“But a deed cannot be both wise and unintended.” Greg Swann
Substitute goal for deed, and it’s still a profoundly affecting thought. In the context of Greg’s post, one could reasonably assume deed could be construed as goal.
The thrust of the post talks about the tactic of exposing your goals to the ‘public’, or at least a person(s) you know. The thinking is that you will tend to be more motivated by the fear of others knowing you not only failed, but failed by lack of commitment or best effort.
Clearly their are two schools of thought on this.
One is the unstated but obvious conclusion that using fear in a positive manner, as a motivator, will keep some folks on track to achieve the announced goal. Others go farther than a mere announcement — they set up fiercely painful penalties for failure. One such case was the woman who’d failed spectacularly time after time to lose weight which was life threatening.
Apparently she gathered her closest friends together to tell them the penalty for failure — running naked down the street in front of her neighbors. In other words, she established a penalty so severe, that would cause so much pain, her motivation to avoid the pain superseded her motivation to extend her life by losin’ the damn weight.
Though not my approach, whatever works, right?
As I commented in Greg’s post, I am in some ways, almost, but not quite against my will, my father’s son. I’m a pretty private guy, but he was extremely so. When he set goals his wife was fortunate to be in the know. Not kidding.
It was his preference, and now mine too, that if one doesn’t have a strong enough desire to bring about what the achievement of any particular goal brings, they shouldn’t set the goal in the first place. It’s not a value judgment on others. It’s like losing weight, gettin’ in shape, and eating a healthy, well rounded diet. There’s no one correct way.
I believe in keepin’ my personal and business goals to myself because I don’t set goals Read more
