The Electronic Pack Rat’s Guide to Goal Setting
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. “ – Mark Twain
What’s this all about?
Pick one thing in your life, that changing or making different would have the greatest impact on your overall well being.
Go to work on it.
(I paraphrased that. I can’t remember who I can credit. I blame Google. Truth is I’ve heard it many times, from many living and non living sources.)
To some, it’s losing weight. To others, make more money. To many, stopping an addictive habit.
Change is hard. But hard things are sometimes worth it. Maintenance of bad habits is hard on you. They are not worth it.
Say it aloud. “I can’t do this alone.”
That’s the synopsis. Primary sources for inspiration of this post are at the bottom of this thread. If you’re intrigued, read on.
I’m looking for your help to provide feedback, guidance and support. Please let me know how this engages you. You can do a thing. I can do a thing. Together we can do great things. Please consider subscribing, liking, sharing, tweeting, texting, forwarding, printing, snail mail, & airborne leaflet propaganda. It just needs to catch the Forward Flu (go viral).
Scroll up or all the way down.
The Good stuff:
I keep way too much stuff. I’m not sure why. When I was a kid I felt that inanimate objects might have been alive. So that McDonalds toy you have? To me throwing it away would be equivalent to putting a kitten in the trash. You just don’t do it. Cleaning my room was a task.
I’m the same way with articles, books and notes. That can be a blessing and a curse. There are so many sources of self help and information to tell you what you should be doing, how you should be doing it, and if you didn’t start yesterday then you’re missing out on everything. FOMO, amiright?
A cool thing I’ve found is picking one thing that’s simple, to make as a habit and then keeping that constant. It becomes a rock you can hold onto. Then navigate to the next rock.
If you’re struggling to even identify that one thing that needs to change, maybe start by praying/ thinking/ talking to something other than the hamster who is running that garage sale in your head. Even if that something is a door knob.
It sounds crazy, but it’s a beginning.
Recently I was tasked with setting some goals. Goals are great. Without goals I never would have earned the Eagle Scout rank, started a family, or become a CPA.
But to figure out where you want to go, sometimes you need to know where you’ve been. That requires at a minimum, some self assessment. That becomes a map of your starting point. Then you figure out what’s important to you. That becomes your compass. A trusted companion can help you bounce some ideas around. If you don’t have that, there are places to go and people to see. Feel free to comment if you need help.
If you’re desperate, call a helpline. I once called the employee assistance line at a place I worked and it sounded like the person on the other line was organizing their garage, and not really listening. I wasn’t pleased. If you’re in a good place, consider calling your work employee assistance line just to say hi. Maybe they need someone to talk to. Maybe they’re not doing their job right. If you’re not in a good place, call anyway.
But I didn’t give up after that exchange. I called someone else, and someone else. I’m a talker. But sometimes it helps to listen. When you’re working on that rut, without expectation, help someone else. Even if it’s just picking up a piece of trash or volunteering at an animal shelter. Do something. Keep busy.
So I keep stuff.
Eventually I’ve been pretty good about knowing what’s really valuable. Recent pictures of my family are safe in the cloud. Old pictures of my family are somewhere else. A few keepsakes I value but really only look at once in awhile are able to be grabbed in a moments notice. But their value is really intangible. It’s in me and in the way I live. Mostly good. Some bad.
I have journals. A glittery hallmark diary I was given as a kid. It has some cringe worthy entries. I have Facebook to really make me cringe when it decides to pop up a memory of some edgy political post I made 13 years ago. I don’t know about you, but reliving high school doesn’t sound like a fun experience. Facebook does that for some people everyday. Thankfully I just get reminded of my late twenties awkwardness. Thankfully MySpace is in Mr. Z’s vault or somewhere waiting to be sprung on the world.
Finally, I use an app for journaling. Journaling can be a good exercise. I reference the app at the bottom of this thread. Something as simple as “Today is going to be a great day! Beat the Vikings!” Is all you need. Writing a phrase or two is all you need. Someday those words might be valuable to someone. It might be a relative. Who knows, maybe someone will discover your genius years from now and the primary source of your life will end up in an archive.
The world is your diamond mine. Your thoughts can be your tool to mine that “mind.”
Those last few previous paragraphs are in essence my map.
My compass is where I want to go. I’ve been taught having expectations in my life for specific outcomes, relationships, and possessions will lead me to unhappiness. Living this way I’ve found is fulfilling. I feel like a kid sometimes at the excitement of possibility. So in light of having a desire to not get too specific on my personal wants, I have a few basic areas of importance and some specific things I try to do that will hopefully help my family, my employer, my community.
For values and principles (and assumptions) I credit Stephen Covey. Beware though. Beginning with the end in mind might put you in an existential crisis. Beware of assumptions too. Because they’re sometimes outdated and sometimes totally wrong. I value faith, family, and community. So in essence my goals are to be healthy (needs improvement), be loving (needs improvement), and be of service (needs improvement).
In any given day I have five basic commitments. The rest of the day is usually gravy, with some sourdough bread here and there.
Goals are basic steps that are pointing in the direction you want to go. If they’re based in love and service you can’t fail. If they’re rooted in prejudice and selfishness, you might be headed for the rocks.
There are so many resources on goal writing that all I can say is Google and connecting are key.
Keep reading.
I’m lucky to have had a lot of people impact me significantly. I have a few mentors who I can call up and know if I need to talk, they’re there. I’m open to inviting more people into my life.
Connection does take work. It also requires willingness and an open mind. Just asking someone for their phone number does not need to be limited to a romantic interest. Giving someone your phone number might result in a new friend and even their phone number. A lot of times people won’t call or write. That’s okay.
