How to handle goals in GTD?

[Divyansh Adwani]

How would you handle goals in GTD? For Example, It can be monthly goal in the form of a recurring monthly project, for example, "Add X clients every month" or yearly recurring one like "Read 100 books a year". Thanks!

 

[Lagerbaer]

I think as a first step I would sit down and think about the projects and actions that would bring these goals about. "Read 100 books a year" is an outcome. But what are the steps you have to take to achieve this outcome? Select the books, get the books, make time to read the books. (100/year means you have just under 4 days per book. That's pretty intense).

 

[Divyansh Adwani]

I think as a first step I would sit down and think about the projects and actions that would bring these goals about. "Read 100 books a year" is an outcome. But what are the steps you have to take to achieve this outcome? Select the books, get the books, make time to read the books. (100/year means you have just under 4 days per book. That's pretty intense).

Thanks! Very helpful reply!

 

[Longstreet]

I think as a first step I would sit down and think about the projects and actions that would bring these goals about. "Read 100 books a year" is an outcome. But what are the steps you have to take to achieve this outcome? Select the books, get the books, make time to read the books. (100/year means you have just under 4 days per book. That's pretty intense).

And use the natural planning model for your projects. Review everything regularly to ensure you are on track.

 

[Divyansh Adwani]

And use the natural planning model for your projects. Review everything regularly to ensure you are on track.

Thanks! And I wanted to ask if this "Read 100 books a year" is more of a habit than a project, because according to David Allen, a project is something that can be completed in 12 months or less.

 

[RS356]

If it were me, I’d map out which 100 books I’d want to read and set aside the appropriate time on my calendar. This doesn’t work for every project, but this one would require a pretty strict timeline to keep it on track. I’d also factor in how much time it takes to obtain the book (if I don’t own it) and set the needed reminders in my tickler file.

 

[Oogiem]

Thanks! And I wanted to ask if this "Read 100 books a year" is more of a habit than a project, because according to David Allen, a project is something that can be completed in 12 months or less.

Well that is a guideline but not a rule. I have projects that span decades, but I am an outlier.

FWIW the goal read 100 books in a year is a reasonable one, I worked up to it by first saying I'd read 1 book a week for 52 books a year, next year I said a book a week plus 1 extra book a month for a total of 64 books. Now I'm up to read a new book a week, 1 extra new book a month, re-read 1 old favorite book a month and read at least 1 new short story a month. As of today I'm on track to accomplish the goal: 86 New books, 11 Re-Read books and 8 Short Stories finshed so far this year.

 

[Longstreet]

If it were me, I’d map out which 100 books I’d want to read and set aside the appropriate time on my calendar. This doesn’t work for every project, but this one would require a pretty strict timeline to keep it on track. I’d also factor in how much time it takes to obtain the book (if I don’t own it) and set the needed reminders in my tickler file.

"Set aside the appropriate time on the calendar". It is time allocation to do what you have proposed to do. Cheers!

 

[treelike]

Thanks! And I wanted to ask if this "Read 100 books a year" is more of a habit than a project, because according to David Allen, a project is something that can be completed in 12 months or less.

It's a Project with the outcome "Reading at a rate of 100 books a year". Once that outcome is achieved it becomes an Area of Focus i.e. you have to maintain the rate of reading 100 books year.

Always worth going up in levels and asking yourself why you want to read 100 books a year- what goals/vision/purpose does maintaining this support.

 

[Gardener]

It's a Project with the outcome "Reading at a rate of 100 books a year". Once that outcome is achieved it becomes an Area of Focus i.e. you have to maintain the rate of reading 100 books year.

That does assume, though, that that's the goal. The goal may be to read 100 books in the year, and then go on to some other focus for the next year.

Edited to add: Oh. Misread the original post, sorry. I see that it is an ongoing goal.

 

[Jared Caron]

It's a Project with the outcome "Reading at a rate of 100 books a year". Once that outcome is achieved it becomes an Area of Focus i.e. you have to maintain the rate of reading 100 books year.

Always worth going up in levels and asking yourself why you want to read 100 books a year- what goals/vision/purpose does maintaining this support.

I would agree that this "goal" actually spans multiple horizons.

If you've listened to any of the webinars on higher horizons, I love the way Meg Edwards frames the Areas of Focus as the "bridge level." I see this "goal" as related to an area of focus such as "personal development" for instance. I would view each book as a project (although it might not make it onto your projects list at that rate, you'd be doing almost 2 a week - so maybe in pairs!). The overall goal could be a project or a 1-2 year goal (horizon 3), which might also be related to a vision (horizon 4) to "be a voracious reader" which would somehow or other be tied to your life purpose (horizon 5), otherwise you wouldn't care to read that much!

As is hashed out in the book, as you move up the horizons, the frequency of reviewing the content decreases. So whatever you're doing related to reading those 100 books that you need to review on an approximately weekly basis should probably land at Horizon 1 - projects. Your commitment to maintain a rate of 100 books a year may be more appropriately managed at Horizon 2 - areas of focus, which you might review monthly or quarterly. This is an example of the beauty of that model of multiple horizons for outcomes that we want to track.

 

[Oogiem]

Not to mention that th4e specific books you choose to read can be part and parcel of some other project o goal. I counted reading rtextbooks as my books read but it was also necessary for my masters Degree and my ongoing education and more.

 

[MellowEnchant]

I actually have a similar goal for 2019 - to read 18 books. 12 books a month in my native tonge, german. 4 in english and 2 in slovak.

If I read for 20 - 30 minutes a day in the morning I usually finish a book in a month. That's why 12 books.
The other 6 Books will be read in the evening. - Over the years I have build a strong reading habit and this goal is realistic for me. 100 would be far too overwhelming for me.

This goal of mine is listed in my Area of Focus - Personal development & Spirituality.
This goal is coupled with my reading habit which I track in an app. I use: Loop for android

 

[Geeko]

I would say this is a project “read 100 books in 2019” with some sub-projects. The sub-projects would include “read book X” but also stuff like “pick/research books X to Y for reading” and each sub-project should have a deadline. The Next Actions should go to your lists or to your calendar for scheduling reading time (with that amount of books you might need it).
I use a more or less similar system for my YouTube videos but I use a kanban-board instead of my lists for keeping me up to date with my Next Actions. I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Tristan