* very specific ones (e.g. x number of dollars of biz a month, 25-45 min exercise a day, doing y things for friends every week)
* semi-specific ones (my big thing for 2009 is to be self-sustaining with my web service/products by 2010, & to get healthy because I'm turning - gulp - 25 this year)
* really generic ones -- I used to write goals down as kind of an affirmation exercise. Not "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" kinda crap (retch), but "I am a recognized authority, speak at cool conferences, and people laugh at my jokes." kinda thing.
On the latter, they sound totally frou frou Stuart Smiley, but there really is something to stating something out loud / on paper. Not that you have to stare in the mirror and say it every day. But the act of writing it down and thinking about it seems to prime one to recognize opportunities when they come.
I can't tell you how many times I've looked back on my old notes and seen goals written down like that, that I'd forgotten ever writing, but in the mean time, they'd come true. With lots of effort from me, of course, but I think that writing them down and thinking about them guided me & helped me grab opportunities when they arose.
* very specific ones (e.g. x number of dollars of biz a month, 25-45 min exercise a day, doing y things for friends every week)
* semi-specific ones (my big thing for 2009 is to be self-sustaining with my web service/products by 2010, & to get healthy because I'm turning - gulp - 25 this year)
* really generic ones -- I used to write goals down as kind of an affirmation exercise. Not "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better" kinda crap (retch), but "I am a recognized authority, speak at cool conferences, and people laugh at my jokes." kinda thing.
On the latter, they sound totally frou frou Stuart Smiley, but there really is something to stating something out loud / on paper. Not that you have to stare in the mirror and say it every day. But the act of writing it down and thinking about it seems to prime one to recognize opportunities when they come.
I can't tell you how many times I've looked back on my old notes and seen goals written down like that, that I'd forgotten ever writing, but in the mean time, they'd come true. With lots of effort from me, of course, but I think that writing them down and thinking about them guided me & helped me grab opportunities when they arose.