I Don't Set Goals, I Make Plans

I don’t usually set goals. Goals can be missed, that’s why I have switched to selecting targets. Targets are things that cannot be missed. Or if they are missed, you are forced to ask the question of why you missed, how far off target you were, and what you can do to not miss the target again. This change in mindset is why I have switched to making plans. I realize that all may sound pretentious. However, this outlook has come from experience. It comes from what I learned both from playing sports and when I worked in sales. This mindset has taken over many aspects of my life. To the point that now when someone asks me about goals, I avoid using that word to describe something in the future. Looking at my life over the last few years, the occasions when I do use it is in the past tense. And most often my use of goal is to communicate what I did in simplest terms, as targets or plans can carry negative undertones. This is more due to the limitations of our language, and word association.

So, why do I say that goals can be missed?

I’ve learned over the years that we often set goals, but just because we set them does not necessarily mean we intend to reach them. Goals are inherently more aspirational than targets. Goals are also more broad than targets. Think of a soccer(football) goal, the posts and net fill a large area. However, if you switch to targeting a specific area or the goalie’s head, that is a much smaller, more specific point of aim.

We are often disappointed when we miss our goals, but we don’t always look back at what happened to figure out what went wrong and/ or how we can improve. We instead turn to practicing more, because we believe “practice makes perfect.” However, this thought process often leads to practice habits that aren’t always focused.

Many are aware of the SMART philosophy of goal setting. I, like many others, followed this for years. Don’t get me wrong, the SMART process of setting goals does work, and is helpful when you’re starting out on something new. Yet, once you’ve been doing certain things long enough, you learn that this process has some self-limiting aspects. That’s why about midway through my bachelors I began to think of how I approached goals differently. And this change triggered me to switch from setting goals to picking specific targets, which turned into the acronym of PLAN.

What does PLAN stand for? PLAN stands for process, logistics, action(s), and numbers.

Why these words? Why even bother “reinventing the wheel” as it were.

Process begins by forcing you to ask the question of what you want to achieve, and what steps you will take to get there. If you want to climb a mountain, that’s a nice goal. But climbing to the summit of a mountain requires a target. Well, more like several, that build on each other to reach the summit. This forces you to look at what is the process of climbing a mountain, i.e.- what do/have other mountain climbers do/done to reach the summit.

The next question is do you have the logistical capability to climb a mountain? What resources do you have? Climbing a mountain requires at least some specific equipment. Specialized equipment may be needed in some cases. Sometimes this specialized equipment can be as simple as the proper footwear.

Looking at your logistical capabilities requires you to be nakedly honest with yourself of whether or not you can achieve what you have set out to achieve. It forces you to look at the resources you currently have, and how you can acquire any other resources you may need to achieve your plan. This leads into the next letter in the acronym, action. What actions are or can you take to climb that mountain? In simplest terms, this is the core of resource management.

After you decide on the process and determine your logistical capability will help determine the actions you can and will take to hit your target. This lets you select smaller targets that let you build on top of each other to build towards your larger target. Again using climbing a mountain as our example. Most people do not live close enough to the mountain that they want to climb to go do short climbs everyday. Even if you did, this is most likely cost prohibitive in terms of gas, time, cost of food and water, etc. Additionally, this is unlikely to be a practical means of training due to weather and seasonal variations. Thus, a good solution to this would be to find a gym that you can go to everyday, and walk on a treadmill for a specific amount of time at or near the same grade as that mountain. And this leads into the next letter of PLAN, numbers.

While to many this may seem like I'm just swapping out the term measurable from SMART for numbers, there is a step that I feel is often left out or not acknowledged in the SMART system. That is what you do with that measurement after. You can measure something all day, but if you don’t turn that measurement into action, then it means little. Additionally, it can hide areas of improvement. Back to climbing the mountain. If you are supposed to go to the gym and “hike” three miles on the treadmill, but only complete 2.6, you need to know why. Often people will say, “Well that was close. Don’t worry about it. You’ll make it tomorrow.” Or other things along those lines.

However, if you change how you’re measuring in this situation, the picture becomes clearer. In this example, you only completed 87 percent of your target. Now you need to know why. This requires being honest with yourself. Were you late to the gym because you procrastinated? Perhaps it is winter, and you’re coming down with a cold that affected your training. One of these is more acceptable than the other. But they both have controls that can be implemented.

If you procrastinated, and were short on time because you decided to sit down and look at your phone for 20 minutes, rather than getting ready and going to the gym requires a change in habits. Getting a cold is something you can’t necessarily control. However, you can mitigate the likelihood of that happening. Have you been dressing properly for the weather? Or have you been ignoring that you should be wearing a hat or thicker jacket. These are controls. Things that you can change in order to achieve your objective.

The last part of this may seem odd to many, as there should actually be a fifth letter to this system. And that letter would be S. So for both silent and secret. When I make plans to reach a target or objective, I rarely discuss them outside of a context or conversation that will help achieve them. I do my best to only discuss them when I am looking into something that will help me reach my target. Or talking to someone that has knowledge of something that will help reach my objective.

Now to answer some of the questions Vocal gave us as prompts.

How has the past year on Vocal shaped your goals for this year?

This past year has been very rough. I lost a lot of time grieving the loss of my grandmother, and attending a very demanding professional school. It was a necessary process, but it did make writing take a backseat for most of the year. But I have since turned that around in a big way. You’ll see this when I answer another prompt below.

What genres or writing forms do you wish to explore?

I plan on writing more short stories. I have been working on taking some of my ideas for longer pieces, and turning part of them into short stories that can be later tied into the larger piece. That’s part of why I wrote Doctor Arrested for Creating Human Statues.

What skills do you want to hone?

Short fiction. I tend to either write short things like poetry. Or much longer pieces.

How often will you write?

My aim is to publish at least one new piece a day. Back to the time I lost earlier this year. One of the things I noticed during one exchange on Facebook was that I would get distracted talking about writing, more than actually writing. This all changed when I realized I had wrote 400 plus words between two comments. That all changed after writing 22 entries for the Critique challenge and writing Driven. A part of this change came as well when I started writing everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Whether it’s doing my cardio on a stationary bike, or waiting for a doctor’s appointment, I do everything in my power to write something everyday.

How often will you read other creators' work?

I read at least one piece a day. I also look for a new creator to read everyday.

Who will you collaborate/connect with on Vocal?

I’m not sure. The only times I’ve done this was through a Facebook post, and when other creators have asked if they could use my work in their projects. Writers tend to be solitary creatures. And I haven’t had the bandwidth to collaborate in a while.

How will you support other creators?

I do this most often by sharing their work.

How will Vocal challenges help shape your creative journey?

I like when a challenge introduces me to a new genre or subgenre of writing. Or sometimes I will create a challenge within a challenge, i.e.- seeing how many critiques I could write in I realized that writing twelve 50 word critiques was the same as writing one 600 word article. Or taking a challenge like the Abecedarian Poem challenge, and reversing the order to write Nairadeceba.

Is there a specific piece you want to finish or work on?

I am currently gathering information and materials to publish my first book this year.

What do you want your impact to be on Vocal?

I have somethings in the works that after I experiment with them, I would love to share the results with other creators.

Thank you for reading my work. If you enjoyed this story, there’s more below. Please hit the like and subscribe button, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @AtomicHistorian. To help me create more content, leave a tip or become a pledged subscriber. I also make stickers, t-shirts, etc here.

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