"Being selective - doing less - is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest." -Timothy Ferriss
My first week of the New Year has been filled with seeing friends as they come back into town and getting back into the general swing of things as the momentum of life moves out of vacation mode.
New Year’s resolutions and goals seem to be on the tips of everyone’s tongue, which is awesome. I’m a HUGE believer in goal setting and taking action...buuut, amidst my goal setting, I had a setback.
I was creating my list of goals for the week, a ritual I have with my boyfriend, and I was on a roll.
My list was GOOD. And, by good, I really just mean long.
As a recovering overachiever, more goals meant more ambition, getting more done, doing more, more action.
I was pretty pumped up about my list. My ego was doing a touchdown dance.
The week that followed was a mix of anxiety, pushing, not completing things, and frustration which resulted in barely completing HALF of my goals.
Where had I gone wrong?
I mulled this around for a bit and had an ah-ha...I needed to put myself on a diet - a goal diet.
In the excitement of the new year, fresh starts, resolutions, and general goal making I had given myself too many goals; I had goal binged.
Dr. Ned Hallowell talks about having 3 goals a day, 3 goals a week, 3 goals a year, and 3 lifetime goals; this way you are always working towards a short-term, medium-term, and long-term goal. Setting goals this way forces you to prioritize, otherwise you either try to do everything at once and it ends up as a clusterfuck, or you get overwhelmed and do nothing at all. It’s how we end up with busy days, weeks, months, years and never actually finish anything.
watch a great interview with Dr. Ned Hallowell and Marie Forleo here: http://www.marieforleo.com/2014/02/how-to-stay-focused/ )
So, this week, I’m trying a new approach. I’m putting myself on a goal diet of 3 weekly and daily goals.
Want to join along with me? Here are the steps:
Write out your weekly (daily/monthly) goals as you normally would.
Then go through them one by one and ask:
- Is this MY goal or someone else’s goal?
- Is this a priority?
- Does this goal bring me joy or happiness?
- Is this a goal that aligns with my current values?
- Does this goal excite me?
- Does this goal scare me (fear and excitement are very similar energies, more on that another time)?
- Will this goal bring me closer to the type of person I want to be and the life I want to live?
- Is this daily goal bringing me closer to my weekly goal (or is this weekly goal bringing me closer to my monthly goal, etc.)?
Is this goal a “Hell Yes?"
Then, use your answers to whittle your list of goals down to three priority goals.
This isn’t to say that the goals you weed out aren’t worthwhile goals. It’s to say, the remaining goals are your priority and you are allowing yourself the time and space to focus on them.
What are your goals? What are you prioritizing?
I’d love to hear your thoughts. Jump on down to the comments section and let me know!
