101 Goals in 1001 Days is a concept I gathered The Simple Dollar, another Finance blog I read. The concept, however, certainly isn’t new and wasn’t even made up by him. I did a bit more searching, and decided to just do some copy/paste work to describe how it works in a nutshell.

The Mission:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days?
Many people have created lists in the past - frequently simple goals such as New Year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organising and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Some common goal setting tips:
1. Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
2. Stay Focussed. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
3. Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
4. Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
5. Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

I have made a list of my goals at this page and will be using that to track my goals. Most of them are not financial, but some are.

So often you read about New Years Resolutions, and other goals that people have, and so often many of it goes undone. We set these goals, these expectations for ourselves and then we forget about them later. This makes goals worthless. Remembering goals and working at them every day is the only way to truly accomplish them, no matter what the goal may be. Goals help keep us progressing instead of regressing. Goals help us evaluate that progress, as well. I think goals are an integral part of getting out of a slump - but it’s working towards those goals instead of ignoring them that is ultimately going to be what moves us along in the right direction.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Goals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.