A New Take on Goal Setting for 2010

OK, I’ll admit it.  I don’t want to make any New Year’s resolutions this year.  Why?  Because I have no idea what they were last year – probably something to do with working out more, getting a rewarding job or some such thing.  And then there’s the fact that I tend to set lofty goals and don’t really have a good system for keeping track of them.

Of course I know that the most successful people make and write their goals down.  But it’s that “checking in” part that seems to elude me.

Last year, I had a conversation with a friend of mine about how cool it would be if we could work on our goals together and find some type of web-based program that would email us quarterly or monthly as a reminder to check in on our collective goals.  I’m sure the tools existed last year but maybe we never bothered to check it out online.  So this year, I did check it out online and found several free applications where you can send an email to yourself at a future date.  The one I ended up choosing was LetterMeLater.com.  Just took a minute to plug in my name and email address.  And maybe I’ll even use it.  Maybe.

Then I came across Benjamin Franklin’s “13 Virtues” Plan, which I had never heard of.  The story goes that on an 80-day voyage from London to Philadelphia, Franklin came up with plan and 13 virtues, around which he would structure his life.  His plan entailed focusing on one virtue each week and he developed a matrix visually showing the days of the week and each of his virtues.  At the end of each day, he’d evaluate his own behavior for that particular day and make a mark in the corresponding box if he failed to demonstrate that particular virtue.

I like Franklin’s system for several reasons.  One, it forces to you to think about the virtues important to you and your life.  Certainly they’d be different than Franklin’s but they’re great for example’s sake.  Two, it’s a daily reminder and evaluation of your own behavior each day.  This to me is almost more powerful than setting New Year’s Resolutions that are made and forgotten quickly.  The other thing it’s important to remember is that Franklin was on a boat.  For 80 days.  In the middle of nowhere.  I can only image that he had plenty of time with which to reflect, something that’s hard to come by in today’s society.

At the end of the day, I know I’ll set some goals for 2010.  This year, I’m going to do a better job of attempting to keep track of them, maybe even mix up the format a bit.  Maybe my first goal of 2010 will be “Only undertake activities to which I’m fully committed.”