Discussion Forum > Setting goals
My first suggestion is to read Mr. Forster's book _How to Make Your Dreams Come True_ which is available at http://www.markforster.net/blog/2011/6/2/how-to-make-your-dreams-come-true.html . In a nutshell, you envision yourself in the future-- see the person that you want to be-- and focus more on the feelings than on material things. For example: "I have a clean desk because it makes me feel more organized and less chaotic." You can then focus on creating those feelings and discover different ways to obtain those feelings. In a way, it lets you focus on the *results* of your goals, which lets the goals themselves float up out of the aether.
July 7, 2011 at 16:12 |
jFenter
jFenter
Alison,
You may like the simple approach I espouse in Desire Outcomes Implementation Technology. It is a paper based system to identify and achieve three desired outcomes or goals. Personally, I have found that separating life goals from the day to day time management we all do was a much better approach. You can get the ebook for free on my site it is a very quick read and easy to get started with. Good luck
Gerry
http://www.simple-time-management.com
You may like the simple approach I espouse in Desire Outcomes Implementation Technology. It is a paper based system to identify and achieve three desired outcomes or goals. Personally, I have found that separating life goals from the day to day time management we all do was a much better approach. You can get the ebook for free on my site it is a very quick read and easy to get started with. Good luck
Gerry
http://www.simple-time-management.com
July 7, 2011 at 16:44 |
Gerry
Gerry
Thanks Gerry - I'll take a look.
July 7, 2011 at 17:07 |
Alison Reeves
Alison Reeves
Alison, I noticed you asked about Getting Things Done... I'm not sure if you realize that this web site is about Mark Forster's time management approaches, which are different from GTD. Many of us find Mark's approaches work better for us, but YMMV.
You might want to read one of Mark's time management books (Do it Tomorrow or Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play). Or you might want to read his book How to Make Your Dreams Come True http://www.markforster.net/storage/How%20To%20Make%20Your%20Dreams%20Come%20Word%2097.doc, which is now a free download. The latter works on the Pull principle, as opposed to the Push principle of the other two books.
Or, you might want to look at Mark's latest system, Superfocus (there is a menu bar item on top for this), which comes out of his earlier Autofocus systems (see blog archive).
Or... maybe really want to focus on GTD... in which case you are not on the right web site (although you could search for GTD as there has been some discussion of it on the boards, but mostly in relation to Mark/'s approaches).
I hope this helps.
You might want to read one of Mark's time management books (Do it Tomorrow or Get Everything Done and Still Have Time to Play). Or you might want to read his book How to Make Your Dreams Come True http://www.markforster.net/storage/How%20To%20Make%20Your%20Dreams%20Come%20Word%2097.doc, which is now a free download. The latter works on the Pull principle, as opposed to the Push principle of the other two books.
Or, you might want to look at Mark's latest system, Superfocus (there is a menu bar item on top for this), which comes out of his earlier Autofocus systems (see blog archive).
Or... maybe really want to focus on GTD... in which case you are not on the right web site (although you could search for GTD as there has been some discussion of it on the boards, but mostly in relation to Mark/'s approaches).
I hope this helps.
July 7, 2011 at 22:27 |
silviastraka
silviastraka
Many people here struggled and failed at GTD. A common opinion is that it's more complex than valuable. Superfocus achieves most of what GTD promised but fails to deliver by an extreme focus on doing. As for goals, they get added to SF as things to think about and plan. The idea is to gradually develop both your goals and achievement of them.
"how to make tour dreams come true" is a completely different approach focusing on big picture idea generation leading to spontaneous action.
What these approaches have in common is Mark's distillation of psychological principles into very easy methods designed to encourage success by enhancing your natural inclinations.
"how to make tour dreams come true" is a completely different approach focusing on big picture idea generation leading to spontaneous action.
What these approaches have in common is Mark's distillation of psychological principles into very easy methods designed to encourage success by enhancing your natural inclinations.
July 8, 2011 at 3:57 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
I'm sorry - when I said 'getting things done' I meant in a general sense not in a GTD sense (which I found far too complex) sense. I have read all of Marks books and indeed tried most of his systems, and contributed in this forum on and off for the last 2-3 years. I understand that his approach is about getting through the todo list generally. What I am asking help for is really setting goals and recording projects that then make up the todo list. So it's really the bit that comes before.
July 8, 2011 at 9:11 |
Alison Reeves
Alison Reeves
I thought the name looked familiar... If Gerry's book doesn't suit, I'd suggest just writing goals in AF, and separately have a work area to elaborate on them. To work a goal is to work this page, and think about tasks that may get you there. Enter such in AF.
July 8, 2011 at 13:32 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Oops. Sorry. When I saw you had capitalized and put into quotes 'Getting things Done' I assumed you were talking about GTD.
I've been using Dreams. As @jfenter said, "it lets you focus on the *results* of your goals, which lets the goals themselves float up out of the aether". Dreams also has a process to zoom into your goals and develop them at a more detailed level.
My complex projects are mostly text based, since I am an academic. So I use Scrivener (now available in Windows Beta) to organize all the materials for my course prep, the articles I write, and my research projects. I usually create a text document within Scrivener to make notes about any next steps or things I need to do or keep in mind. When I see the project name come up in SF, I open my Scrivener project and scan the Tasks document to figure out what needs to be done next.
