Drip by drip. Keeping discipline toward a goal.
Drip by drip. Keeping discipline toward a goal.
Darrell Velegol, PhD
I just read the article below on reaching goals by making a plan. It made sense to me, and I want add a few additional points about goals.
1. Just one VIG. Choose ONE Very Important Goal each quarter, but no more. That doesn't mean you do nothing else. It's the goal that you'll advance amidst the rest of the hurricane of life.
2. From X to Y by T for W. In setting your VIG, write down where you are today (X), where you aim to reach (Y), a date to achieve by (T), and the primary motivator or "Why" (W) for doing it. It's so helpful to look back at the X and realize after 2 months how far you've come!
3. Drip by drip motivation (or marble by marble or BB by BB). If you saw the movie Oppenheimer, you'll remember that he kept showing the team the "scoreboard" by dropping marbles into bowls to represent the amount of refined uranium and plutonium available from Oak Ridge. When the bowls were full, they were ready to go, and the Los Alamos team didn't want to be the limiting step. It gave a cadence to their work. I've used this with reading and learning, exercise, writing, and other goals. Get a pack of BBs from Amazon for $10, and drop a BB in a glass every time you read 10 more pages, or finish the next big step. It is so helpful in keeping execution on track!
You can't reach big goals in a day, but you can start a direction right away. Set a VIG and get started drip by drip. You can do it!
