Question About Goal-setting

[Ajax]

There is a goal that I have in mind and that is to be more analytical by incorporating 3 techniques in my thought processes.

They are:

Seek out the big picture

Familiarize myself with every relevant detail

Maintain an open mind but question all observations that are not my own.

 

In fact I want those to be my primary factors to consider when I think about anything.  My question is how do I  measure such a thing? It is easy to keep track of your progress with weight or financial goals... however when it it comes to analyzing thought processes it is more difficult to know were I stand.  When I perform my daily review of my progress, I have a little trouble assessing my status and how to improve upon it.

Thank You,

Jax

[Philip]

First of all, those 3 techniques are amazing ! Good thinking there. You have both the abstract and the concrete observed through an open yet critical mind. Just wonderful.

Secondly, I once had an insight that might help you here. I was thinking about measuring my level of consciousness. Like how much I was aware and focused on what's really important in life. But I realized that couldn't be measured at all. Because I don't know how much I don't know about life. I'm totally unconscious of what I'm unconscious of. I just can't know what I'm missing or in what traps I'm stuck. Because there's a huge part of me that's invisible by definition.

But then I thought : Hey that's not so bad. There is still something I can measure. I can measure the progress I'm making. Or to be more exact, I can measure the number of times in my life where I had epiphanies that changed the way I think about life. Usually those epiphanies also came with their fair share of negative emotions too. Growth doesn't go without struggle, it seems.

So if I apply my insight to your question, I'd say :

You can't measure accurately how much of an abstract thinker, concrete thinker, open-minded thinker and critical thinker you are. But you can know how much progress you made in those areas. By counting how many times you profoundly and emotionally realized how much of a better thinker you could become right now or over time.

My description of how it feels to increase one's awareness is still weak though. I can't really give it more substance because I haven't experienced it enough yet. But I suggest you search for those painful ego-shattering epiphanies that change the way you see life.

[Truth]

I've been struggling a bit with goal setting too, but what's helped me is I've been creating structures around anything that's important to me. I'd title it "personal development structure" or "Motivation structure", get down the principles, mindsets, and a "This, then this, then this(doesn't have to be in order)" kind of process and adding the ultimate result for the structure and the processes to know when I've achieved it. These structures are always open to adapting and growing or changing. These structures set a foundation to then work on the big picture. I'm still working on improving my structures but I hope this gave you a new angle to see from.

[electroBeam]

Hi Ajax, I have been struggling with this too. 

May I suggest that measuring abstract, and qualitative skills like analytical thinking may require a perspective shift. Instead of trying to achieve a certain state or position(as you would with weight loss: get to weight X), work on improving your actual techniques and methods you use to increase your skill in a particular area(in this case analytical thinking). In a nutshell, make your goal a DIRECTION, and not a POSITION or mental/physical STATE, similar to what @Truth was referring to, which is a good idea in my opinion. 

When you say analytical skills, I'm guessing you mean how good your logical reasoning skills are. Now you could measure it in a very rational, university style way. But if you look at how universities measure their grads in their analytical skills, you realize real quick that the outcomes/goals they choose are very relative to unquestioned premises the head teacher has made, and also the ratings of each outcome point is subjective(and relative to the individual's knowledge and awareness). So I am suggesting that trying to measure your goals rationally is not objective, and therefore I am suggesting that you measure your progress a-rationally, and through objective analysis of your feelings and experience. It is hard to describe the steps linguistically and rationally, but you can very self honestly 'feel' how much more awareness you have developed in being very logical and analytical. You could remember dealing with a decision a week ago, for example choosing to go to a party or not, and then pretend to make that decision again, and compare how much more 'aware' you are of logical reasoning, and how much more exposed and fluent you are with other reasons, and how much more firmly you feel in making a decision, or how much more satisfied with it you are. 

 I have been measuring mental states qualitatively and it seems to work. The thing is, you may be afraid that you are not improving in being analytical, because it doesn't seem like it rationally, and you may use reasons like I'm not getting quicker in logical reasoning, or I didn't choose the right decision, but you have to remember that any rational reason you come up with is relative to some unquestioned premise you are not acknowledging. The best way to measure progress I found is to use your feelings or awareness very objectively, constantly question those feelings, but also question the questions that you come up with.

