11–20 of 64 posts
[1] https://www.dailywritingtips.com/overwhelm-is-a-verb-isnt-it...).
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…
Did you encounter problems with removing M for Measurable in that case?
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…
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.
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.
Christ I hate the word 'overwhelm'. It's SO jarring. It's like when people say "I'm feeling melancholy". NO! You're feeling melanchol ic ! 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... ).
Christ I hate the word 'overwhelm'. It's SO jarring. It's like when people say "I'm feeling melancholy". NO! You're feeling melanchol ic ! 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... ).
Wouldn’t it be “I feel overwhelmed?”
Also, to preempt other comments, I know that purposely is a word. I just hate the sound of it :)
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
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect
[2] 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.
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/
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
[2] https://deepmind.com/blog/article/Dopamine-and-temporal-diff...
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 r…
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 r…
All great points. Is there any research that SMART goals work or are they just a management fad / anecdotally useful?
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 covers some empirical research.
For example, 'purpose' can be nebulous, but a goal should be reasonably specific.