In this attempt I soon discovered that to make it useful I need to add some structure to my goals, and therefore I've created this blog to report on my progress on 43things and my tips on how to excel at using 43things! I also read the article on "Good goals".
Being S.M.A.R.T.
I also saw a goal, which was misspelled, so I rewrote it, and added an entry linking to this blog. My recapitualtion of keeping S.M.A.R.T. goals is like this:- SMART: Both an acronym for this goal scheme, and who wants a dumb goal in their life?
- Measurable. If it's not measurable, how are you going to know when it's done?!
- Achievable. Although setting goals is about stretching your capabilities, don't stretch them to long. If it's too far you won't be able to do them, so make them achievable
- Realistic. This goes almost along the same lines as achievable, but is more about knowing your limits
- Time-bound. By implying a time bound on your goals, you further enforce the possibillity of actually meating your goals
Changing habits, not reaching a goal
But what if you want to change a habit, like getting up earlier in the morning? This is not easily measurable, but it's still a worthwhile goal to go for. But how can you change this into a S.M.A.R.T. goal? And it's not a good answer to make a goal like "I want to change the habit of not getting up early in the morning".One way of doing so is to add tags to goal, i.e. 'deadline-2007-02-29', and send yourself a reminder as to whether you achieved. Another option is to add an entry specifying your more specific achievable goals, i.e. "To achieve this goal, I will need to get up early at least 5 days each week for a month". A third option, is to specify your goal somewhere, like in a blog?
Using either of these options, or something similar, you can have the goal of "getting up earlier in the morning", and still have something which is measurable! Of course on completion, you should send a reminder to yourself some time later, to actually check that you have changed your habit!
