The Touchwood Project

I’m always looking for ways to inspire myself and today I’ve come up with the “goal circle”. A goal circle is about figuring out one big goal you have and then seeing each day the progress you’re making towards achieving it.

Some days all I can see is grey, grey, grey — all the things I haven’t done from the dishes and laundry to tax returns and web design work, and I have that moment of thinking I’m not really achieving anything. I find myself glumly musing, “What’s it all for? What am I really doing with my life?”

Then my rational mind jumps in and tries to remind me that yes, I am getting somewhere, that what I do is getting me in the direction I want to go, even if it only feels like a stumbling shuffle to a far distant finish line.

But it’s hard to remember that on days like these, so I’ve been thinking about a simple daily habit that can boost my spirits and put a shine on my pride.

What’s my goal?

I started by asking myself, “What is my big goal at the moment? What is something that, if I achieved it, I’d feel had given my life a real sense of purpose and meaning?”

I ask such a big question because it takes something that big to keep me motivated, to inspire me to keep making changes. I mentioned big picture thinking in my last post about the Futuristic strength, but I think it’s a universal human need, to feel we’re all striving for something better, something special.

If you’re in my situation and not entirely sure what your purpose in life is, if you weren’t born knowing you were meant to be a doctor or writer or teacher, then it helps to come up with one yourself. That purpose can change many times, so no pressure to come up with the One and Only.

Here’s mine:

To have our own eco-centre and cottage, with a herbal garden, a place to watch the stars and have a fire. Where friends and family come and are happy. Where Malcolm and I are happy.

That’s my huge goal. Now here’s what I’m going to do everyday to get there. I’m going to write down each morning the answer to this question:

What will I do today to get one step, however small, closer to my goal?

Then at the end of the day, I’m going to answer these two questions:

What did I do today that took me one step closer? How did that take me closer?

The reason I think it’s important to 1) write this down and 2) do it everyday is that we tend not to focus on what we’re achieving, what we have, what’s going well.

Instead we focus on all the negatives, from what we didn’t get done to what we want to have someday to what we messed up on. It can leave you feeling exhausted, guilty and feeling worthless. I hate that feeling and what’s more I think it’s a crock. So this little game is about making me aware of all the things I’m doing each day that are moving me forward.

Making it something pretty I can see

Rather than have just a diary with these entries, I wanted some way of seeing it visually, some instant picture of my progress. That’s where the goal circle comes in.

Each day, I’ll draw a circle to represent what I’ve achieved that day. The circle can be a different size and colour so that, as each day passes, I’m creating a mosaic of my accomplishments. My dream goal is the first circle, then I add one for each day.

Since I just started today, here’s what it looks like:

I know, it ain’t much. But it will be. Imagine 6 months from now when I’ve got 180 of those suckers on there. Won’t it be pretty.

Those little circles are smiling back at me, reminding me “Hey, you did something worthwhile today!” Small steps, small steps.

Want to join in?

If you’d like to do your own goal circle, here’s what you need to do.

Step 1: Clear 10 minutes and sit down and think about a goal you have that you’d be hugely proud of yourself for achieving, that if you were at the Pearly Gates and your life was spread out for judgment, you’d be happy to say you’d done. Remember, you will probably have many of these over your life, so don’t feel it has to be perfect.

Step 2: Write that goal down on a piece of paper.

Step 3: Now write “What will I do today to get one step, however small, close to my goal?”. If you’ve already done something today that fits the bill, write that down. If not, think of one thing you might do and jot it down.

Step 4: Go about your day, making sure to do one thing — no more — that you’ll be able to write down.

Step 5: Write on your piece of paper “What did I do today that took me one step closer to my goal?” Now answer your question.

Here’s what I wrote: “Put my size 8 clothes (which I’m too big for but should fit into in a year or so) in a suitcase and cleared the closet.” See? Nothing earth-shattering.

Step 6: Next write “How did this take me closer?” Answer your question.

I wrote: “By de-cluttering the closet, I freed up some energy to focus on other things. By protecting my clothes (by putting them in suitcase instead of our closet which alas is having a moth problem) so I don’t have to buy more sooner and can instead put the money towards the eco-centre.”

Step 7: Find a blank sheet of paper or use your computer if you have a paint or drawing programme (I use Photoshop) and draw your first circle to represent your dream goal. Mine’s in grass green because that’s my favourite colour. The background is grey because I like the colour contrast and also it’s the grey world feeling the colours are combatting, but you can easily just use white. Then draw a circle for today’s achievement. Mine is teal.

You may want to number your circles or write on them a word to remind you what that circle did. Space the circles out or nestle them in close — whatever works for you.

A goal circle is a work of art as much as anything, and yours will look completely different to mine.

Only you can know when your picture is done, but I hope to see yours someday.

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