Long Term Goals

G

gnugrep

0
I've been doing GTD for a little over a year now. I've always resisted doing the long term planning that David recommends. This week, during my review, I decided to give it a try. So I sat down to write a list of 1-2 year goals and I couldn't think of a single one! Anyone have ideas to get me started?

Thanks,
Jason
 
Just a couple of items that you may want to consider for your 1 to 2 year plans. They also work longer term:

Health
Career
Financial
Life
Family
Spiritual
Educational
Etc.

This is not a extensive list, but one that was generated in lest than 1 minuter of brainstorming. True some mind-mapping and see what comes out.
 
I usually start with a long horizon and then narrow it down from there. Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years? In order to get there, what do you need to accomplish in the next year or two?

Katherine
 
YBYY / Your Best Year Yet

If you want a little more structure to the process, search for "Your Best Year Yet" in these forums. Jason Womack initially recommended it, and now I work through it every year and really delight in how it helps me think through issues at this level.
 
I find a simple mind map normally gets me started. I can set up one, three, and five year thoughts and build from there. After a nice brainstorming session I let it incubate for a week or two and then give each area a little more thought.
 
Look at your Projects-List. Thena change your perspective (20,000 - 50,000). Aks yourself: why am I doing this? Where do I want to be with this in 2, in 5 or in 10 years from now?
 
Ambar said:
If you want a little more structure to the process, search for "Your Best Year Yet" in these forums. Jason Womack initially recommended it, and now I work through it every year and really delight in how it helps me think through issues at this level.
Click to expand...
I too learned of the book Your Best Year Yet on this forum. It provided me with just the structure I needed. It's like having someone hold your hand as you take one baby step after another. At the end of the baby steps you have a neat 12-month plan.
 
BYY - Best Year Yet

I have no typical plans in my life. So, whenever I participate in these kind of workshops to make plans for one's life, I thought myself quite fool because I couldn't formulate any plan.

In another GTD group (Ready for Anything) someone mentioned BYY - Best Year Yet. I looked at the home page and did the workshop on line. What a big surprise, after the evaluation I realize the results of one of most difficult years of my life were surprisingly good! Recently I bought the book. I have been using PRO (Producing Results Online) which is a monthly follow up of the ten goals since June. Great!

Now I don't think I have no plans anymore.

One very important thing that I missed in those past two months is to check them everyday because I am quite dispersive. Besides the ten goals for this year, I also use its steps (BYY) in my weekly review.

Silvia
 
A suggestion

I've always had a terrible time formulating longer-term goals... so I rarely bothered. But GTD inspired me to try because I can clearly see that being able to align my tasks and projects with those goals will help me get there. The question is what those goals are.

Mindmaps don't work well for me and while Bonsai is perfect for NAs and Projects it's I find it rotten for brainstorming (I don't think in outline form). Staring at a blank page or trying to make categories (health, finances) just gave me a headache. But after several false starts, I found a technique that at least got me going and that I thought I might share.

What I did was open up a document and type, "In ten years I will be 44, (husband) will be 48, and (kid) will be 13."

Then I started writing, in prose, what I want to have/do/etc at that time in various areas of my life (no headings or real organization, just prose). Things like "I want to live..." with a description of my ideal housing situation and "I want to work..." with information on my perfect job. I kept it to a high level --not house at (address) or even house in (neighborhood), but more like house with large yard, good schools, etc. I also included things I don't want.

Then I skipped a step and wrote, "In five years I will be 39..." and so on.

Then I retyped the original things that still applied, but adjusted them for the time frame. So in 10 years I want to be working for myself on a path that aligns with my life purpose. In five years I will settle for working for myself (since I don't know my life purpose). And in three years, I want a good paying job with lots of flexibility and no travel or major commute.

I went all the way to next year (10, 5, 3, 1 years).

My next task is to create some projects from these things and I can already see how that might be done. Some projects will be nebulous (Someday / Maybe) and not ready for NAs yet, but others will be. There are things I can do right now that lead to the life I want in a decade. And that's pretty exciting.
 
Ivy said:
I've always had a terrible time formulating longer-term goals... so I rarely bothered. But GTD inspired me to try because I ....

.... but others will be. There are things I can do right now that lead to the life I want in a decade. And that's pretty exciting.
Click to expand...

Lovely post Ivy, thanks.

David
 
Ambar said:
If you want a little more structure to the process, search for "Your Best Year Yet" in these forums. Jason Womack initially recommended it, and now I work through it every year and really delight in how it helps me think through issues at this level.
Click to expand...

oh no I just realizedI I ordered the wrong book from Amazon! :?

I got "The Best Year Of Your Life" accidentally instead

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Year-Your-Life-Dream/dp/0060723947/ref=pd_sim_b_1/002-4844319-8131200

:(
 
I can also recommend "Do, Doing, Done" book thats uncovers relationship between values, goals, etc. and helps to easy start with them. The book has quite a lot of examples and exercises.

E.
 
Best Year Yet on the web

Best Year Yet

Those interested in BYY please check the website:

https://www.bestyearyet.com/

They offer a free newsletter called "Results"
http://bestyearyet.com/Products/Subscribe_Products.cfm?lang=US

The book is here:
https://www.bestyearyet.com/Store/Catalog.cfm?PCID=1&lang=US

"The Best Year Yet system can be used by people in all walks of life, all ages - individuals, couples, families and groups of people who work together in some way.Because we believe everyone has the capability to have their best year yet, the basic system asks 10 questions. These questions have been perfected over the past 25 years and we trust that people will find their own answers to them. In other words, everyone has within them the capacity to have their best year yet."

Surprisingly, it can be used for people who are facing adversity, it is indeed quite helpful in difficult times. But most of all it helps people achieve their most important goals in life.

Silvia
 
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