Create More Time by Tracking Your Goals

April 27th, 2010 — tonymayo  Email This Article Email This Article

TimeThe research suggests that the brain has more control over its own perception of passing time than people may know. For example, many people have the defeated sense that it was just yesterday that they made last year’s resolutions; the year snapped shut, and they didn’t start writing that novel or attend even one Pilates class. But it is precisely because they didn’t act on their plan that the time seemed to have flown away.

By contrast, the new research suggests, focusing instead on goals or challenges that were in fact engaged during the year — whether or not they were labeled as “resolutions” — gives the brain the opportunity to fill out the past year with memories, and perceived time.

Finally, the mind is perfectly capable of interpreting a fast-forward year, or decade, as something other than a frittering away of opportunities for self-improvement. In another series of experiments published in Psychological Science, psychologists found that when people were tricked into believing that more time had passed than was really the case, they assumed they must have been having more fun. The perception heightened their enjoyment of music and eased their annoyance at doing menial tasks.



The mind is a wonderful sense-making device: it takes ambiguous or confusing information and simplifies it according to rules of thumb.

–Aaron M. Sackett
Psychologist
University of St. Thomas
How the Brain Perceives Time
New York Times



Learn how to set goals: click here.



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Guidelines for Writing Your Goals

January 30th, 2010 — tonymayo  Email This Article Email This Article



How you put your goals into language has a huge impact on their likelihood of success. Above all, be sure your goals are describing specific, measurable results (SMRs).

  1. Remove all reference to time and change.
    1. Pretend you are at the completion date, the SMR is achieved, and describe how it is. This is different from, and much more effective than standing in “today” and saying how it will (might) be?
    2. Write every SMR in the present tense, as of the completion date. Instead of “I will weigh 160 pounds on August 12.” write “I weigh 160 pounds.”
    3. Remove any reference to change or comparisons. That means no “more,” no “increase,” no “lose.”
  2. State everything positively
    Remove all “not,” “end,” and “stop.”
    Write “I have been breathing only clean air for two weeks.” instead of “Stopped smoking two weeks ago.”
  3. For SMRs that are continuing activities or states, for example, “exercise for 30 minutes twice per week,” be specific about the performance period.
    State exactly which weeks the activities will occur: 2 out of the last 3? All of the last 12? All are equally valid, you decide and specify a measure that describes a victory for you.
  4. Banish all thoughts of how-to.
    1. For now, consider only what you want. There’s time to work on the methods later.
    2. Check to see if your SMR is actually a how-to for the SMR you really want.
      One client had an SMR of “Eat vegetarian and visit the gym twice per week.” She changed it to “Going all day with energy and eagerness, caffeine-free.” Diet and exercise weren’t her goals, just how-tos. She got the result through a visit to her doctor and a specific treatment.



See also Managing Yourself with Specific Measurable Results, on this blog.



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For Executives.

Evidence-based Rules for “How to Set Goals”

January 23rd, 2010 — tonymayo  Email This Article Email This Article

How to Set Goals

1) Describe the objective or task.

2) Specify the measurements to be used.

3) Set the target.

4) Create a deadline or performance period.

5) Priority rank multiple goals.

6) Rate difficulty and importance of goals. (optional)

7) Determine who else needs to be involved.

Strongly suggested: Get someone else to monitor your performance.

See it at Amazon

See it at Amazon

Goal Setting: A Motivational Technique That Works!

Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham

See also Managing Yourself with Specific Measurable Results, on this blog.

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Focus Point

May 20th, 2009 — tonymayo  Email This Article Email This Article

Focus Point

I do some balancing postures as part of my yoga practice, standing on one foot while stretching my body. The people who taught me these postures said to “find a point some distance away and hold your gaze on it” while in the posture. I resisted doing this, preferring to let my eyes wander during the stretch. Besides, I know how to balance. It is just a matter of holding your body in the proper position. So, I wobbled or fell.

Now, I remind myself to choose a distinct object as a focus point: the corner of a doorway or the center of a flower. While holding the posture I often notice my eye wandering. And my body wavering. I can only regain my balance by Read the rest of this entry »

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Making Something BIG Happen

March 5th, 2009 — tonymayo  Email This Article Email This Article

According to an article by Michael Shermer in the September 2007 issue of Scientific American, several elements are needed for a movement or an idea to gain acceptance:

  1. The idea takes a stand for something, not against something, and is based on a positive assertion.
  2. The idea uses an intelligent, rational approach to tackle myths and raises consciousness and awareness.
  3. The idea embraces the uniqueness of self and others, and it requires us to respect each other.
  4. The idea encourages exploration, experimentation and a sense of adventure.

– Carole Carson
Here’s a radical idea:
getting fit is fun and contagious
LA Times
January 12, 2009

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Cautions on Goal Setting

February 25th, 2009 — tonymayo  Email This Article Email This Article

…goal setting should be undertaken modestly and carefully, with a focus more on personal rather than financial gain. They* also make the case that much more research–and more skepticism–is needed about the practice of goal setting. “Rather than dispensing goal setting as a benign, over-the-counter treatment for students of management, experts need to conceptualize goal setting as a prescription-strength medication that requires careful dosing, consideration of harmful side effects, and close supervision,” the authors write. “Given the sway of goal setting on intellectual pursuits in management, we call for a more self-critical and less self-congratulatory approach to the study of goal setting.”

–Goals Gone Wild:
How Goal Setting Can Lead to Disaster
Knowledge @ Wharton

*Maurice Schweitzer, Wharton
Lisa D. Ordóñez, Arizona
Adam D. Galinsky, Kellogg
Max H. Bazerman, Harvard



More on goal setting: podcast & workbook.



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