Category: Blog

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Use targets instead of setting goals

I no longer create goals, I set targets.

In the past I would set goals, make plans. Then I would attempt to work the plans. Sometimes I hit the goals and other times I missed the mark. Most of the time I felt a great deal of angst about the process.

One day I was talking to a friend and realized that I had reached one of my goals. I had accomplished what I set out to do, but hadn’t realized it. I hadn’t realized it because I hadn’t written a good goal, and I had failed to establish key indicators.

When I had pictured the goal in my mind it looked completely different. I failed to realize that I would reach the goal in a smaller form long before I would hit the mark that I envisioned. What I had envisioned was a higher degree on a the scale.

So I decided to start using targets in place of goals. They are easier to create and you can create a range to success. The way I see it, it’s like an archery target or a dart board. There are rings from the outside moving towards the bullseye. The first target might be to hit the target as a whole and then move inward.

What I have found is that in setting / defining targets, I have changed the language so it stays in a more positive format. There is the added benefit of measuring progress.

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Let’s make AI into something good

If AI learns and will become what we make it, then shouldn’t we make the effort to teach it to be principled and good? It doesn’t seem like a good idea to teach it to be a doomsday machine by trying to prove a point. Instead of being fearful, let’s make it something useful. Let’s make it the thing we want it to be.

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WIN – What’s Important Now

According to Lou Holtz there is a simple formula for living life. Start by asking What Is Important Now, WIN. Then apply these four actions:
1) You choose your attitude.
2) Focus on your purpose
3) Dream and set goals
4) Make good choices.

If you apply the WIN concept to all four actions, you will find that choosing a good attitude is always the most important action right now. You’ll discover that focusing on your purpose is the right action right now. You find that dreams and goals will help you keep a good attitude and form your purpose. Finally you’ll know that making good choices is always the most important action right now.

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Bottle Your Inspiration

I find the ocean so inspiring that I long to return as soon as I’ve left. It makes me feel small and insignificant. If you’ve ever gathered seashells, you’ve noticed that pieces of large shells are tossed all over the beach. Yet the tiniest shells are completely unharmed by the same waves that destroyed the larger ones. I like to walk the beach and gather shells.

Georgia O’Keeffe loved the western United States. She loved it so much that she would fill barrels full of animal bones and ship them back home to her studio in New York. Barrels of animal bones in a New York studio, that’s where she created masterpieces. I’ve tried to mimic her behavior with jars of seashells all around our home.

The ocean inspires me. What inspires you? Have you found a way to harness the inspiration? Can you tap into it at anytime you wish? I hope so and if not I encourage you to find a way to do so.

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What We Bring Into Our Lives

There is a tribe in the Amazon where the men work 4 hours a week to maintain crops and the rest of their time is spent hanging out in the hut and swinging in hammocks. They don’t have much and they don’t require much either. What we bring into our life will determine the amount of resources needed to maintain our life.