Happy 2020!
The start of a new year is a time of contemplation about what we would ideally like to achieve over the next 12 months. Consequently, I thought I would create this practical exercise to help you work through splitting down larger, more lofty goals, into smaller more achievable approximations – using the following 5 step process…
Step 1:
Imagine you have unlimited time, money and resources and can do anything you want!
On a blank piece of paper write down all of the things you would like to do with your animals (training & behavior related)!
Step 2:
Then split this list into the things that you think you would like/are most likely to achieve in the next 3 months! Place these items under a heading short term goals … & everything else can go under the heading long term goals.
Step 3:
Then when you have your short term goals, the next approximation is to do a five week plan. When I say five week plan – what I mean is … look at your list of short term goals and write down what you will achieve towards working on these goals over the next five weeks, like this;
* Week 1) What will you aim to achieve?
* Week 2) What will you aim to achieve?
* Week 3) What will you aim to achieve?
* Week 4) What will you aim to achieve?
* Week 5) What will you aim to achieve?
Step 4:
After five weeks is up, review and do the next five weeks.
Step 5:
Once 3 months has gone by review your list. Cross of the things you have achieved from your short term goals and move over new items from the long term list to the short term list. (And feel free to also add new items to the long term goals list).
Doing this exercise is an attempt to do what we do with our animals and that is split our goals into smaller & smaller approximations. Generally, I find the first time we do this – that our goals over the 5 weeks are much larger than we can achieve with the resources we have available. Therefore, using this process can potentially help us teach ourselves to concentrate on smaller approximations.
And then another benefit of this exercise is valuing the importance of looking at all the things we achieve and celebrating them ALL – no matter how small or insignificant they may seem. I say this because all of the time and energy we put into our goals – is in my personal opinion – approximations towards our larger goals!
Even if we haven’t necessarily achieved what we set out to … my thoughts are that (more than likely) you will be in a position to move forward with more information then you had before and consequently make smarter decisions. #Celebrateapproximations
I feel sometimes we spend a lot of time putting mental energy on things in that long term list – & there can potentially be value in focusing on the smaller approximations and celebrating them as we go …
I hope this makes sense, let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions and I look forward to seeing your lists (and am grateful for your feedback on this idea).
Best Regards
Ryan Cartlidge
Animal Training Academy
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