{"id":13170,"date":"2010-09-05T18:56:28","date_gmt":"2010-09-06T01:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=13170"},"modified":"2010-09-06T06:57:30","modified_gmt":"2010-09-06T13:57:30","slug":"do-you-want-to-actually-achieve-your-goals-then-make-your-commitment-real-by-making-specific-explicit-objective-detailed-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/13170\/do-you-want-to-actually-achieve-your-goals-then-make-your-commitment-real-by-making-specific-explicit-objective-detailed-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Do you want to actually achieve your goals? Then make your commitment real by making specific, explicit, objective, detailed plans."},"content":{"rendered":"

Teri Lussier turned me on to this TED talk on goal-achievement<\/a>. The video makes the seemingly confounding claim that announcing your goals to other people makes you less likely to achieve them. As with every other seemingly confounding “argument,” the matter turns on the conflation of unlike things. What the speaker, Derek Sivers, is talking about are not actual goals but casual whims. What a huge surprise: Eating cotton-candy spoils your appetite for real food! Who knew?<\/p>\n

I once worked with a woman who would issue random statements of desires completely unconnected to her real life. Like this: “I think it would be fun to be a flight attendant.” This is actually an easy goal to attain, but it requires a process of thought and effort and a significant amount of focused action taken over time. The same criteria would apply to any sort of meaningful goal.<\/p>\n

Simply announcing to another person that you might like to lose weight, or you might like to see the pyramids, or you might like to be a better Realtor — these are all equally meaningless expressions of whims. They are the verbal equivalent of cotton-candy, a big pile of sugary nothing whipped up by your mind to confound itself into believing that it has been nourished — when you know without any possible doubt that it has not.<\/p>\n

The TED talk turns on psychology, which should be warning enough that it’s pure bullshit. The “science” of psychology exists to “persuade” you to be “satisfied” with a lifetime of dull dissatisfaction. “Come on, now, you know that expressing your goals only makes them harder to achieve. Now take another pill and go back to sleep.”<\/p>\n

No, thank you. And don’t make me say it again.<\/p>\n

The problem is not expressing goals, but expressing empty whims and then doing nothing. Yes, that is self-destructive, but this is not something anyone needs to be told.<\/p>\n

Here is what needs to be explored in detail:<\/p>\n

Expressing your goals requires a very strong commitment. A true goal is detailed and specific, explicit and objective. It includes a list of serious actions that must be taken through Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Teri Lussier turned me on to this TED talk on goal-achievement. The video makes the seemingly confounding claim that announcing your goals to other people makes you less likely to achieve them. As with every other seemingly confounding “argument,” the matter turns on the conflation of unlike things. What the speaker, Derek Sivers, is talking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,212,29],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-egoism-in-action","7":"category-flourishing","8":"category-group-therapy","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":345,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/345\/the-carnival-of-real-estate-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":13170,"position":0},"title":"The Carnival of Real Estate . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"...is up at BlueRoof.com Blog. 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Whet your mind, sharpen your pencil and bring your A-game: I have a taste\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Carnivals"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Carnivals","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blog-carnivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6316,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6316\/the-goal-getters-game-yes-you-want-to-set-goals-for-2009-but-heres-a-game-to-make-sure-you-actually-follow-through-on-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":13170,"position":1},"title":"The Goal-Getters Game: Yes, you want to set goals for 2009, but here’s a game to make sure you actually follow through on them","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Goal-Getters Game is a variation on some of the ideas we have been playing with in email since Thanksgiving. So first: 'Tis the season for New Year's Resolutions, made in haste and forgotten more hastily. The Motivational Speaker Circuit, both inside and outside of the real estate world, is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Egoism in Action"","block_context":{"text":"Egoism in Action","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/egoism-in-action\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13728,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/13728\/jeff-brown-says-you-might-want-to-keep-your-goals-to-yourself-jim-klein-says-every-intentional-action-you-take-is-the-expression-of-a-goal-even-just-the-goal-of-wasting-time-greg-swann-says-simply\/","url_meta":{"origin":13170,"position":2},"title":"Jeff Brown says you might want to keep your goals to yourself. Jim Klein says every intentional action you take is the expression of a goal, even just the goal of wasting time. 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The thrust of the post talks about the tactic of exposing your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14244,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/14244\/my-goal-for-march-satisfied-clients-and-a-satisfied-mind\/","url_meta":{"origin":13170,"position":4},"title":"My goal for March? Satisfied clients and a satisfied mind.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I changed the back of my business card. This is the new copy: I agree with Jeff that giving good service while failing to achieve the main objective is a useless vanity. 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