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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

My PEDFRON report card

This is a report card I'd hide from Mom

The post-every-day-for-the-rest-of-November (I've decided to call it PEDFRON) project wasn't a complete failure, but it also wasn't a rousing success. I'm able to see the glass as half full...and half empty. It's a blessing...and a curse.

Setting the goal did have the desired effect of making me post more often for awhile. There's the half full.

If I were actually graded on my performance, however, I'd get an F. That's "failing" for those of you on the traditional letter-grade scale. It's also "failing" for those of you on the Pass-Fail-Honors touchy-feely scale.

It's not a glass half empty; it's a glass full of diddly-squat. A glass full dusty. Nada glass.

Why didn't I get an A?

When I set the goal, I didn't define parameters for gradations of success. I worded the goal such that I either did it all the way (success), or I didn't do it all the way (failure). I know myself well enough to know that's no way to set myself up for success.

I've also been in management long enough to have been indoctrinated into the cult of the SMART goal.

SMART is a mnemonic device to help us remember the process for setting effective goals. You'll see it spelled out in many different ways, but the mnemonic key I've been taught is:
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Realistic
T = Timely
I'm not going through the whole process here. There's a ton of information out there. Just search on "setting SMART goals" and your goal setting cup will runneth over.

I should have followed my own advice

More important (to me at least) is the fact that I didn't make much of an attempt to use implementation intentions or capitalize on the other information in my own post on cementing healthy habits.

I downloaded the Blogger app for iPhone as a specific action to prevent travel from derailing my goal. That's the extent of my implementation intentions. Downloading the app gave me a tool to successfully address a narrowly defined problem, but it didn't give me motivation. Motivation is key.

Next steps?

It's clear to me I've got to find the motivation to turn a glass full dusty into... well, into a full glass.

4 comments:

  1. You posted 10 times out of 15 days. That's 2/3 of the way there! Which is a lot further than, say, 1/3 of the way there. AND those 5 missed days were all together - a very definite pattern.

    As for motivation, are you confusing a goal with an obligation? As in: your natural born aversion to doing things that others tell you to do kicks in even though you have set the goal so you are telling yourself what to do?

    That would be like saying "you can't make me do that" when in fact "you" and "me" in that phrase are the same person.

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    1. That's an interesting observation and a good question. What IS the difference between a goal and an obligation, anyway? Do we have an obligation to try to move heaven and earth to achieve a self-set goal?

      There's definitiely an inate rebellion against doing what others tell me to do. That's one of the reasons I find it difficult to read books that other people reccomend in book club. It's like a part of me is saying "You can't tell me what to read!" even though I wanted to join in the book club in the first place. It is so much more complicated when I'm tussling with myself!

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  2. The thing is... you win the argument either way when you are arguing with yourself! ;-)

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    1. Of course, you also lose the argument either way. ;)

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