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Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#11

Post by kittenmittens »

nzjrs wrote: post #8

> moleskine notebook Ok. That's a weird detail to bother hipsterbragging about. Anyway, I have a post it on my monitor that says. "Just do the fucking thing and stop doing busywork". I have a second one that says "Successful people have better things to do than arguing on reddit/hn" Tldr; constant visible progress, cut distractions

Consider for a moment that it might not be a "hipsterbrag" and just a colloquial name for a type of notebook. The concept of "Syncing" to paper is quite common[1][2].

[1]http://robertgreiner.com/2013/03/sync-to-paper/ [2]https://www.hanselman.com/blog/TotallyStressedOutSyncToPaper...

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#12

Post by ramblerman »

Joeri wrote: post #9

For my personal life I don't write down long term goals, because I want to live in the now and not in the future. Professionally, I use outlook's todos with three priority classes: some time (low, where long term goals go), soon (normal), and today (high). Each list is organized like a backlog with most important first. I also color-code them by type (coding, process improvement, personal, and delegated). I scan the…

> For my personal life I don't write down long term goals, because I want to live in the now and not in the future.

These are not mutually exclusive.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#13

Post by blowski »

A frequent-ish review. About once a month, I get a nice coffee and cake and spend a couple of hours thinking about the last month, my current todo list and my long term goals. I try to remove anything that doesn't contribute to the goals, and intentionally put tasks which will move me toward my goals.

I also pray quite frequently (I'm Christian, but I believe some types of meditation are just as effective here). I look at my principles and ask myself whether I'm genuinely living up to them, and ask myself how I can improve.

I have tried using OmniFocus and MyLifeOrganised, but I found both tools got in the way of my thought process. Now I just use paper and coloured pens.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#14

Post by f_allwein »

Have you looked into Getting Things Done? It's a methodology for managing your tasks based on dumping everything in one place (I made a Google sheet) and then prioitizing. Part of it is that you make lists of your goals for different time frames (e.g. 1 year, 3-5 years) and revisit them regularly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#15

Post by jwdunne »

Interesting because I looked at goal setting some time ago. If you Google "goal setting doesn't work", you'll find as much against it.

Having a rough idea of where you want to go and setting yourself a number of small wins in the right direction could help you. Get into the habit of daily small wins that you know is moving you towards your true north.

As another point, I see systems and habits referenced below. Interesting because I'm midway through Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. Here is what he did:

He worked out a set of virtues that he thought he ought to have, such as temperance, industry, silence, etc.

Using that, he then used the calender method that's proposed a lot on each virtue to instill​ them as habits!

I'm inclined to say he was an early self-help author but also one that has something other than success in self-help as a justification for his methods.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#17

Post by laktek »

You can apply the concept of OKRs [0] for this. Think Objectives as your long term goals and Key Results as your routine tasks. When you pick a daily task you should be able to point to the objective it'd satisfy.

I've been ignoring it thinking it's corporate BS and doesn't really apply to personal life. But I tried it in last year (where I quit my day job to bootstrap my own startup) and felt having a systematic thinking is actually productive.

[0] https://library.gv.com/how-google-sets-goals-okrs-a1f69b0b72...

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#18

Post by trengrj »

I use remember the milk https://www.rememberthemilk.com.

I have one list called Goals. These are my major long term goals that are very rarely termed complete and I use more the notes functionality to mention progress.

Then I have other lists for work, life, and personal projects.

It works pretty well though I imagine you could do the same thing with a notebook.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#19

Post by xiaoma »

kittenmittens wrote: post #11
nzjrs wrote: post #8

> moleskine notebook Ok. That's a weird detail to bother hipsterbragging about. Anyway, I have a post it on my monitor that says. "Just do the fucking thing and stop doing busywork". I have a second one that says "Successful people have better things to do than arguing on reddit/hn" Tldr; constant visible progress, cut distractions

Consider for a moment that it might not be a "hipsterbrag" and just a colloquial name for a type of notebook. The concept of "Syncing" to paper is quite common[1][2]. [1] http://robertgreiner.com/2013/03/sync-to-paper/ [2] https://www.hanselman.com/blog/TotallyStressedOutSyncToPaper...

I've been going through notebooks (both lined and plain), doodling and journaling on and off for a long time but I've never owned a moleskine. I generally just go with whatever notebooks they have in stationary stores or Daiso.

What type is "moleskine" a colloquial name for, exactly? I had thought they were just pricey notebooks with hard covers but I've never seen one except in ads...

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to align your daily todos with your long term goals?

#20

Post by hvidgaard »

newbear wrote: post #6
steventhedev wrote: post #5

Google calendar and an hour each morning to move actions related to long-term goals into your short term todo list (notebook in your case). However, bear in mind that plans are rarely followed to execution perfectly. You may meet someone who wants you to stay, or you may get a really good offer. You might experience financial hardship and need to settle down for a while. When I go on a hike, I spend a good hour or tw…

Thanks for this. I usually rush through planning/organization because I think it shouldn't take long, especially just for day to day things. But you mentioning that you give an hour is eye opening. Do you do this at work or before? How do you stay motivated/consistent to do it everyday?

An hour seems quite a bit much for day to day. If you have trouble organizing things, a Bullet Journal might bea good starting point.

In any case, long term goals often don't require much day to day action. Let's the long term goal is to save money for buying a house. That involves making a budget and sticking to it. Once a week you go over expenses and see if you need to make corrections.

If the goal is to travel the world, you start by planning where to go to. Then you figure out what medical actions you need to take, what VISA you need to apply for, ect. All of this requires some timeframe - you have to plan this and put it into you calendar. And once every month you go over what you need to do this month, and every week you go over what needs to happen this week.

The motivation to do this is the end goal. I wish I could tell you something magical, but it is dedication and deciplin. Make it easy for yourself, do it while you have a nice cup of coffee or whatever you like.

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