I got an Action Day planner this year, and part of what it tries to help you with is goal setting. It’s the old saw, put in the big rocks and then the little ones to fill in the spaces. One of my goals has been to consolidate various writings, including what I did on Avventurato that somehow never went anywhere.
Task 1. Begin Positive Practices.
Action Day like most goal setting calendars tells you start with positive practices i.e. those practices that are helpful for you to get to your goal. Some of these practises can be something like reading , listening to music, creating art, physical exercise or just being alone. The thing to keep in mind is that pleasure is not engagement but relief from engagement; so you must choose something that will give you the most relief i.e. rest to recharge.
That’s an odd thought, that your hobby, your interest is actually self-recharging but upon reflection, I realize that is rather true; after reading for a while I usually feel better, like a long swim or a hot shower. My problem is that I do not put enough time in reading to get much of it done, so with Action Day, you can put in your Goodreads # for the Year and then over the months and weeks see if you hitting your wish.
Action Day makes a big deal that you are not supposed to be saving your goals for a rainy day but working on them now. This is something that you really want to do with your time as that will will build a positive practice in your life of learning it and mastering it so you can conquer it and move on. What happens if you do not like it? Preserve as sometimes you do not like anything new, strange or breaks up your regular day of Facebook, email and gossip and so rebel and throw the baby out with the bath water and give up. So don’t, but stay calm and carry on.
The key is that 1) you cannot wait and 2) you give it some time.
There are other Action Planners too. Knowledge looks good which seems to be about getting self-knowledge of your habits.
The first block on the page is What you have to Start Doing and then What you need to Stop Doing to get there. The examples, as you see here, aren’t very explanatory and I am not sure if you buy the planner you get more information or not. The Day Planner showed me nothing and I was surprised to find about 10-13 pages of explanation in the beginning of the book to tell you how to use it.
Perhaps Idea, Knowledge and Problem Solving is the same.
So far I like Action Day. I went to Staples to see more of the line but it is only available online. I find that I treat as more elastic than it truly is, so I end up burning both sides of the candles and then running out of steam or taking shortcuts along the way. Neither in the end is a good method as I find that my real goals do not get met and then I wonder why and/or get depressed.
So what is my Goal? I think one of my goals is to sell more of everything I have right now, do not want and have too much of. I need to declutter, junk or finally in the end, just toss it out, I do not think my goal is to be a professional seller or arbitrageur, just to get rid of what I have and move on…but then once you start something you never know where it will lead.
In my anguish... 