Discussion Forum > Dreams Update
That's good to hear, Ryan. The way you've progressed is not dissimilar to what I've been doing. Obviously I am testing out the new system at the moment, but I have a very tightly written vision, which hasn't changed now for over a month but which I look at several times a day. I also use iDoneThis.com for keeping my What's Better list.
October 27, 2011 at 9:08 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
Ryan:
Thanks for sharing. Good to hear of other's experiences.
<<even though I haven't accomplished all the activities that are still in my vision.>>
An American motivational speaker called Jim Rohn likes to stress that you set goals because of what they force you to become rather than the achievement <<...worried about getting to what I want>>, so in a sense actually getting things done is secondary! <<...I feel like I've grown into a more complete and coherent person >>
I'm curious about how the "treadmill" metaphor impacts the best use of AF1 as I've encounterd it myself. Perhaps when this occurs I need to move from a state of "overwhelm" to a state of mental relaxation, releasing and allowing items to stand out again restores what Mark calls "psychological readiness". There is an exercise in "Dreams" called free-writing which may achieve that. I've also used free-drawing to doodle what's on the left-hemisphere of my mind, followed by the written form.
Thanks for sharing. Good to hear of other's experiences.
<<even though I haven't accomplished all the activities that are still in my vision.>>
An American motivational speaker called Jim Rohn likes to stress that you set goals because of what they force you to become rather than the achievement <<...worried about getting to what I want>>, so in a sense actually getting things done is secondary! <<...I feel like I've grown into a more complete and coherent person >>
I'm curious about how the "treadmill" metaphor impacts the best use of AF1 as I've encounterd it myself. Perhaps when this occurs I need to move from a state of "overwhelm" to a state of mental relaxation, releasing and allowing items to stand out again restores what Mark calls "psychological readiness". There is an exercise in "Dreams" called free-writing which may achieve that. I've also used free-drawing to doodle what's on the left-hemisphere of my mind, followed by the written form.
October 27, 2011 at 10:53 |
michael
michael
Very good to hear of your success! Regarding the treadmill feeling, I would expect that given this line:
"Sometimes a project or activity will pull me that's not on the list and I'll just put it aside, treating it as an urgent action."
If neither your pull activities nor their abstraction are on the list, then AF1 will become a boring treadmill to nowhere. (The other source of treadmill feeling is not working big projects long enough at a time so that they never seem to get anywhere.) Try this statement instead:
"Sometimes a project or activity will pull me that's elsewhere on the list but I'll treat it as an urgent action and do it now."
If your list has the pull items, it can participate in your goals rather than be just the things you gotta do because you can't always be living your dreams. Possibly you already are doing this, but you can evidently do so even more.
"Sometimes a project or activity will pull me that's not on the list and I'll just put it aside, treating it as an urgent action."
If neither your pull activities nor their abstraction are on the list, then AF1 will become a boring treadmill to nowhere. (The other source of treadmill feeling is not working big projects long enough at a time so that they never seem to get anywhere.) Try this statement instead:
"Sometimes a project or activity will pull me that's elsewhere on the list but I'll treat it as an urgent action and do it now."
If your list has the pull items, it can participate in your goals rather than be just the things you gotta do because you can't always be living your dreams. Possibly you already are doing this, but you can evidently do so even more.
October 27, 2011 at 12:51 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Hi Ryan,
<<before I was more worried about getting to what I want, but now I can just let the tension and difference between my visions pull me.>>
Goals are like the stars. We never reach them, but we set our course by them.
-- anon
<<before I was more worried about getting to what I want, but now I can just let the tension and difference between my visions pull me.>>
Goals are like the stars. We never reach them, but we set our course by them.
-- anon
October 27, 2011 at 21:18 |
Cricket
Cricket
I've printed out a copy of my vision on a 3x5 piece of paper I'm now keeping with me at almost all times, hopefully I'll be mindful to look at it when I'm feeling listless or bored. I think reviewing it will inspire me actions and tasks related to my vision into my time management system.
A lot of my goals definitely are "stars", they let me guide my rudder :) There are "reachable" goals as well, but those aren't usually written in the vision itself.
A lot of my goals definitely are "stars", they let me guide my rudder :) There are "reachable" goals as well, but those aren't usually written in the vision itself.
October 28, 2011 at 3:47 |
Ryan Freckleton
Ryan Freckleton
Cricket:
<< Goals are like the stars. We never reach them, but we set our course by them.