Hope this helps.

Edited March 27, 2016 by electroBeam

[Philip]

@Truth That looks like it's a good idea, but to be honest I did't really get it totally. It's too abstract to me right now. Could you give an example of a structure you've used ?

[Ajax]

Thank you all, this is some amazing insights, my mind is blown and I think I blew a "think" fuse right now. I am defiantly going to revisit it. I am in the process of examining each of what you 3 have said and trying to piece it together in some model. Thank you all for giving me something to chew on!

 

@Truth  Would you please add a bit more details and include an example or two? Thank you very much.

 

 

[Truth]

@Philip  @Ajax

Well I'm pretty aloof when it comes to how I learn. I've come to realize I need to start building structures around everything I do. My mindset has been "Well, I just do that and it works." which makes it really hard for me to grow, so building these structures has been kind of messy at the moment.

When I want to learn a new skill or have a result I want, the first thing I say is "How can I create a structure out of this?" I was told the best way for me to grow ---because how aloof I am-- is to do exactly this, and do the same thing every time within this structure in order to grow. These structures in the moment are pretty arbitrary, but they are created so I can refer back to them and improve on them and have a "structure" to act within. These structures are pretty personal to me and again each structure is kind of unique. But I'll give you an example.

----

Structure for girls and Pickup

Your vision ---> (most important, write down the intrinsic motivation, get the intangibles, not just about getting the girl or the relationship, align with top values. Make it meaningful, be excited for it and be real and honest about it.) 

(Gather information any and ALL -- Take notes from Leo, YouTube videos, wherever -- Write down principles -- the attitudes they take to reality and mindsets, the systems and processes ALL THE Juicy stuff.) ---->

Approach

Attraction

Rapport

Seduction/dating

Relationship balance

Body Language

Creating Love

Breaking Up

Staying Out Of The Friend Zone

Result ---> I want to go from going out and meeting a girl, to having her in my bed and building a powerful relationship.

(and I dive into each of these topics)

Structure for Approach -----> (ALWAYS IN PROGRESS)

Approaching, okay, so the first thing that happens is approach --- walking up to the girl. Now, there’s many things that I can say, there’s many things I can say or not say. (Find good approaches from YouTube or wherever.)

Opener's -----> (I'll list a couple cause there's a lot I wrote down)

-Tell them your name, give her a handshake

-You like their style

-Tell them they are cute or adorable 

-Compliments

-Say complete random shit that makes no sense.

The Goal Of Approaching -- to get her number, flirt a little, maybe go on an instadate. 

 

Mindsets and powerful quotes from people: (again I have a lot written down so here's a couple)

- “It doesn’t matter what you say, as long as you believe in what you say.”

-“You won’t connect with every single girl, this weeds out the ones you don’t connect with”

-“Rejection is normal, if you feel emotional pain that’s good and totally natural, you are taking steps to get over this and grow from this.”

-“ It takes 1-2 seconds to hesitate and start resisting. So approach Immediately ASAP before the emotional brain makes excuses and you will become that guy.”

Principles and Attitudes/Values/Truths: very important (again there should be a lot here too. I added (--->) if I want to add detail to them like the why this is the case, the truth.)

- Do It For Growth --->

-Set Good Intentions --->

-Approach Everyone You're Curious About --->

-Rejection/Failure Is Good --->

-Be Present --->

-------------------------------------------------------

So that's my small version of my structure. again these structures are to refer back to and improve upon and act within, I don't adhere to this step by step. because in the moment these can be completely arbitrary. Each structure I create is unique, something like my motivation structure is way simpler than this. Mostly just full of the principles and my little key notes. Here's that motivation structure which again, these are always in progress, whenever I realize them is when I create a structure even if it's small. 

 

VISION

EXTRINSIC - career/relationship

INTRINSIC - the personal growth and pushing comfort zone -- WAY MORE IMPORTANT

This can fuel you for life. Take a second to dream about it and let that fire kindle within.

RE-GROUND IT IN MYSELF SOMETHING I’M FIGHTING FOR- very important

It’s significant in my mind.

