Procrastinating Entrepreneur

I came up with this method for creating my long-term goals list quite a few years ago now, and have found it to be a very effective method. First, I define long-term goals as anything that is going to take 3-5 years for me to complete. For most people thinking this far ahead is just too abstract, and to be truthful with you it was for me as well when I first got started. But with this system I found it to be a little easier. The following steps should help you get started,

• A 100 things to do list
  • This list can contain anything that you would like to do before you “shuffle off this mortal coil”, since we’re just brainstorming dont’ be overly concerned if they are realistic or not. Your main goal at this point should be to get as close to 100 items as possible (trust me it’s harder than you think). As an example one item on my list is to have an image library of 100,000 images.
• Group your list
  • Once you’ve come up with your list start to organize it into categories. You may come up with titles like travel, health, personal finance, etc. Make sure that each one of the items in your list fits into at least one category. A nice side affect of categorizing your list is that it will show where your values lie. If you find most of your list fits into the category of travel you can be pretty sure that travel is an important part of your life, and shouldn’t be ignored.
• Prioritize and trim your list
  • At this point you have a pretty big list of items. You should quickly prioritize each item and don’t change your mind. Your first instinct is usually the right one. I use a letter system A,B,C with A being the highest. If I don’t feel something fits into one of those three priorities I drop it right now.
• Creating your long-term goals
• • This is usually the most time-consuming and difficult part of the entire process. Some items on your list will convert more easily into long-term goals (an example would be my 100,000 image library) while other’s may take some more mental gymnastics to nail down. What you should do with each remaining item on your list is to convert them into a goals statement following the SMART principle that I touched on in an early post.

So get out there are create your own list today, it will really help to keep you on track during 2008.

Tags:   goal setting · long-term goals · overcoming procrastination · SMART principleNo Comments

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