David Allen on Setting Goals

Gardener

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I respond despite being too cheap to have a membership that allows me to read the link. :)

Goals:

- Get the novel finished.
- Get a novel traditionally published.
- Become less unhappy with my job OR achieve early retirement.
- Live long enough to do these things. (I don't mean to imply that there's a threat here. Just that I'm getting older.)

That's a small number, but I'm big on limiting work in progress.
 

TesTeq

Registered
- Get the novel finished.
- Get a novel traditionally published.
Interesting. I'm currently working on my seventh book (first one was traditionally published, next five books were never written :D).
Since a net profit from one self-published book is equal to a net profit from at least EIGHT traditionally published books I will self-publish my seventh book. :cool:
 

Gardener

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Interesting. I'm currently working on my seventh book (first one was traditionally published, next five books were never written :D).
Since a net profit from one self-published book is equal to a net profit from at least EIGHT traditionally published books I will self-publish my seventh book. :cool:

Well, per book. (Edited: That is, per copy.) I doubt I'd sell even a tiny fraction of the same number of copies if I self-published.

Edited again: Since traditional publishing versus self publishing debates can go on for hundreds of posts, it occurs to me that I shouldn't really reply in this thread. But I did, and deleting posts gets weird, so. Um. There we are.
 
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RS356

Registered
- Become less unhappy with my job OR achieve early retirement.

I’m just curious, and if you are comfortable sharing, what’s your next action on this goal? For myself, it would involve setting up a successful freelancing gig.
 

Gardener

Registered
I’m just curious, and if you are comfortable sharing, what’s your next action on this goal? For myself, it would involve setting up a successful freelancing gig.

I don't have a tidy plan yet, but the subthreads include:

- Research on job opportunities (both conventional jobs and freelance/contracting) involving a specific set of skills that I have and enjoy but rarely have the opportunity to exercise.

- Forming a plan to shift my responsibilities in my current company, one by one, to projects that make more use of those skills. This might involve lower status and pay, which I've already decided is just fine.

- Research on early retirement options from my company. My old responsibilities are good for job security, so I want to understand the potential consequences of making my job more enjoyable but less secure.

In all scenarios, and for all parties (me, employer, coworkers), it's valuable to increase the number of people who can handle my old responsibilities. So the main focus of my at-work actions will be to work toward achieving that, and scrounging up assignments with the new skill set.
 

John Forrister

GTD Connect
Staff member
I respond despite being too cheap to have a membership that allows me to read the link. :)

Goals:

- Get the novel finished.
- Get a novel traditionally published.
- Become less unhappy with my job OR achieve early retirement.
- Live long enough to do these things. (I don't mean to imply that there's a threat here. Just that I'm getting older.)

That's a small number, but I'm big on limiting work in progress.

I appreciate that you posted, thoughtfully as usual.
 
As is often the case, I connect with David's view of goals. I have often tried to be more formal about my goal setting, but just naturally fall back to be loose around them. One on hand I wish I could be more focused and use the SMART system to move towards my goals, but I inevitably tend to keep it in mind as a broader framework. There seems to be a balance between structure and openness that I am still feeling my way towards.
 

MichaelB212

Registered
Thank you for posting, John. This quote really resonated with me:

Because there's such a premium placed on this kind of rigorous inventing of your desired future, people tend to resist the whole endeavor, because, well, what if the goal I pick is not the right one? So they either don't set any at all or get so invested in the one set do pick that they get myopic and inflexible.
I have struggled with the process of goal setting for these reasons. Reading this has me reframing my idea of goal setting from what David calls a “rigorous inventing of [my] desired future” to a more flexible idea of directing myself toward desired opportunities and outcomes.
 

Geeko

GTD since 2017
I think one of the main issues with goals is that most people set goals but they don’t define milestones and track their progress. GTD gives you a great guideline to split up your goals into milestones (projects) and next actions.

I still have a lot to learn and to improve on tracking my higher horizons, but I think GTD provides a good set of tools :)

Cheers,
Tristan
 

Padre C

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I am late to the party with this post, I hope not too late. I am on the “need to lighten up” side of goals. I have taken time to exams and write out goals, but I have had little success. That being said I know that to have goals and some clarity about them would help my system tremendously. I keep trying at it once and a while. Right now is one of those times.
 

ColinRiegels

Registered
l have my goals ,but l will not speak out. l try to lighten up my gaols and strenghten the image of them in my mind. l have been working on them for a long time.Hope l can realize all of them some day.
 
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