It is a direct off shoot from my The Motivation Files series, so if you'd like to read those posts, click here for: Part I, Part II, and Part III.  If you are looking specifically for goal setting tips, this is the place to be.

This post assumes that you have cleared out a big enough chunk of time in your schedule to do your favorite thing for as much time as is required to make you happy.  That's really great!  But now what to do with that time?

If you are at the beginning phases of your favorite thing to do, you may want to look into finding a teacher or mentor to help you improve to the point that you are quite skilled at your favorite thing to do.  They will help you with the goal setting process, deadlines, and possibly even contests or events that will help you keep moving forward towards being the best you can be at your favorite thing.

That aside, what if you have studied with teachers for years, possibly have a degree or two focusing on your favorite thing, and are really good at your favorite thing?  How do you keep yourself motivated then?  How do you have direction?  How do you not fall into a slump, and waste the time you worked so hard to create?

Happily, there are a lot of answers to this question.  I will share a few that have worked for me, but please feel free to post your own answers in the comments below!  Hopefully, what I have shared, along with your contributions, will allow this post to help people continue to enjoy, improve, and thrive doing their favorite thing(s).

Step 1:  Start small.

Having a goal of world peace as your first item on your to do list is probably a really bad idea.

Equally bad: cleaning your entire house, learning the Goldberg Variations by tomorrow, fixing everything you don't like about your relationships in your life by next Friday, or moving to Tibet in three days.

Your goal must be realistic and easy to accomplish.  This allows your brain to say: Yeah!  I did good!  Let's do that again!  (Remember, we want to stay motivated?  Right?)  The more you can encourage your brain to have that positive feedback loop, the larger the goals you can set for the future.  So, start small, and encourage yourself with success.

Great Starter Goals (Pick one!):

• Drink a glass of water when you wake up in the morning
• Eat a spoonful of local honey at breakfast to build up a resistance to local allergens
• Drink a glass of decaffeinated tea before you go to bed at night
• Take a 15 minute walk after lunch
• Read for 15 minutes before bed
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Don't hit the snooze button, and wake up at the first alarm
• Meditate 5 days a week, for 3 minutes a day
• Pray before you go to bed
• Take off your shoes when entering your home
• Wash your dishes as soon as you are finished eating

All of these small goals are pretty non-specific, when it comes to one's favorite thing.  Some may apply to you, some you may already be doing, and some you may be absolutely repulsed by.  That's fine.  Choose one, or something similar that is small, and get started.  Try to do your new goal for a month.  See how it goes, and don't chastise yourself if you don't accomplish it the first time, just try again.  Once you accomplish your first goal, it will get you rolling towards much bigger things.  :)

Step 2: Figure out what type of schedule works for you.

I'm going to list options of schedules for a day of work below.  This specifically refers to my day of work, so it includes what I do creatively, and chores.  Each of these schedules caters to a different temperament.  One of them is exactly the one I use.  However, try any of them for yourself, and see which one feels freeing and productive, not constraining.  Once you find it, that is the one you use.

Schedule 1:

9:00 Wake Up
9:10 Make Coffee
9:15 Drink Coffee While Checking E-mail
9:30 Write Blog Post(s)
11:00 Yoga
11:40 Meditate
12:00 Eat Lunch
1:00 Run errands
3:00 Clean Bathrooms
5:00 Eat Dinner
6:00 Practice Piano
9:00 Knit/Read/Relax
12:00 Bedtime

Schedule 2:

To Do (By Priority):
1. Blog Post
2. Practice Piano
3. Meditate
4. Yoga
5. Run Errands
6. Clean Bathrooms

Schedule 3:

To Do (Checklist):

• Blog Post
• Practice Piano
• Meditate
• Yoga
• Run Errands
• Clean Bathrooms

The last schedule is the one that I use.  I like checklists.  They give me the freedom to do the tasks in whatever order I want, whenever I want, and everything still gets done.  Now for some of the tasks (run errands, being the one listed), timing is crucial (i.e. I cannot go to the pharmacy, if it is closed), but most of it is flexible, because I have made the time, and I am setting the rules.

Step 3: Make a longer term schedule, with deadlines.

Now that you know how you work.  Use the daily schedule to make a weekly or monthly schedule.  I find a combination of the two works best in my work, because I know how my weekly work pertains to my monthly (or yearly) goals.  I use the checklist model for this as well, but any organization that works for you is the right one.

Some of my current goals pertain to recitals I am having in the coming months (October and November).  My program has to be memorized.  I need something to wear.  People need to be invited (so I actually have an audience).  Et cetera.  All of these things are on my checklist.  Some of them (booking the hall, making Facebook events for each recital, etc.) are already completed.  Others, I am still working on.  Everything has deadlines, so by the date of the recital, I feel prepared, confident, and ready to go.

Step 4:  Work ahead of schedule.

If at all possible, work ahead of schedule.  If you are prone to procrastination, set your deadline for yesterday.  I am absolutely serious.  Get the work done!  This allows you to have freedom to take a day off when you want to.  It also allows for sick days that you won't try to work through, meaning overall, you will be much, much healthier.

I motivate myself to do this with the long ranging schedule.  Case in point: I wrote this post on September 10.  That gave me time to edit it, sleep on it, make sure it was right, and then post it confidently, today, September 25.  It also means if the circus comes to town, my work is already done: I can go without hesitation.  This type of freedom, for me, is invaluable, and makes everything about life more enjoyable.

Step 5:  Tell people you care about.

We are all human.  We all fall behind sometimes.  It is much easier to stay on track if you have someone you care about, ask you about a goal that was supposed to be done.  For me, that is more than enough to keep me going, or remind me that, wait... I haven't attended to x in a while.  I should get on that! 

If that isn't enough, set up consequences that your friends get to benefit from, if you don't complete your goals.  For example, you pick up the check at your next dinner out together, you wear a Halloween costume of their choosing to their party, or something similar.  Most friends are much more willing to help you make your goals, if they get to have fun doing so.

If you don't currently have awesome people in your life, bribe yourself.  I've done it.  It works beautifully.  When I was still teaching 50 students, I had the hobby of lifting weights.  I loved it, but it was easy for me to fall off track, due to how tired I was from teaching.  My bribe was: if I kept my exercising schedule for a month (which generally worked out to 12 training sessions), I treated myself to sushi.  Sushi is one of my favorite things to eat, and it did not go against my diet for my lifting goals at all.  A bribe like that is what you want to look for: a treat that will not harm your training if you don't make it to your goal, but also will not harm your training if you do.

Step 6:  Allow the schedule to have some flexibility.

For some people, this is terrifying.  If they don't follow their schedule exactly, it actually causes more stress and anxiety.  For those people, I highly recommend that you schedule in fun/relaxation.  It will help with your health, and you may actually be able to relax while participating and have a good time.

For others, working ahead gives you the freedom to throw your schedule out the window.  I am in this camp.  I love being able to do this.  The only caution is: don't do it every day.  Discipline in your favorite thing is what makes it great.  If you completely throw that to the wind, it is unlikely you will get anything done, and other things will creep back in and steal the time you made for it.  Anywhere from once a week to once a month should work for just about everybody (depending on your goals, of course).

So, as I said earlier in this post: please, please, please add anything in the comments below that helps you with goal setting!  My list is far from extensive, and there are tons of ways that this can be done.  Share and pay it forward!

Have a great week everyone!  :)