GoalBot review
Goalbot is a free, simple goal setter and planner with a social twist. Fairly solid in the basics department, but don't expect any waterworks.
Avoid the “be yourself” trap
Some thoughts on the culture obsessed with "being yourself", what negative effects it can have on you and how to overcome those negative though patterns by a subtle change from "what I want to have" to "who I want to be".
Do new things or die mentally
This is one of those post that I am writing only to read it myself in a month or so. I just came back from a fantastic ski trip to the Dolomites in Italy, where I was learning to snowboard. My bones and muscles are still sore, but there is something about my body that is even stranger - the feel of my brain and nervous system.
Have you ever felt your brain rewire? This sore muscle that you can't quite place, but you know something is happening? This is how I've felt throughout my trip. Snowboarding is a demanding feat for the brain to get accustomed to - you force your body into using muscles and catching balance in ways that you never did before. The brain and nervous system are trying to make sense of it all.
You kind of feel the inner voice telling you "I don't know why you chose to tie yourself to a wooden board and go downhill, but I'll do the best I can to help you with that".
Snowboarding is just one of the great things you can do to keep your brain entertained and is quite extreme. You'll get similar results just by switching hands, walking in the dark or trying to draw music. Whatever you do - don't leave it up to chance - plan for what you are going to do right now. Put it on your to-do list and stick with it. If you're not quite clear what you can do to start, "Keep Your Brain Alive!" is a great start.
Now go and freak out.
The difference between goals and action plans
The flaws of some NY resolutions
This is the time (day? week?) of year when most people take a brief look at their lives, form a sentence that is supposed to destroy whatever vice that first popped into mind, and go on with their lives as usual. If you're like that - I will not be able to help you. If however you're more serious about your resolution - read on.
I used to think that a statement such as "I will jog for 60 minutes every other day by the end of February" is a goal. This statements adheres to the S.M.A.R.T. guidelines, but it has several flaws:
- It doesn't recognize the need to achieve goal incrementally - starting small and building momentum to achieve ultimate effect. This can be fixed by phrasing the goal like "I jog every other day, increasing the time by 2 minutes daily and ultimately running 60 minutes by the end of February".
- It doesn't really convey any benefits (on it's own). If someone were ignorant of the health benefits of jogging, this single statement would not mean anything. If we want to be motivated to do something we must keep the benefits constantly in mind - a goal like the above might be hard to accomplish because we tend to loose track of the ultimate reasons for achieving the goal (the desired end result).
- It would be hard for me to integrate this into my self-image.
- Why are you jogging? To get fit? To get strong? Increase stamina? Lose weight?
- What if jogging doesn't work out? You could develop knee problems, be attacked by dogs on a regular basis or having a really uninteresting neighbor join you. What then - do you drop the whole goal and quit?
All of these are result of mistaking actions for goals.
- A goal is an end state in which your life changed in a desirable way, consistent with your self image.
- A goal is achieved by setting up:
- reasons (why do I want this),
- an action plan (how will I achieve this).
The immediate practical applications could be:
- Suppose we change
"I jog every other day, increasing the time by 2 minutes daily and ultimately running 60 minutes by the end of February"
to:
"I am fit enough to allow me to jog for 60 minutes by the end of February"
- If something happens to disrupt your jogging schedule, you can work on your fitness levels in other ways. Also - you will be less likely to get bored this way because you are not limited to jogging.
- Maybe you will find a better way to get fit if you gain more knowledge about fitness in general. You can experiment with different training programs and measure which one works best for you.
- "I am fit and full of energy" seems to fit better into my self image than just being a jogger.
Change actions to goals
This is a fairly easy process:
- If your resolution is an action, look for the ultimate goal, write it down. The previous action will become part of your action plan.
or
If your resolution is already a goal (losing weight for example) don't do anything with it yet (maybe phrase it to be SMART) - List all the reasons for achieving the goal. This should be two lists: 10 benefits of achieving your goal and 10 painful consequences of not reaching it. This step is really important - ever since I started to integrate a list of reasons into my goal setting routine I've achieved far more than without them. The key is to really feel into the good (and bad) feelings that these hypothetical situations elicit.
- Get some knowledge about the subject in question and formulate an action plan. Your first item might be already there.
- Have daily habits to track the actions, revisit goals and action plans. Change them according to results. You may find a low tech way to keep track of goals in my previous post.
Do you have examples of transformed resolutions or other ways to better them? Let me know in the comments.
HabitShaper review in progress
Just started working on some goals with the use of HabitShaper. So far so good, we'll see how it will actually work in the long run. Results in more or less a month.
