I’m attracted to James Clear’s minimalist goal-setting strategy, which applies the Warren Buffet list. With some modifications, here is the process I follow for goal-setting.
- I create a life goals master list one time then update yearly. I created it by coming up with a list of my life areas and listing goals under each area.
- I review my initial list of goals and look closer at each goal. I ask myself if this goal requires smaller goals to achieve. If yes, I list all of the smaller goals under it.
- At the beginning of each year, during my annual review, I choose my top five goals from this master list. These goals will be my primary focus for the year. The rest of the goals will be my avoid-at-all cost life goals.
- I then review my top five goals and choose which to work on for January. If I think I can achieve two goals in one month, then I create project notes for each goal. If I can only achieve one, then so be it.
- Every month thereafter, during my monthly review, I review the goal set for the previous month and either mark it as completed, carry it over next month, park it, or delete it.
- If the previous goal was completed, I first go to my top five goals list and choose a goal from them.
- I use the monthly review to update my goals for the month. Only after all my top five goals are completed will I create a new list of top five goals, which will be made up of promoted goals from the Avoid-at-all-cost list.
This process relies on trust that I have made a comprehensive job of creating the master list at the very beginning. The better the master list captures my short-term and long-term goals, the lesser the work I shall do moving forward.