FIND OUT WHAT GETS YOU FIRED UP. - Music combination with dreaming. (me personally)

STOP FLOATING ON THE RIVER OF LIFE

BE EXCITED, WHAT’S MEANINGFUL AND EXCITING FOR YOU?

GET THE EMOTIONAL FEELINGS OF HAVING IT RIGHT NOW.

--------------

Side note --- I personally decided it's best for me to create my own structures, but you can find others structures and use them if you'd like, just make sure they fit into your personality. This is how I personally "grow" others might be structured and have a problem being more in the moment. so if this is the case this isn't for you. You should let go of your structure and gain information on the fly and in the moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by Truth

[electroBeam]

@Truth As your approach for structure always changes, how do you determine when you are going to change your current approach, and how do you measure or decide upon an approaches' effectiveness, and compare different approaches to determine which approach is the best?

Also have you ever gotten bored of your vision? What have you done in that situation to motivate you or even to change your goal?

That's a very cool goal setting system you have made, good work for creating it!

[Truth]

15 hours ago, electroBeam said:

@Truth As your approach for structure always changes, how do you determine when you are going to change your current approach, and how do you measure or decide upon an approaches' effectiveness, and compare different approaches to determine which approach is the best?

Also have you ever gotten bored of your vision? What have you done in that situation to motivate you or even to change your goal?

That's a very cool goal setting system you have made, good work for creating it!

To answer your first question, the aloofness that I talk about is actually a strength of mine, it allows me to calibrate in the moment. So determining which approach is best will start to become intuitive the more I just start doing it and feel into what works and what won't work depending on the unique situation. --As I've said before if your the type that becomes too structured and really irons out every single detail in order, you don't a need more detailed structure, you need to learn to let go of being so structured and calibrate in the moment and take information on the fly and not get too wrapped up in the system in order to grow.

as for the other question here's a key insight, DELAY GRATIFICATION. this is why things like no fap are so successful, I've only just recently realized the power of this. for example no fap, it allows you to get excited, to build a strategy, to do the work and be excited to do the work. If you're just fapping all day then you CANNOT have a strategy. Because subconsciously you're receiving what you're working towards whether you're aware of it or not making it REALLY difficult to build on a vision and do the work. Leo says "There cannot be a strategy if your strategy is immediate gain." and this is exactly why. How can you have a strategy if subconsciously you feel you've gotten it?

as for changing my goal I have prioritized what I want, I have a big dream, so that now allows me to backwards engineer how to get there. each goal I create has a purpose to my next goal which is key, Leo's course really helped a lot with this. It allows me to look at the big picture and create these structures and goals within the big picture, which is an amazing feeling. Changing a goal is what I mean by these structures always being in progress and open to change, I will undermine the entire structure if necessary to re-align myself with my authentic desires and wants.

 

Edited March 28, 2016 by Truth

[Anicko]

On 3/25/2016 at 4:43 PM, Ajax said:

There is a goal that I have in mind and that is to be more analytical by incorporating 3 techniques in my thought processes.

They are:

Seek out the big picture

Familiarize myself with every relevant detail

Maintain an open mind but question all observations that are not my own.

 

In fact I want those to be my primary factors to consider when I think about anything.  My question is how do I  measure such a thing? It is easy to keep track of your progress with weight or financial goals... however when it it comes to analyzing thought processes it is more difficult to know were I stand.  When I perform my daily review of my progress, I have a little trouble assessing my status and how to improve upon it.

Thank You,

Jax

That's a good way to approach thinking. 

The trap I see here is worrying about how you'll know whether you are doing it, whether you are doing it right.... Stop right there. 

Stay mindful of your thoughts, keep asking why, follow the chain to your core belief that needs to go. That's all you can do. It'll take practice, but you will realize eventually that you are doing it, and doing it well, and your life and mind are miraculously a million times better. 

That's all the validation you'll need. Because, the thing with inner work is you can never actually know. And it's practically impossible to share your experiences exactly or for anyone else to guide you. 

Just follow your own thoughts. It really all starts there.  

[Elton]

@Ajax goals should be big and compelling 

             goals should be written down 

             they should be viewed every single day 

             set pragmatic expectations with the larger picture in mind