The QLog

D.R.A.F.T

If one plans to implement the guideline Only Handle It Once, then the D.R.A.F.T. technique is a very useful method for deciding the next step for paper or digital documents.

Delegate: Route the information to appropriate individual. This may include the assignment of a related task and the need for a later follow-up.

Read: Immediately review the information, especially if it can be done within 5 minutes. Longer documents usually are initially filed and then read at the next best time to do so.

Act: If something needs to be completed, and it is urgent and important, do it now.

File: This can be placing something within a file folder or recording it on a list.

Toss: If in doubt, throw it out.

10 in 10 for 2008

I would like to challenge everyone who reads the Qlog to do another 10 in 10. This exercise will jump-start your goals for 2008. If you would like more details, please read my original post on the 10 in 10 concept.

The plan it to start today or tomorrow and then complete all 10 of your projects over the next 10 weeks. The end-date would be Saturday, March 22nd.

The basic instructions are:

• Review your goals for 2008.
• Plan 10 short sub projects that would help you kick-start some of your goals. Make sure they can be completed within the time frame of 70 days.

Below is my personal 10 in 10 for 2008. Although they are listed in no particular order, they are each have a deadline of 03/22/08.

1) Attend a silent 2-Day retreat (based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius)
2) Partake in a high tea
3) Fast every Tuesday after 3:00 PM (no dinner or evening snack)
4) Join ToastMasters in January and attend all meetings.
5) Purchase one new business suit
6) Donate, sell, trade, or toss 101 possessions
7) Journal daily
8) Begin howtostudyblog.com and rainbowdietblog.com
9) Lose 10 pounds
10) Read 10 new books

I'll report my progress on this page within the comment sections as I complete each.

Diet Day and 14 More Years!

If weight loss or fitness is a goal for 2008, then these two items might interest you.

1. National Diet Day is the Second Tuesday of January (today). No, this is not a day to pick a fad diet. Instead, it is recommended that you choose a long-term plan and adopt healthy lifestyle habits that includes a smart diet that you can sustain for many years.

2. The PLoS Medicine, a peer-reviewed open access journal, published a new study today that concluded that four very basic and easy behaviors could add as many as 14 years to one's lifespan. The evidence came from the EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study which had a large data set of 20,244 men and women.

The four longevity lifestyle behaviors are:

• not smoking
• being physically active
• moderate alcohol intake
• eating at least five vegetable servings a day

If you are looking for some lifestyle habits to improve your life, these are obviously a good four to adopt today.

Here is the download citation for the full article:

Combined Impact of Health Behaviours and Mortality in Men and Women: The EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study Khaw KT, Wareham N, Bingham S, Welch A, Luben R, et al. PLoS Medicine Vol. 5, No. 1, e12 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050012

Here is the link to the PLoS editorial on the article:

From Theory to Practice: Translating Research into Health Outcomes The PLoS Medicine Editors PLoS Medicine Vol. 5, No. 1, e15 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050015

T.A.R.G.E.T. Goals Part 2

Check your current 2008 goals for each of these T.A.R.G.E.T characteristics:
   
Tangible: You can touch, see, hear, taste, or smell things that are tangible. They are concrete and this makes observations possible. The main benefit of having a tangible goal is that it is easily measured at any time, so progress can be tracked.

Achievable: Choose annual goals that are reasonable for your skill level and can be completed within 365 days. If you think you can, you can! However, if the goal just seems impossible, then the goal should be broken into smaller chunks over a few years or you'll need to become an expert within this domain to achieve it.

Reviewable: If you have tangible goals, this normally is easily done, as long as you have a process to measure progress. Regular inspection is necessary to determine if course corrections are needed. I highly suggest that you build a monthly review schedule into the goal plan itself.
 
Grand: Goals should be big enough to challenge as well as inspire. Human lifespans are short: 120 years, maximum, and most do not make it past 80. If you are going to spend time, talent, and treasure pursuing something, make sure it is an excellent goal, an objective that you consider grand. Focusing one's effort and energy on worthy goals is fun too.

Explicit: Goals need to be clear, exact, and specific. Clarity is key. For example, the goal "I want to earn more money this year" is extremely vague. Technically, if you were paid the exact same annual salary as last year and then I gave you an extra dollar on December 31st, you would have more money and accomplished your objective. Be explicit about what you want, how much, and how often. Detail both qualities and quantities and use the right adverbs and adjectives to describe your vision.

Time-Bound: Procrastination is common; therefore, goals need definite and predetermined deadlines. Ideally, these need should be set at the very beginning of the process. Also, one should be smart and assume that some delays will be encountered over the next 12 months. Do your best to add extra time or a cushion to insure completion by year end. You may grant yourself extensions if absolutely necessary, but try to do this very sparingly and only when conditions beyond your control forced a re-adjustment on the end date.

