4d ago in Words of Wisdom
Hitting Goals: Ins and Outs (3 mins)
As the year draws to a close, I’m hearing more and more goal setting and discussion of objectives to hit for the end of next year. As I reflect on my own year, I can’t even remember where I put the piece of paper I wrote my goals down on is, let alone remember the goals I had arbitrarily set myself at the start of the year.
As a brief detour: I think the way you live your life day in, day out, the choices you make, and the things you accept or reject show what your goals really are. Yes, a younger me would say he wants a six-pack for summer every January, but his actions didn’t evidence that this was a goal. An outsider couldn’t have guessed a six-pack was on the agenda as I dug into my second cookie dough Ben and Jerry’s of the day.
If you are going to set goals, I think an important frame to hold in your mind is that of “life is inputs and outputs.” It’s very easy to state the output that we desire, but rarely do we think about the tangible inputs that will ultimately achieve it. A goal is just an output. So what inputs need to go in to achieve it?
Each hour of your day, you are inputting into something. For many of us its hours put into school or work, but what’s our desired output here? Even worse, we sink time into scrolling on reels and consuming content, these are all inputs but to what end? Perhaps you’re at peace with the time you sink into content consumption and you see it as some productive use of time to some worthwhile end, then again, probably not.
Thinking ahead to what we want to achieve in the next year is perhaps a valuable endeavour. However, seeing the finish line is one thing, knowing what to train to reach it is another, and actually doing the work is the most important step of all. Most of us reverse engineer the input-output equation: We see some great goal at the end. However, I think if we adopt an input-oriented approach: What am I doing day in day out? Where does this ultimately lead me? Do I want the outcome I am presently working towards? How can I alter my day to day actions to achieve what I supposedly want?
I think approaching goals this way, will in the least, allow you to remember what your aims were at the start of the year. Since your daily habits will have been ample evidence for you to see what exactly it was you were working towards.
I was slightly dishonest at the beginning of this submission, I do remember telling my friend some of my goals for 2024. The main goal was to get a First Class Degree, another was to be able to drive. I can say that I did put in enough time and effort to achieve the first goal, and well, my driving test is in 10 days time… so we shall indeed see if I racked up the appropriate inputs to achieve my desired end.
Goal-setting can be admirable, it gives you something to orient yourself towards. However, it’s ultimately meaningless if you don’t what steps are required to achieve it.
Hit your goals, with inputs and outputs.
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Hitting Goals: Ins and Outs (3 mins)
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