The power of measuring goal progress
Last month I've realized that I've been setting goals on weight loss for 2 years. The measurable result of these was at most temporary. I've realized that somewhere along the way there was a flaw in my process. I lacked two things:
- Knowledge - I knew enough about exercise but lacked the essential knowledge regarding energy balance and nutrition. This made my plan effective in terms of increasing overall health (which was quite satisfying), but did not lead to weight loss.
- A plan with (easily) measurable daily actions.
Improving the plan goal achievement process involved the following:
- Reading somewhat about it. Since weight loss is a limitless sesspool in desinformation, I skimmed throught a few books and sticked to those that made sense and did not promise to make me lose 5 kgs overnight. I stuck with "The body fat solution", by Tim Venuto. Also - I got some great mantra type articles from ZenHabits: example.
- I've already had a measurable goal, but I did not set up a plan for the measurements and alas - they failed. Armed with that knowledge I framed the simplest measurement schedule I could think of:
- Phase 1 (first 21 days). Using a pocket notepad and pen.
- Write down everything I eat with the amounts
- Weight myself in the evening.
- If doing any exercises, write them down.
- Phase 2. All the data went into a database for progress measurement.
- Count daily calorie intake and protein percentages of the foods
- Weight myself at least once a day (preferably in the morning and in the evening)
- Make an exercise plan and follow it.
- Phase 1 (first 21 days). Using a pocket notepad and pen.
I started simple and a month later am still building my way up. This is the natural progress of the goal measuring process. Begin with lo-tech low maintenance logging tools. This may even be all you need. I am currently on my way of building my own custom weight and calorie tracker (built for my specific needs), but mainly as a means to improving my programming skills.
The effect is that the goal of losing 1kg/week is steadily coming along, and I have full control over all of the variables, which is very gratifying.
Because I have some spare time and some goals, I'm going to resume testing goal setting software suites for those of you that do not have the luxury or the ability to write your own app 
Stay tuned.
Goal software 101: Trait #5: Choosing GS Systems
Over the years I've learned enough about goal setting to consider myself a connoisseur of goal setting systems. There were several concepts that influenced my vision of what is the best system, as did the tangible results that were achieved by following through them. The verdict about the best one is not decided, and probably never will be. There are at leasts 3 reasons:
- ANY reasonable goal setting system will work
Yes - the mere fact that you are actually setting goals and giving them some sort of attention will secure a reasonable amount of success - my aim is to find out which of these work best. - the optimal goal setting system is dependent on our desired end result
Example: the goal of "achieving a weight of xx kgs" and one which has an end result of "thinking positive thoughts" will require different exercises and different trains of thought. - the personality of the goal setter is a major factor
Some people are motivated more by pleasure, some by pain. It is up to the goal software to find out which is better for the particular person to maximise the effects of goal setting.
These varying factors is why I personally use several goal setting systems (and variations) including but not limited to:
- Techniques of Raymond Hull
- Techniques of Tony Robbins
- Concepts taught by David Allen (in particular the 6 levels of focus)
- various visualization systems of esoteric orders
It is also why the ideal goal software should take some time to get to know it's user and adjust his goal systems accordingly. Ultimately the user could pick the methodology of his choosing (with appropriate help of course and maybe suggestions based on the choice of other users) to every goal he wishes to work on.
Goal software 101: Trait #4: Total accessibility
This is where all of on offline approaches fall short. I want my goals to be available for looking over any time I want it. Any. time.
Some software systems will tell you that they are accessible any time, provided you carry your personal laptop anywhere with you, and that's a bit of a stretch. Others will provide you with portable software ready to be put on your USB drive. That's a bit better but not good enough for me - goal setting software must be able to provide you with the ability to store data online and access them with anything that can display a web page. Bonus points if you have offline access.
Of things to come
This post is actually written on May 26-th as a reminder that all the stuff that is going to appear on this blog since the publishing date on this post (March 26-th) is material that has basically already been written - I just have to make some fixes, rethink a few things and polish them up. I made the decision to give them the dates prior to their release because they were based on data that was available on those dates.
In other news:
- The best daily goal setting system ever is working out to be great for everday work. However, I am still putting together a system for a more strategic approach to goals that can be done on a weekend. I'll try to have this finished as soon as possible but my thesis deadline is closing fast. Anyway - it you haven't tried the system yet - give it a go. It's just a few minutes daily.
- The next few posts are going to be a return the the goal software 101 series, sprinkled with some helpful chunks of general goal setting information.
Review: Achieve-IT!
This was basically the first piece of software that I encountered in my search. This also happens to be my first review on this blog. Because my testing procedure is not yet quantified and transparent - this will be a totally subjective review (as are most reviews).
In touch
Categories
- announcements
- daily motivation
- general productivity
- goal setting
- goal software
- goal software 101
- mind hacks
- software reviews