T.A.R.G.E.T. Goals Part 1

Here is another useful acronym that I've developed for focused and rapid goal setting: T.A.R.G.E.T. 

Goal setting is the process that allows one to hit a bull's eye. Without an specified objective, how can one aim much less hit a specific target?

I'll explain this model in-depth tomorrow. however, here is a very brief outline. For every goal, you identify these major six attributes:

T - Tangible

A - Achievable

R - Reviewable

G - Grand

E - Explicit

T - Time-Bound

Learning Goal

What new skill, activity, hobby, or subject matter do you want to learn about? I suggest pursuing one major learning goal for 2008. Perhaps you would like to delve deep into history and become an American Civil War buff or an expert on the campaigns of Alexander The Great. Maybe you would like to learn how to paint, draw, or sculpt. There are 1000s of possibilities. Some other common examples include:

• To speak a foreign language such as French, Chinese, or Arabic.
• To play a musical instrument such as the guitar, piano, or violin.
• To master a game such as chess, backgammon, or poker.

This year is a great opportunity to learn something new and meaningful. Choose a topic that you would enjoy and then begin tackle the books, the courses, the coaching, the training, or the daily practice that will be necessary.

2008 is Already One Percent Over

Have you completed your goal setting for 2008? If not, I suggest you spend time this weekend working on it.

Why? 4:00 PM today (your local time) marked the passing of 3.67 days of this new year, meaning that only 99% of 2008 remains. WOW. The arrow of time flies fast, so do not delay and set some goals for 2008. 

Tip: one way to start is to consider what three major things you'd like to brag about at the end of December next year. Do some brainstorming an then narrow the best ideas down. Consider the 'what' and 'why' questions first. Once you have defined some goals, you can determine the 'how' and 'when' answers next.

New Year's Resolutions, Part 2

I advocate Goals, Not Resolutions for the beginning of 2008. However, I do afford exceptions for a few special resolutions.

When a reporter asked Mahatma Gandhi what his message was the world, he simply replied "My life is my message." He also committed himself to the following resolutions:

"I will be truthful.
I will suffer no injustice.
I will be free from fear.
I will not use force.
I will be of good will to all."

These are noble and worthy life principles to re-affirm each new year. I do recommend embracing this set of resolutions.

New Year's Resolutions, Part 1

New Year’s Resolutions are often extremely difficult promises to keep, even if they are private affairs and known only to oneself.

A great example if this found within Samuel Pepys’ famous diary. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was a member of British Parliament, a member of the Royal Society, and a Naval Administrator. His nearly 10-year long daily diary has become a vital and unique document for historians as it is an eyewitness source for such events as Great Plague of London (1665-1666), The Great Fire of London (1666), and the Second Dutch War (1665-1667).  Since this was a private journal and only became a public record during the nineteenth century, most of the interpretations and analysis about himself can be taken at face value. 

On December 31, 1661, Samuel Pepys penned about his New Year's Resolution “I have newly taken a solemn oath about abstaining from plays and wine, which I am resolved to keep according to the letter of the oath which I keep by me.”

Although he did not mention any drinking per se during the next twelve months (although he recorded a wide variety of dinner parties and trips to the tavern), he did write the following on March 1, 1662 “Thence my wife and I by coach, first to see my little picture that is a drawing, and thence to the Opera, and there saw Romeo and Juliet.” Additionally, later that year, he saw an adaption of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.

Yet, Samuel appears to have forgotten any infractions of his oath and credits his happiness and success to it. He summarized the year on December 31, 1662: “Thus ends this year with great mirth to me and my wife…and yet would not have been so much if I had not lived a very orderly life all this year by virtue of the oaths that God put into my heart to take against wine, plays, and other expenses, and to observe for these last twelve months, and which I am now going to renew, I under God owing my present content thereunto.”

Of course, the majority of people who make New Year's Resolutions, including myself, have broken their promise or failed to achieve the desired outcome, but then decide to 'renew' an identical plan the following year, just like Samuel Pepys!

Albert Einstein once said that one definition of insanity "is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This is why I suggest setting Goals, Not Resolutions for 2008.

Are you moving forwards or backwards?

"The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Most view success as the completion of a task, project, or goal; however, I think this is misguided as few accomplishment are instantaneous. Instead, the ending is just the fruit of one's labor. If you are proceeding towards your target, then you should consider yourself successful as well. 

Failure lies within never trying or drifting away from one's life purpose.