As we are now in the middle of the year, and not having reviewed my yearly goals for over a month, I have come to a conclusion - most of those goals don't matter.
Okay, so there are things on there that I would like to get done / accomplish. And yes, I would still like to do those, but in my current life-style, I simply can't find time for all those goals. So was I giving myself unnecessary stress earlier in the year, trying to fit it all in? Yes, and no.
Goals are good, but what's even more important is that how good your goals are to your future plans. Unfortunately, if you are like me, your future plans include a lot of accomplishments and a feeling that I must do it all now. So I try to fit in as much as I think I can. And when I count number of hours, it seems almost possible. Of course what I fail to consider are the human limitations - like I might be too tired after a busy, stressful day at a day job to be productive every evening. Or that I might actually *HORROR* end up having some social obligation. My goals are good based on a number of hours available in the day, but not so good when I consider other limitations.
There are also too many of them. Okay, so a lot of things need to get done, and it does seem rather easy in January to think that surely I can do all of these in a year. But then I blink, and oh boy, it's nearly June. How the hell did that happen? But it happens. Every year. While I don't claim to be productive all the time, or indeed make the best use of my time, I do tend to underestimate how ordinary life gets in the way of goals.
But goals are still important...so at least for the rest of this year, instead of worrying about my big list...I am only going to worry about couple of things on there, and just focus on that. Rest will either take care of itself, or there is always next year.
What about you? How are your 2011 goals going? Do you have a long list that you are now daunted by? Or are you ticking everything off? Do you underestimate the time you have?
Social obligations? Eww! *shiver*
ReplyDeleteMy resolution/goals list is merely a guideline...something to point me in the right direction for the year. I haven't looked at it since January, and I probably won't look at it again until December when I'm taking stock of the year, and planning for the next. It did it's job - it got me moving and motivated at the beginning of the year.
I guess I look at it more as an outline - something flexible that is expected to change over the months. And in December, I'll pull it out, compare what I did to what's on there, and see how I did. The things I didn't get done will either roll forward, or maybe they just aren't important anymore, or have changed enough to be re-written.
I just focus on weekly goals during the year. Big picture is in the back of my mind, but it would be way too stressful to focus on that all the time. ;-)