Sat 20 Jan 2007
Governing Values
Posted by Liza under Personal
Yesterday, I spent the day in a time management seminar. It was actually VERY interesting.
One of the exercises we started in class, and committed to finishing in the next 48 hours, was to draft our “governing values.” What are those core values that drive our decisionmaking in life — or should?
I think these are mine (in no particular order):
- Humor
- Love
- Social Justice
- Compassion/Respect
- Leadership
- Creativity
- Friendship
- Intelligence/Intellectual Pursuits
- Prosperity
- Fun
- Loyalty
- Adventure
Apparently, Ben Franklin used to keep a journal where he would note, every day, how he did or did not fulfill on his governing values.
It’s an interesting idea, and I think a good context for setting goals and making sure that you do periodic “course checks” and “course corrections” to make sure you haven’t been distracted away from fulfilling on the things in life that are really important to you.
The other “big picture” commitment from the class, which I anticipate sharing with you, is planning out 2 goals within the next week.
January 21st, 2007 at 12:21 am
This sounds related to the system that is pushed by Michael Masterson, who among other things has founded multiple multi-million dollar businesses and now amuses himself by being a “Success Coach”
(He also runs or ran the free e-letter “Early to Rise.” www.earlytorise.com)
He suggests is that you create 4 lists:
* Health (Fitness, etc.)
* Wealth (Professional, Savings, Investments)
* Relationships (Family)
* Life (Experiences)
Step 1:
Brainstorm each category, what are the most important things in each area that you would like to achieve before the Grim Reaper comes calling. Try to whittle each category down to two or three things that are most important to you.
Step 2:
Refine them into Formal Goals. To be a Goal (instead of a Resolution) in his view it has to have the following qualities:
* Specific
Not, “I want to take better care of my health”, but something that will make you healthier, to use a classic: “I will lose weight.”
* Measurable
Not just “I will lose weight” but “I will lose 20 pounds.”
* In a defined time frame.
“I will lose 20 pounds by Thanksgiving.” A good Goal is a dream with a deadline.
* Realistic
Losing 20 pounds by next week isn’t likely without doing something so drastic that the drawbacks will outweigh the benefits, or wanting to be a Rock Star when you have no musical talent whatsoever, etc.
And here is the important part:
* Commitment
It is something that really is one of your Life Goals, it deserves some commitment doesn’t it?
As most life goals are complicated and decompose to a lot of shorter term goals, he recommends focusing first on the life goals - what is really, really important to you. In the initial set, if you put a lot of short term goals that don’t feed into the Life Goals it is sort of like setting off on a journey but making constant side trips and back tracks.
Speaking of which:
Step 3:
Decompose the Life Goals to smaller Goals (that also have the above qualities) that you can do now to move toward the Life Goals.
Step 4:
Keep a journal of what you have done to meet your goals. Also set some time aside each week to think about what you are going to do this week to move toward your Goals. As you have as many as a dozen life goals (3 in each category - more gets to be untenable) consider how long it has been since you applied effort to each major goal. This lets you clarify the need to work on those - the things that are really important, rather than the nit-noid things that work, or other potential disctractions, present for you to do as if the world will come to an end if you don’t do that instead. You probably need to give these things some time, but again to use the classic “Lose Weight” goal - it is so very easy (I know of course how easy) to tell yourself that the project or action item at work is more important than getting to the pool or the gym. With your Goals defined and an action plan to feed the goals rather than someone else’s you are more likely to make progress on what you want.
Step 5: Every year or so - schedule some time (New Year’s Day might be a good choice or New Years and 4th of July) to look at the list of major goals and decide if they are still what you want. It doesn’t make sense to keep moving towards what you don’t want anymore. Your essay the other day on “Never” is illustrative of this.
Your mileage may vary, though Joe, one of my friends from High School that I still see regularly, articulated the idea back then that if you decide what you want and work toward it step by step it is amazing what you can accomplish. The same idea, without the formal process. Over 20 years later, He is probably the most successful person I know in a well rounded life: (To break his life into the 4 areas above)
*Good Career (He was the first Computer Science PhD that AOL ever hired.)
* Great Family with three smart, healthy kids (2 at UVa, the third still in High School) and a wife who is a Talented Artist who was able to stay at home, pursue her Artistic Goals while raising the kids.
* On the Health Front: In recent years he has taken up Fencing, Suba Diving, Horseback Riding and Karate and is in excellent health himself other than Fencing wearing his knees down a bit.
* Life: While he has had the benefit of work sending him interesting places he has been able to Travel - particularly in recent years with and without his Family (often AOL will send him someplace and he will take Julie or the whole family on a later Trip.) Recent trips have included Paris, Ireland, and next week He and Julie are going to India to ride the Palace on Rails and see northern India.
I could come up with people who have been more successful financially, or risen higher in a career, etc. but I can’t think of someone who has been so all around successful in all 4 areas. (Not that Joe isn’t a human being with faults, but he did not further his career at the expense of raising a set of messed up kids - like every Flag or General Officer in the Military I have ever met.)
If you are curious, No I have not gotten around to doing this myself. I am a horrible procrastinator. I have come up with creative ways to procrastinate. Sometimes I manage to accomplish something I don’t really want to do but need to do by coming up with something I want to do even less and using the first to put off doing the second.
For example I see I have rambled on a bit and I should get back to packing.
January 21st, 2007 at 5:38 pm
That’s an interesting way to organize things!
This system, Fr@nkinC0vey, for those curious, also emphasizes setting goals, either related to your values, the key roles in your life (5-7, personal, professional, or community, subject to change), or your personal mission statement.
I have not yet drafted my personal mission statement — all the rest of the activities seem to lead up to that. I’m working on roles at the moment.
I do like the idea of taking care to ensure that my goals represent a range of areas in my life.
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:52 am
I must be SO lame, cause the only goals I care about are to relax, read a good book, get in a run occasionally, make enough money for a decent life, and read a good book. Phew. That website wore my ass out!
Feeling very inferior now.