If I was that giant, proverbial fly on the wall and I followed you around today, I would know what your priorities are by the time the sun set.
Would you?
If I said, I saw you do this and this and this and so here’s what I believe you are all about, would you say, “No! Those aren’t my goals at all! You don’t know anything about my goals!”
Would you? Would you be right, or would I?
Josh
PS: I have started writing a weekly column on Adam Glass’s blog, the new Walk The Road Less Traveled. If you train for strength of any kind, please come over and say hi today. I’m doing a Q&A session which should be a lot of fun.
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
You would both be right. There’s a lot that can happen after sunset.
Best answer ever. You win from now until the end of time.
Wow, that’s an awful long time of winning.
It’s a great thought Josh. It’s like people that are on trial with the smallest details of everything they’ve done exposed to the world. It’s a good reminder, like your post, that if I was on trial, what would they find? Am I the person I say I am? How am I using my gifts? Am I serving others or just myself?
Here’s something your readers can do: Get a goals only notebook and write down your top 5 goals every day. Write your goals in the form of an affirmation, with a bit of the process thrown in. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 lbs by April 1st, then write, “I love my daily workouts that have trimmed my weight to ______ by April 1st.”
By starting off each day by writing your goals, you’re more likely to keep it in mind throughout the day. By writing it as an affirmation, you’re programming your subconscious that it is true, and writing down some of the process solidifies it.
Every day there are distractions that can pull us away from our goals and dreams, and so I’ve found (as you’ve reminded us so well) that we need to set up daily habits that keep us in tune with who we truly are and strive to be.
Well said, my friend.
Hmm. Well yeah I hope you can swim, since we’d probably spend a good amount of time in the ocean.
Flies can’t swim.
Does this mean my entire life boils down to pizza?
Shit.
I like Pizza. Or did you mean to type pizazz?
You would tell me my life revolves around my dogs. And they would agree with you.
You’d miss seeing me work by butt off after dinner (in February, that coincides with sunset). Which means you’d also miss the amusement of me griping about being buttless.
(Yes, I do write my own material. How did you know?)
“If I was that giant, proverbial fly on the wall and I followed you around today, I would know what your priorities are by the time the sun set.”
No. You would have simply observed what happened on that day…and if flies can have judgments and assessments and a story about what happened…that’s what you would know. Otherwise you would need to ask about priorities (hard for a fly)you could verify if what happened and the stated priorities lined up.
Actions and results do to matter and they really are the bests registers to gauge personal effectiveness. But without a stated goal,the best you can report is, “Something’s moving.”
Randy, calmate!
missed. the. point.
My wife would tell you that my writing takes priority over eating. Sometimes I have to choose between the two because of scarcity of time, and writing wins about 90% of the time.
I wonder how we accidentally married the same woman?
Well damn. I guess you’d see 2-3 of the things I prioritize at least lol, but the rest…. not so much
You can’t work on them all at once. Just pretend you have a zillion goals and 2-3 a day is all you can handle.
Usually ends up that way anyway
Thanks Josh, I tend to forget that and end up stressing out… (then goofing off and writing about ninjas, for example)
Ugh. I hate to admit that you are so right. Last night is a perfect example. I knew what I was doing but I did it anyways…
As I was walking home from work I passed a bathing suit store and said to myself, “Self, you are going to get trim and fit and hot for summer. Eat a healthy dinner and work out tonight.” Instead I skipped the gym and ate a whole box of Mac & Cheese.
Then I said, “Self, you are going to write a book review to keep on your blog schedule and work on your e-book.” What did I do? I watched The Bachelor.
Thanks so much. I have a feeling tonights actions will be much more aligned with my goals!
Hey, don’t think I’m immune! I waste as much time as anyone. But I’m pretty good at not wasting it until I’ve got the important things out of the way.
I would think you’re both right, although in different ways. People have an ideal vision of themselves as how they’d like to be at some point in time – the trouble with that vision is they often neglect the path from here to there, the means to achieve their dream. What you’re observing is the path that they’re currently on. Unless they’re an unusually honest person, they probably aren’t actively moving towards their ‘goal’.
I think most of us would benefit from having a fly on the wall tell us where we really are headed, as long as we’d have the sense to listen.
Josh, that’s a good thing to think about. For me, that fly would *not* know what I’m all about. That is to say… I spend a lot of my time doing things that are counter to what I really want to do, to what I really see in my future.
Great little post — I’ll imagine that fly following me around, and try to act according to my passions and goals rather than someone else’s…
Take care…
I find two things that help.
1) Write down my priorities or goals and paste them on the wall in front of me (where I can’t miss them)
2) Set a deadline – and announce it. I shipped an ebook yesterday – in the “blizzard”) – because I set a date, told people about it, and had a cheering section encouraging me to ship.
Works really well.
Agreed. I’ve got some of my goals on my desk where I spend most of my time. Impossible to ignore!
I love that suggestion for an instant reality check. The question I ask is “If today was your last, could you say you have no regrets?”.
I love it.
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