Is It Possible To Be Productive Without Concrete Goals?

Photo by By thetorpedodog

As we approach the end of 2007, many people are talking about assessing the last year and planning for the next.

I’ve Never Set Goals

I’ll let you in on a secret: I’ve never done this before. When David Allen talks about 50,000 level, I nod and think it would be nice. When Stephen Covey talked about working on things that count, I nodded and thought it would be nice. But the fact is, I don’t. I may have short term goals, usually couched in terms of the project I am working on currently. But no long term ones.

Churn

This lack of goals may be behind what I consider “churn” in my life: the constant flitting from thing to thing, never making great strides in anything as I go on to the next project as the fancy takes me.

Goals: Key to Doing The Right Things

But as I look at it, I begin to see that having goals that are more than a week out can keep me on track. If I say that I am going to write 50,000 words in 30 days, I will put it off unless the goal of being completed by November 30. While I am working on that goal, I do very little other than move toward it. Granted NaNoWriMo is an extreme example, but it is the one that comes to mind.

How I’m Approaching It

So now that I’ve decided I should try this goal setting thing, I have looked around at the discussions and paid attention. I started reading “Your Best Year Yet”, but put it down because of the author’s connection to someone I find reprehensible (and I can’t get past it to see the message of the book). Next will be a search on the Internet to see if I can get other methods.

What are your methods for setting goals?