Setting Goals Based on Time – Do! (sometimes)
Have a look at these smart goal examples:
- I will be practicing violin for 10 measures every day, in two months.
- I will be completing 1 drawing every day, by next month.
- I will be doing 3 general physics problems every weekday, in two months.
Which one do you think might cause problems?
The first goal I discussed yesterday. I explained why it is better than “practice 45 minutes a day”, even though it is a little bit harder to track.
Doing 3 physics problems daily, to prepare for my PhD Prelims, would be a problem unless I pick the problems randomly (i.e. with dice). That way I won’t pick the easy ones all the time. So, “number of problems done” is a reasonable measure.
But, “drawing 1 page”? When is a drawing complete? What is stopping me from drawing smileys and stick figures?
Unlike the other goals, which have well defined end times, it is much harder to know when a drawing is done. More importantly, it is easier to “cheat” and just randomly scribble something, and call it “An Artistic Outflow, Captured in Time – HB pencil on 8.5×11in paper”, and call it a day.
So, the “no time-based goals” rule has a new corollary:
Time-based goals are OK if…
- it is easier to “cheat” with other measures.
- or, there are no other measures.
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