Comments on: Think in Weeks, Not Years

By: Helen Tarin

Helen Tarin — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 22:29:34 +0000

I want to say thank you for the info. By reading this info. it gives me more insight on what really needs to happen before I can build my empire. Without a plan to be followed regularly, nothing will happen. Belief in idea or goal, visualize, feel, develop plan, and taking action is the only way progress will occur, even if its only baby steps to start. Things will seem much easier if broken down into increments.

By: Neil Doshi

Neil Doshi — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 03:07:31 +0000

Quick point about “thinking outside of the box.” (I fully realize that my comment is only tangentially related to the subject of the blog entry.) What astounds me is the general lack of perception among most people that this stupid phrase–used to refer to innovative, perhaps non-conventional ways of doing things–is itself the most banal of cliches. What incredible irony!

By: Jay Gatsby

Jay Gatsby — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 15:09:47 +0000

My old company used to require 90-day plans, with additional breakdowns by month, for various goals and specific tasks designed to implement those goals. It seemed like a very useful system, but there was a rather unfortunate downside to it, namely, that managers would often bludgeon employees in their reviews if certain goals/tasks were not met. While this might appear reasonable, it was completely unreasonable because the managers themselves were the bottlenecks. Documents sat in their e-mail boxes for review (and were never reviewed), letters were signed and sent out late, meetings were postponed (or blown off), etc… Executive management didn’t (or wouldn’t) do anything about such issues, relegating employee disputes with managers to the very managers who were the problem!

Essentially, while the “goaling” system looked great in principle, it degenerated to a sequel to the movie “Office Space” in practice.

By: Alex Givant

Alex Givant — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:58:45 +0000

I’ve read once about US Navy commanders, they have very intensive course of training full of physical and mental activities. You can survive it only if you focus on one day, one hour, one period of time – not whole 3 or 6 months training.

By: Milind

Milind — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 19:50:33 +0000

Very nice post. Goals are important, but without a plan executing against it, a goal is quickly forgotten. Plans are important, but you need goals to provide motivation and a sense of accomplishment.

Focus is also important. You’re more likely to achieve 12 goals in a year if you dedicate each month to one. Going for all 12 simultaneously is detrimental to quality and motivation.

By: megan

megan — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 17:01:50 +0000

i definitely understand what you’re saying here. but what about when you have about 6 different plans/goals/dreams? you can’t work on every one of them every week. i would be interested to hear what you have to say about how to choose (if there’s any general advice that could be given).

also, while i understand that without making regular progress, a project could be postponed until infinity, i also feel like there’s wisdom in accepting that one may not have the time right now to work on something outside of one’s current full-time job, relationship, and other obligations. do you think that deciding to really tackle a project in 6 mos or a year is always a bad choice?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:26:50 +0000

The person who says “I’ll send you the information by Friday” probably has A LOT of stuff to do which is very high priority or very urgent.

I understand this completely.

I often say things such as this: “I’ll handle that on Friday” (altough it’s Monday), but usually I explain why – I show them the TO DO list, etc.

By: K

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 03:23:49 +0000

Great post! When someone tells me their goals, I ask them “what have you done about it TODAY?”

If they haven’t done anything, however minor, it’s a dream, not a goal. Goals are worked on everyday.

By: Pedro

Pedro — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:08:51 +0000

I agree with you. I see this very often, in other people and in myself. I try to live life by doing something better everyday and often fail to do so. However, I do keep trying.

I’ve been trying to tell my girlfriend that she needs to pay herself first and to make it automatic (direct deposit) if you wants to save money and invest. “For what? I can easily transfer the money online,” she says. If I begin to explain to her why it should be done this way, she says I sound like a broken record because I tell her all the time. But she still doesn’t do it.

I have also been trying to tell her we need to sit down and write our financial goals but we never do. “Tomorrow…” etc. I can’t be this way. I always say, do it today! EVEN if I know the person REALLY can’t. It works sometimes.

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 18:49:44 +0000

Good post. I see this in so many people all the time.