Eating Elephant Hamburgers

How do you go about setting goals and prioritising what needs to get done? If you have set goals at the beginning of the year, are you making headway with them?

Photo by Danielle MacInnes

These are a few thoughts on setting goals:

• It has helped me to start off  by reflecting on my dreams and aspirations for the future, specifically how I want to feel, as well as ways I would most like to be spending my time. Actually writing down a short paragraph that describes this was a lovely way to lend focus to my goal setting.
• Breaking these big picture goals into smaller steps was next. This is where the old quip of  "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!" could be helpful. My friend calls this approach "Eating Elephant Hamburgers". To me, this works well in terms of goal setting because it encourages me to focus not only on the big picture goals, but also on the smaller steps that I will do each day and each each week to achieve those goals.
• Some goals focus on forming new habits rather than completing a specific task, so the "elephant hamburger" approach can work well for this too. I think small habit changes can make a big difference. 
• Another idea I am using is to pick a day and time on which I will try to do each task. Putting the task on the calendar is a step closer to getting it done!
• Finally, being realistic about how much time and energy I really have has also been a helpful mind shift.  I sometimes find that I have a huge number of things that I would like to do, but it can be a bit overwhelming to do them all. Having big picture goals helps to sift out what is really a priority. And then eating elephant hamburgers!

Although it is already the end of January, I am hoping that setting goals will help me remain focused on what is important and to feel less frantically busy in the year ahead.

Do you set goals? If setting goals is something you do, do you have any tips about making them achievable?

Managing Your Time by Setting Big Picture Goals

In our busy world there are always a million and one things trying to grab our attention and the “To Do” list, if you even have time to write one, is sometimes a mile long. How to do it all? Well the simple fact is we all have limited time. Just as you can only stuff so many things into a physical space like a drawer or cupboard, you can only do so much in a given time period.

Photo by Niklas Rhöse

So where to start? I think the best jumping off point to managing time effectively is actually to start off spending some time thinking about your “big picture goals” and actually writing them down.  

You could simply jot down a list or you could draw a circle with various aspects such as exercise/health, friends/social, work, home/family or whatever categories make sense to you. Then list under each heading what activities you would like to be doing in each category. For example, under friends you might have the activity of making a weekly phone call or e-mail to long distance friends.

After you have spent some time considering what matters most to you, it might then be easier to choose which activities and items on your “to do list” support those goals and it also be easier  to say “No” to things that are not priority goals. (Obviously there are things that are not really a choice, like having to clean your home and prepare food, but these may fall under the heading of having a functional, happy home).

Re-doing my goal list for the second year now, I realize that I really can’t “do it all” and it is important to prioritize what is really meaningful and do those things first.

On her blog Slow your home, Brooke McAlary discusses what it means to live a balanced life, and she suggests that it is probably not possible to always manage to everything in all your priority areas all the time. She uses the analogy of a tight rope walker that has to tilt to stay balanced.

Sometimes your life may need to tilt in a certain direction for a while as you bring up children or look after aging parents or whatever necessitates your attention for that time. You might even find your plans are de-railed by ill health or unexpected events –so do be gentle with yourself. Plans need to be flexible and you might have to be creative and patient about achieving your goals.

What is at the top of your priority list? Are you managing to do what you value most?