Goal Setting

When I was in 10th grade I recored this.... Embarrassing goals ( I can't figure out how to imbed the audio file so for now you'll have to download it)

Ok, Laugh all you want..... ok...

Anyway, I thought it was sort of cool that I was setting goals conciously as a 10th grader, but I was realizing some of the flaws in them
The first problem with this is that these goals are not quantifiable. Losing weight or gaining weight, is as easy as pooping (lose 3 pounds) or drinking a gallon of water(gain 8 pounds)... However I do correct this immediately to say "lose fat" and "gain muscle". Anyway, I set no quantity of fat to lose or muscle to gain, so in alot of ways my goal doesn't have a definite ending point. In other words, I could lose 3 pounds of fat and decide thats enough and then just stop because well after all... I DID achieve my goal.

I've learned that it is much easier to stay dedicated to a goal if is quantifiable. "I'm going to lose 10 pounds of fat." It does get a lot harder when dealing with singing, because during the process of singing I must rely on sensations to determine if it is good or not, thereby necessitating subjectivity in goals.

 But, even in this case it is good to pick a single aspect to focus on as a goal. "today i will focus on alleviating tongue tension" So while it's not perfect, it's better than just saying " I'm going to sing better today"  I find that by always asking myself how or how much, i can keep much better focus.

Another problem with this audio clip, is that these goals do NOT have a definite expiration date. When exactly is the "end of the fall," and which fall... fall just ended. maybe i meant next fall?

By adding in a due date or a deadline for your goal, you raise your level of commitment to yourself. It's very easy  to do things entirely for others, but when it's time to do it for yourself, jut put it off until later. When this happens to me, i find i am overcome with boredom and aimlessness.

Ok, so before this turns into a lecture, I wanted to state some of my theories of what a makes an "awesome" goal.
1. 90% of your goals should be either quantifiable, or concrete.. nothing abstract like "success" or "making money"
2. goals should be set with a "due date."
3. Personal goals should always be taken more seriously than implied goals. (more on implied goals later)

Why is this relavent Josh? And  why are you writing a self help blog??!!?!? like seriously omgomgomg wtf?!

Well dear friends, I wanted to expand on my theory of awesomeness. Hurdling Lemmings after all is exactly what it sounds like. Striving to break free from the lemming followers that we've all been so encouraged to be. "hurdle" over them, if you will.

Goal setting is unequivically important to being awesome. Being awesome involves being the best you you can be, which DOES NOT equate to, oh well I'm going to be lazy and sloth like because I'm awesome and I can do whatever.

Awesome- "The ability to inspire awe in ones self and in others".. Thats Brad pilon's defintion.. Check out his blog at bradpilon.com ...

So anyway, a person constantly striving to better himself/herself  through the setting and acheiving goals is doing just that, inspiring himself, and others to do the same. In some ways that is why I started this blog. I want to document my life and hopefully learn meaningful things from it that I can impart to my beloved reader audience.

In the future there will be alot more current stories and the posts will probably be more witty. I just wanted to figure out a way to include that audio clip and goal setting in a post.

I am,

Josh