Goals aren't guesswork

You're probably more capable than you know

An Outline Map of the World for Ladies Needlework and Young Students of Geography - Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Here’s a great way to get lost while driving: Get in, buckle up, and, before leaving, look in the general direction of your destination. Without using your phone, attempt to reach your target location solely using the intuition gained from your initial calibration. Inevitably, after more than two turns, we would all be hopelessly confused, never to reach the place we set out to; Why then, do we see the process of moving towards goals any differently?

The new year is a weird time: we all write down these vague goals, in hopes that seeing them on a whiteboard in our bedrooms will grant us enough motivation to stick to our workout regiments. While I’m sure that people’s intentions are pure, there is something fundamentally wrong with this method of behavior change: It’s all guesswork. 

Don’t be afraid to change your goals

Coming up with goals, and even creating systems to reach those goals (a practice that I believe gives a greater chance of success) shouldn’t be set in stone on January first and then abided by for the remainder of the calendar year; goals should be iterated on. It is only through the process of acting on your goals that you can fully understand what it takes to be successful. 

Consider this method of preparation:

1. Make a goal for the year, and you will be able to focus on the month.

2. Make a goal for the month, and you will be able to focus on the week.

3. Make a goal for the week, and you will be able to focus on the day.

4. Make a goal for the day, and you will be able to focus on the present. 

Along this journey of taking each moment as it comes, you will realize that the weekly, monthly, or yearly objective needs to be altered. Are you capable of more than you anticipated? Or maybe you overestimated what you can accomplish, and the objectives should be shifted in the opposite direction? Either way, the process of conducting regular retrospectives teaches you what your aims should really be. 

Remember, the goals you created are made up, don’t stifle your potential if they’re too puny or beat yourself up if they’re too grand. Monitor your progress and adjust accordingly, you’re likely much more capable than you give yourself credit for :)