goal setting

I was researching "time management" strategies and came across a wonderful website where I was reminded to set goals first. You can't manage your time wisely if you don't have goals. It also reminded me to prioritize - but defined prioritizing much different than anything I've ever heard before. Prioritizing doesn't mean deciding what to do first or what's most important: it means that you decide which things are NOT important and should be crossed off the list. Now I'm guessing that it was written with work-related to-do lists in mind, but it really struck me as what things I should "cross off" in my everyday life habits. So I made a list of my current life goals and then a list of things that don't contribute whatsoever to those goals that I should stop doing. Here's the list:

Life goals (in no particular order):

  • Be healthier.
  • Family oriented.
  • Life wisdom.
  • Improve character.
  • Homeowner.
  • Community.
  • Enjoy life.
  • Music.
  • Social.
  • Church.
  • Life skills.
  • Education.
  • Money.
  • Networking.
  • Outreach.
  • Work
Those being my goals, I prioritized by identifying some behaviors that need to be gone:

  • Social media as entertainment.
  • Politics, news, talk radio, arguing - outside of directly relevant and personal issues.
  • Negative habits like alcohol, late nights, junk food, sleeping in
  • Negative thoughts and words; self-pity and complaining
  • Thoughtless or needless spending
  • Poor decisions when I know better
  • Greed, envy, and "grass is greener" mentality 
Basically, if I can make a poster with those goals and put it somewhere that I will see every day, my hope is that I will spend more time reaching for my goals instead of being distracted or lazy. Self-motivation is such a huge factor in all of this. Nobody is asking me to do any of these things except myself. I can't expect to be motivated by my wife or my parents or my friends and colleagues.

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