Are you ready to plan your life time goals in 6 minutes? Read on below taken from:
Identifying Goals With Alan Lakein
Alan Lakein wrote his seminal work on time management "How To Get Control of Your Time and Your Life" back in 1973, but his advice is timeless and the simplest format for determining goals that I've read. Most other time management books follow his advice.
Let's begin. First you determine your Lifetime Goals. Write at the top of a piece of paper the question:
"What are my lifetime goals?" Take 2 minutes to list answers on your paper, take into account personal, family, social, career, financial, community and spiritual goals. Here's mine (I'm taking these from a list I wrote back in July):
- live in New York City for a couple of months as a resident, not a tourist
- RV sabbatical down in Mexico
- live in a city in Europe
- RV in Europe (A3)
- visit London, Paris, Rome and Istanbul
- go to Carnivale in Rio
- live in a rural area in Europe
- write a novel (A2)
- have enough money not to have to work again unless I chose (A1)
- learn to become a good writer of fiction
- raise happy kids
- have a good relationship
- become physically fit @ 15% BF and 200# deadlift (A3)
- hike the Appalachian and/or Pacific Coast Trail
- bike across Canada
- raise ragdoll cats
- hike the Grand Canyon
- be able to ski any black diamond run
- live in a place that fits me / makes me happy - ie. acreage near water
- live in a retirement home where I can dance and party all the time
After those 2 minutes are up, take another 2 minutes to make any changes.
Question #2:
"How would I like to spend the next three years?" (if over 30, make it 5 years) - 2 minutes
- save $ to ensure I don't have to work (A1)
- travel in moho to MX
- write a novel (A3)
- get to 125# and be fit (A2)
- live in Maritimes or BC
- renovate another house
- sell this house for top dollar
- start dating again
- take writing course / conference
- spend more time with friends and family
- get off work treadmill
- do a good job at my work so leave happy
- time with pets
- learn more re. investing
- find way to be reasonably neat without a lot of effort
Take another 2 minutes to tweak your answers.
Question #3:
"If I knew now I would be struck dead by lightning six months from today, how would I live until then?"
- take time to get in shape (A2)
- travel in motorhome - Europe (A3)
- spend more time with family and friends (A4)
- quit job
- write a blog on how to live 80/20
- write a novel (A1)
- be more self-disciplined
- not waste so much time
- live in Europe
- go on another cruise - Egypt
- get lips plumped (WTF? - where did that one come from?)
Spend another 2 minutes minimum reviewing and improving your answers. Ideally, the answers in #3 should be along the same path as the answers from #2 and #1.
Re. goal conflicts. Resolve them by setting priorities. Select your top 3 goals in each category and label them A-1, A-2 and A-3. (I have a hard time choosing sometimes, so you can have a tie between two.)
There are some things that I tend not to put as a high priority in exercises like this because I don't have to really work at them, they come naturally. Being a good mom and spending plenty of time with my kids is one of those things. However, if I did show them as a priority, it would probably help me to see that much of my time is occupied with them, so that doesn't leave a huge amount of time for other pursuits and goals.
Oh well, there's no right or wrong answers.
Now what to do with them? Tomorrow (or sometime this week anyway), I'll discuss how I've been implementing a weekly Autofocus-lite hybrid that's been working pretty well for me.
Let's begin. First you determine your Lifetime Goals. Write at the top of a piece of paper the question:
"What are my lifetime goals?" Take 2 minutes to list answers on your paper, take into account personal, family, social, career, financial, community and spiritual goals. Here's mine (I'm taking these from a list I wrote back in July):
- live in New York City for a couple of months as a resident, not a tourist
- RV sabbatical down in Mexico
- live in a city in Europe
- RV in Europe (A3)
- visit London, Paris, Rome and Istanbul
- go to Carnivale in Rio
- live in a rural area in Europe
- write a novel (A2)
- have enough money not to have to work again unless I chose (A1)
- learn to become a good writer of fiction
- raise happy kids
- have a good relationship
- become physically fit @ 15% BF and 200# deadlift (A3)
- hike the Appalachian and/or Pacific Coast Trail
- bike across Canada
- raise ragdoll cats
- hike the Grand Canyon
- be able to ski any black diamond run
- live in a place that fits me / makes me happy - ie. acreage near water
- live in a retirement home where I can dance and party all the time
After those 2 minutes are up, take another 2 minutes to make any changes.
Question #2:
"How would I like to spend the next three years?" (if over 30, make it 5 years) - 2 minutes
- save $ to ensure I don't have to work (A1)
- travel in moho to MX
- write a novel (A3)
- get to 125# and be fit (A2)
- live in Maritimes or BC
- renovate another house
- sell this house for top dollar
- start dating again
- take writing course / conference
- spend more time with friends and family
- get off work treadmill
- do a good job at my work so leave happy
- time with pets
- learn more re. investing
- find way to be reasonably neat without a lot of effort
Take another 2 minutes to tweak your answers.
Question #3:
"If I knew now I would be struck dead by lightning six months from today, how would I live until then?"
- take time to get in shape (A2)
- travel in motorhome - Europe (A3)
- spend more time with family and friends (A4)
- quit job
- write a blog on how to live 80/20
- write a novel (A1)
- be more self-disciplined
- not waste so much time
- live in Europe
- go on another cruise - Egypt
- get lips plumped (WTF? - where did that one come from?)
Spend another 2 minutes minimum reviewing and improving your answers. Ideally, the answers in #3 should be along the same path as the answers from #2 and #1.
Re. goal conflicts. Resolve them by setting priorities. Select your top 3 goals in each category and label them A-1, A-2 and A-3. (I have a hard time choosing sometimes, so you can have a tie between two.)
There are some things that I tend not to put as a high priority in exercises like this because I don't have to really work at them, they come naturally. Being a good mom and spending plenty of time with my kids is one of those things. However, if I did show them as a priority, it would probably help me to see that much of my time is occupied with them, so that doesn't leave a huge amount of time for other pursuits and goals.
Oh well, there's no right or wrong answers.
Now what to do with them? Tomorrow (or sometime this week anyway), I'll discuss how I've been implementing a weekly Autofocus-lite hybrid that's been working pretty well for me.
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