For this kind of low-key approach to projects, you could also use Evernote or OneNote.
I really like Mark's advice to manage projects only to the degree absolutely necessary. So Scrivener for projects and SF for tasks, all under the Dreams umbrella, is working quite well for me.
I've been using Dreams. As @jfenter said, "it lets you focus on the *results* of your goals, which lets the goals themselves float up out of the aether". Dreams also has a process to zoom into your goals and develop them at a more detailed level.
My complex projects are mostly text based, since I am an academic. So I use Scrivener (now available in Windows Beta) to organize all the materials for my course prep, the articles I write, and my research projects. I usually create a text document within Scrivener to make notes about any next steps or things I need to do or keep in mind. When I see the project name come up in SF, I open my Scrivener project and scan the Tasks document to figure out what needs to be done next.
For this kind of low-key approach to projects, you could also use Evernote or OneNote.
I really like Mark's advice to manage projects only to the degree absolutely necessary. So Scrivener for projects and SF for tasks, all under the Dreams umbrella, is working quite well for me.
July 8, 2011 at 13:53 |
silviastraka
silviastraka
Alison:
Some suggestions.
1. each day, for a week, write out 10 answers to "What I seek from living now is..."
2. ask yourself what adds to your life, and what reduces it
3. appreciation: maybe your goal is to maintain the aspects of life that you are satisfied with? Goals can be something we think we ought to be setting. maybe the contentment you already have is your goal, unless discontent is motivating you?
4. take small steps? what is your goal for today? and maybe it's an inner attitude, and nothing on the outside
5. perhaps your goal might be past-oriented, ie to accept things you regret or forgive yourself the things you judge yourself for
6 use Mark's technique of talking to yourself from the future. pretend there is a future version of you that has overcome this issue and has advice for you. what would future you say to present you?
7 see yourself as a creator of a life, not a problem-solver. what do you want to bring into being?
Some suggestions.
1. each day, for a week, write out 10 answers to "What I seek from living now is..."
2. ask yourself what adds to your life, and what reduces it
3. appreciation: maybe your goal is to maintain the aspects of life that you are satisfied with? Goals can be something we think we ought to be setting. maybe the contentment you already have is your goal, unless discontent is motivating you?
4. take small steps? what is your goal for today? and maybe it's an inner attitude, and nothing on the outside
5. perhaps your goal might be past-oriented, ie to accept things you regret or forgive yourself the things you judge yourself for
6 use Mark's technique of talking to yourself from the future. pretend there is a future version of you that has overcome this issue and has advice for you. what would future you say to present you?
7 see yourself as a creator of a life, not a problem-solver. what do you want to bring into being?
July 8, 2011 at 21:37 |
michael
michael
Alison:
"I either just don't have the gene, or (more likely) I am just no good at setting goals"
sometimes are limits are based on how we see ourself.
two ways around this.
1. do something that proves to ourself that we are not who we thought we are.
(danger, sometimes who we think we are is so strong that we sabotage this OR we do succeed, but refuse to see that we succeeded)
2. change what we think of ourselves
all this covered in Dreams book and other sources, this is just my super short summary and viewpoint. (also, if not really what is thought of in Dreams, I apologize, my summary is my summary and might not be true summary)
For number 2, practice in a relaxed state, feeling what it would be like to have some good goals and being good at figuring out how to make them happen.
You should find that you quickly start to have goals and begin to learn how to make them happen.
"I either just don't have the gene, or (more likely) I am just no good at setting goals"
sometimes are limits are based on how we see ourself.
two ways around this.
1. do something that proves to ourself that we are not who we thought we are.
(danger, sometimes who we think we are is so strong that we sabotage this OR we do succeed, but refuse to see that we succeeded)
2. change what we think of ourselves
all this covered in Dreams book and other sources, this is just my super short summary and viewpoint. (also, if not really what is thought of in Dreams, I apologize, my summary is my summary and might not be true summary)
For number 2, practice in a relaxed state, feeling what it would be like to have some good goals and being good at figuring out how to make them happen.
You should find that you quickly start to have goals and begin to learn how to make them happen.
July 11, 2011 at 4:30 |
matthewS
matthewS
I recently was able to revisit this by looking at some old Time Manager (TMI) material. It was interesting because it talked about setting Goals, identifying Activities, then recording Tasks, and well as discussing what it calls 'Don't Forget' items (i.e. just things that need to be done that are not necessarily connected to goals).
I found this great for getting everything into perspective in my mind and it's got me back in the saddle so to speak!
I found this great for getting everything into perspective in my mind and it's got me back in the saddle so to speak!
July 19, 2011 at 22:56 |
Alison Reeves
Alison Reeves
Alison,
Did you try the DO IT method?
Gerry
Did you try the DO IT method?
Gerry
July 20, 2011 at 16:56 |
Gerry
Gerry
I'd really appreciate some practical help with this - I've even looked at personal development seminars but they are horribly expensive! Can anyone point me to any work, blogs, books etc on setting goals that I might find useful and which are practical?