I’m thinking of printing some business cards with a QR code of my blog to make it easy to spread my message. Easy on them, easy on me.
Then you have to do something really hard. You have to dial the number. Possibly write, possibly talk. I encourage talking because it’s easier. I’m lucky to be able to talk, hear and see. I’ve really got it made. Some people lack all three and can accomplish great things. They figured it out, even with limitations.
I received a call from a girl who had been given a “fake” number. Besides my wife I can count on one hand all of the girls who have called me just to chat. That girl is one of them. She wasn’t pleased she found herself having been slighted.
Text the person, if you think they might have given you a fake number.
You don’t know, if you don’t try.
So that’s the hard part. Getting connected. The cool thing is people share ideas with each other. They share their experiences and many times they do it for free. You don’t have to follow any of their advice.
But I’m guessing the inventor of the compass had to rely on someone else saying their new toy seems to be pointing in one particular direction no matter what direction they turn, and that there might be some value in that.
I also believe nothing has been created without the involvement of two or more people. I am a fan of John Nash’s work related to decision making. In the Nash equilibrium, each player's strategy is optimal when considering the decisions of other players.
Thank you for reading.
I’m looking for your help to provide feedback, guidance and support. Please let me know how this engages you. You can do a thing. I can do a thing. Together we can do great things. Please consider subscribing, liking, sharing, tweeting, texting, forwarding, printing, snail mail, & airborne leaflet propaganda. It just needs to catch the Forward Flu (go viral).
The Desktop:
Tell your story
Most of this work was conducted on my iPhone.
Goal for publish: Blog, podcast, video. Tuesday morning.
I’m looking for your help to provide feedback, guidance and support. Please let me know how this engages you. You can do a thing. I can do a thing. Together we can do great things.
Currently reading: The Medium is the Massage, Produced by Jerome Agel (Some Explicit Content)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25955
Currently listening to: Pompeii, Song by Bastille
Currently viewing: Don’t Look Up, Film Staring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence (Rated R).
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11286314/
Work hard.
Walk the talk.
Pathfinding and experimentation.
Lead through story. Communication.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36072
8th Habit
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1044141
Crew communication - I have the controls, you have the controls. Think about hosting a meeting with your brother. Make it quick. Consider holding a live lunch and learn.
Social Media Communication- Blogs, Facebook, Twitter. The good the bad the ugly.
Donald Trump the social media President. Social media as a tool rather than a weapon. Walk softly and carry a big stick.
Leverage outside platforms with your practice if you’re scared. Plus by connecting the within and the out you can have a little control over it.
Learning to deal with Trolls (particularly sophisticated ones) gives you the tools to deal with professional feedback, guidance and critiques (Criticism).
Zoom meetings in your personal life. Practice talking about the things that really matter to you and interest you. Consider providing resources.
How did you start? Journaling. Diary. School paper. Bulletin boards. Early blogs. Promotion was hard.
Participated in Toastmasters. I think having a group here at [WORK] would be a benefit. We could hold it in a hybrid in person/ remote fashion. It’s a great environment to be vulnerable and receive feedback from people who are in a peer environment. https://www.toastmasters.org
Book review. The Medium is the Massage. Mention the other personal development book that was a quick read. I couldn’t remember it. All I know is it had few words. Remember healthy skepticism. The library is a great resource. What about a business library at [WORK]?
But if you can remember a book and it’s basic premise two months later. Then it might be a good book. “The Oz Principal” https://www.getabstract.com/en/summary/the-oz-principle/3882
Mention healthy skepticism. Everyone went crazy for Jim Collins book “Good to Great.” Everyone thought they could go from good to great, but many didn’t read the first book in that series “Built to Last.” Even fewer read “How the Mighty Fall.” These books are theory with technical evidence.
https://www.jimcollins.com
What resources are you missing? Have you pointed people in the right direction for their own exploration?
Upload your personal workflow manager to Teams? Teach others its basic premise?
Consider sharing your personal challenges. Maybe others have insight on how to solve them. Kids, household management, aging relatives and friends, community relationships.
Is the cost of our education and development providing appropriate returns? Are we at risk of consuming our capital?
If not, how can we approach this problem?
In expressing an idea to a friend, he remarked “that’s not original.” Not having the intent to be the next John Nash economist, I wondered why he said that. The world is a diamond mine, full of old ideas ready to be repackaged differently to consider changing the old way of executing tasks.
If someone capitalized your “thought/ idea” before you, we should be happy that the idea has come about. They probably could do it better than you could. It’s about sharing and personal accomplishment. John Nash again. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0268978/
Victor Hugo is the French poet and novelist who is credited with the phrase, "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come." Much of his original French works had more to do with shifts from the battlefield to an arena of minds being open to ideas.
https://www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/policy-matters-blog/nothing-is-more-powerful-than-an-idea-whose-time-has-come
Writing notes. Apply for exploration of a problem and the communication of its solution in high level (brochure medium), summary (book level/ presentation level), primary source level (specific topic books, codes, regulations, case law, archived documentation).
Please give me the opportunity to be wrong. I may think I’m pure of intent, but nothing is perfect. We need each other’s experience, skills, and viewpoints. I’m looking for your help to provide feedback, guidance and support. Please let me know how this engages you. You can do a thing. I can do a thing. Together we can do great things. If you do it on your own nothing would be better. Please consider commenting, liking, and subscribing!
Trolling in person.
Provide links to other social media:
LinkedIn
Goodreads
Facebook
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The Nash Equilibrium
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/nash-equilibrium.asp