-- anon >>
With all due respect to Anon, I don't think he or she knew what they were talking about. As someone who has navigated across the Libyan desert by the stars (don't ask!), I know that the point of the stars for navigation is the same as the point of magnetic north if you are navigating by compass. They give you a fixed reference point which is at a much greater distance than your destination so that you can maintain a constant direction. Unless you actually want to travel due North you are going to be moving at an angle to this fixed direction - in other words you aren't usually travelling towards North or the star at all and don't want to. So the analogy breaks down.
On the other hand, my walkers' GPS gives me a compass bearing to my destination. That is where I actually want to go and where I expect to arrive. However much I have to deviate from the direct route, the arrow still points to my destination. That's much more how a goal behaves if properly formulated.
<< Goals are like the stars. We never reach them, but we set our course by them.
-- anon >>
With all due respect to Anon, I don't think he or she knew what they were talking about. As someone who has navigated across the Libyan desert by the stars (don't ask!), I know that the point of the stars for navigation is the same as the point of magnetic north if you are navigating by compass. They give you a fixed reference point which is at a much greater distance than your destination so that you can maintain a constant direction. Unless you actually want to travel due North you are going to be moving at an angle to this fixed direction - in other words you aren't usually travelling towards North or the star at all and don't want to. So the analogy breaks down.
On the other hand, my walkers' GPS gives me a compass bearing to my destination. That is where I actually want to go and where I expect to arrive. However much I have to deviate from the direct route, the arrow still points to my destination. That's much more how a goal behaves if properly formulated.
October 28, 2011 at 12:07 |
Mark Forster
Mark Forster
We never reach our goals?!!
October 28, 2011 at 13:35 |
Alan Baljeu
Alan Baljeu
Helps if I quote it correctly.
IDEALS are like the stars.
I see ideals as directions we want to travel, but obsessing over them is bad. An absolutely allergen-free home is ideal, but spending thousands on fancy vacuum cleaners and all my time cleaning is bad. A moderately-priced hepa vacuum and keeping my daughter's room clean (1/2 her time at home) is a practical goal that doesn't take over my life.
Mark's right. There's a huge difference between a properly formulated goal and an improperly formulated one.
IDEALS are like the stars.
I see ideals as directions we want to travel, but obsessing over them is bad. An absolutely allergen-free home is ideal, but spending thousands on fancy vacuum cleaners and all my time cleaning is bad. A moderately-priced hepa vacuum and keeping my daughter's room clean (1/2 her time at home) is a practical goal that doesn't take over my life.
Mark's right. There's a huge difference between a properly formulated goal and an improperly formulated one.
October 28, 2011 at 18:17 |
Cricket
Cricket
Clarification: My daughter spends half her time at home (11 hours) in her room sleeping. She doesn't spend half her time at home cleaning it.
October 28, 2011 at 19:36 |
Cricket
Cricket
Alan,
I spent a few minutes thinking of categories of actions to take form my vision today and added them to my AF planner. We'll see how this goes :)
I spent a few minutes thinking of categories of actions to take form my vision today and added them to my AF planner. We'll see how this goes :)
October 30, 2011 at 5:02 |
Ryan Freckleton
Ryan Freckleton
I've continued to use "Dreams" for the past six months and thought I'd share some of my experiences.
I've successfully eliminated several bad habits, increased my productivity and dramatically reduced my stress level. The writing techniques of the "what's better" list and the broad vision goal achievement method are very effective for me.
My vision tended to expand and contract overtime before it stabilized into it's "tightly written" form. Some days I feel very excited about progress towards my vision, other days, especially earlier, I felt a bit discouraged.
Acknowledging these emotions in my present reality was a really effective way to work through them. I feel like I've grown into a more complete and coherent person because of it, even though I haven't accomplished all the activities that are still in my vision.
One of the most important parts of my vision, finding a woman to share my life with, hasn't been progressing, but whenever I try to have a specific plan of action I get this feeling that I'm "tunneling" and discarding other potential opportunities.
I've also gone from describing how worried or frustrated I am with things missing from my present reality that are in my future vision to just not mentioning them. This reflects how my feelings have changed as I've used them, before I was more worried about getting to what I want, but now I can just let the tension and difference between my visions pull me.
At first I went "full on" with no time management system except for dreams itself. Eventually I ended up getting pulled to use Superfocus again, I tried several variations of liberalizing column two with mixed results and have now switched fully to just using AF1. It's not perfect, I sometimes feel like I'm on a treadmill of endless tasks I never finish, but it's sufficient until Mark releases his final version :)
So far I haven't seen any conflict with using the what's better list and the goal achievement method with AF1. I occasionally dialog, but no longer do it daily. One of the reasons I like AF1 is that it's limited ability to deal with urgent items encourages me to follow my feelings. Sometimes a project or activity will pull me that's not on the list and I'll just put it aside, treating it as an urgent action.