Goal Setting

Notes

It doesn't matter how fast you are going, if you don't have a clear direction, you will never get to where you want to go.

Goals give us direction, inspire us, and become the core principle from which we derive our daily actions. Preferably, a goal should be aligned with your Core Values, otherwise you will lack the Intrinsic Motivation to pursue it. Often, when a goal is deeply connected with our core values, pursuing it can become one of the things that provides meaning in our lives. Having a goal in life is a sign that we want and can do more out of life, that we take a Life Embracing perception towards life, to we have a part to play in it and we can make something out of the time we have.

A life mission has to be clear, and inspirational, so that it would answer the question "how do I know when I have succeeded", for example - "I will become a doctor in five years".

However, goals can also be harmful if not done right. A common issue is what do we do when we accomplish the goal. We might feel empty, asking ourselves "well, now what?". This is due to the Hedonic Treadmill. The feeling of joy of accomplishing our goal quickly fades away, and without a new goal we are left dissatisfied. A goal should not be just a target to reach, but a matter of expressing and changing who we are

Another drawback is that even a clear goal doesn't always come with a prescription to how we should follow it, as opposed with habit-like type of thinking that turns high level goals into actionable daily steps Trust the Process. And it is unclear how and if the two should mix. What is more beneficial? Setting a goal to read x books a year, or to set x minutes a day for reading? Are they really mutually exclusive?

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Overview

🔼Topic:: workflows (MOC) 🔼Topic:: Motivation (MOC) 🔼Topic:: Existentialism (MOC) ◀Origin:: 🔗Link::