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Not Too Many Goals

How many goals should you have?

Is there a limit?

I've known people who said that they had a hundred goals. They were working their way thru the list and checking them off one by one. Good for them. I  could never do that. It's too many. How do you even keep that many straight? How do you build energy for them?

Some people call a list like that a bucket-list. If that's what it is, it isn't so much a list of goals as plans for experience. That's very different.

Goals require work. Goals require attention. Goals require a level of focus seldom afforded anything else. The discipline that takes limits the capacity anyone has for setting goals. We can only do so much. Of course, we aspire to do more. Of course we put lots of stretch into our goals and our list of goals. But, we can only do so many.

I can't tell you what that number is. I find that 5 goals a day is a good number for me. Five achievable goals for each day and another 3 - 5 major goals that carry on -- projects.

Too many goals is about as useful as no goals at all.

I won't do that to myself. Why should you?

-- Doug Smith


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Comments

  1. David SpiegelMay 11, 2016 at 8:47 AM

    I find the missing element of a to-do list is accountability.Pick your daily agenda items and make a schedule.....and hold yourself accountable to that plan!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Doug SmithMay 11, 2016 at 9:15 PM

    That's great advice, David!

    ReplyDelete

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