 December 15th 2008
 Personal Development
 6 comments
100% you say? That’s crazy! That’s like double how good your life is now, right? Don’t worry, there is logic behind the madness. Consider that there are essentially ten areas of your life you can focus on. You can’t put 100% effort into all of them obviously. However, regular readers will no doubt know how I’m a big fan of breaking work down so by having a small goal for each of those ten areas in your life, the results all (theoretically) add up. That’s 10% energy on a goal that improves your health, 10% on one that boosts your relationship, and so on. Below I’ve detailed the ten areas of your life you can focus on, with some ideas on small goals you can do. Further suggestions welcome!
With a new year coming up, resolutions will be once again a big issue. I’ve mentioned before how I feel they are frankly a waste of time, but it’s almost mandatory that a new year requires a fresh start and renewed focus, so I’ve been thinking what alternatives to resolutions there are. I’d be really interested in knowing what your thoughts are on this 100% approach I’ve suggested. Do you have any goals planned for the new year? How are you going to approach them?
- Home
Rather than thinking about your entire home, focus on an individual room. A good 10% goal is to decorate your bedroom perhaps, or de-clutter your kitchen. Be sure to read my Clutter 101 ebook for further ideas.
- Relationship
Perhaps you can make an effort to have an intimate meal with your partner every month or just generally agree to talk more to each other. If you are currently single then maybe your friends can arrange a blind date.
- Social life
Ring up an old friend you haven’t talked to in a while, arrange a meal with all your buddies so that you can all have a good catch-up or just spend a quality day with your best mate. If you feel your social life is lacking, search for a club you can join so you can mingle with like minded people.
- Job
Try talking to your manager and have a good heart-to-heart about your future. Alternatively sign up to a training session or conference so you can improve your skills. It’s very effective whether you are happy in your job or want to do something else.
- Family
Pick out a particular member of your family (it could be a cousin or brother) who you don’t have a close relationship with and focus on getting to know them better. Arrange regular get-togethers.
- Hobbies
Have an interest that you’ve never pursued? Take those first steps and buy a book on the topic or join a group. When I wanted to start writing my book, I focused on doing one page at a time. Small and easy to do but it got me actively moving my interest forward.
- Entertainment
It can’t be work all the time. You need to relax and enjoy yourself. perhaps you can arrange with your boss to leave work early on a Friday. If you like watching movies, perhaps you can buy yourself a big, new TV.
- Personal growth
Pick out a bad habit you want to break (like smoking) or a positive habit you wish to develop (such as going for a run every morning) and do one little thing that will move you forward. It can be as simple as deciding to smoke one less cigarette a day or walking to work rather than driving.
- Health
Sign up to a gym and just start going once a week if nothing else or focus on replacing snacks with healthy options like fruit. I’ve focused on this topic in a previous post looking at the simplest healthy habits you can do so refer to that for more ideas.
- Financial
An obvious goal here is to put aside a small amount of your wage each month into savings. Alternatively you can start tracking your finances so you actually know what you’re spending. They may seem like small goals but in the long run they help you to become much more frugal.
Reader discussion
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You can’t calculate percentages like that… its cheating. 10% of one thing plus 10% of nice other things will give you a 10% improvement not 100%. However, 10% better in everything is likely to make a big improvement over time, especially if you consider the compound nature of growth. You only have to give 10% extra each year for eight years to get 114% increase overall. If you keep doing that then you will get another 100% growth in four more years and so on (try a spreadsheet starting at 100 and adding 10% each year to see the benefits). Its all about consistently good growth over time… that should give real satisfaction that lasts.
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Ok, you got me. Perhaps it is cheating but as I said, there is logic to my madness. Rather than putting 100% into one big goal that is destined to fail, break down your efforts into smaller goals. It’s much easier to take small steps forward in all of those ten areas in your life than it is to do one (or more) huge goals.
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Logic and addition aside, I do see your point James. The outline lists great small things to improve on and looking at many of those at a time is a great thing to do. However, I’m not sure why you think that one big goal is destined to fail? If it’s the right goal and an area of more passion and interest than a bunch of smaller ones, I’d argue that it is much more worthwhile doing.
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Thanks for the comment Mike. Perhaps it was a little extreme to suggest any big goal would automatically fail. However, I feel trying to focus on a large scale project – over something that has been broken down into smaller activities – will without doubt increase the difficulty and complexity, which in turn will increase the odds of you falling off the wagon.
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Sure thing James. I guess the wording of that one got away from you then, I assumed you meant something like that but could easily confuse some readers as often audacious goals are something promoted as a means to achieve great things.
You are right in how the difficulty and complexity can increase the odds of failing. For something like a big goal though, it’s got to be based on a deep desire to ensure you can overcome those barriers. Thanks for the clarification and discussion!
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