goals

Today I had the chance to go to a psychology class I’m assisting as a librarian this semester. Basically, I was sitting in on the class so I had a complete idea of what their assignment was going to consist of, thus enabling me to help the students better with their research when the time came for them to start on their papers. Fascinating class. It was all about ways to encourage or discourage behavior based on rewards or punishment. Basic concept: if you want to get someone to do something more, you can either reward the positive behavior or […]

And because I just read this article–and it mirrors exactly something I do already–I thought I’d link you to it, as well. Kind of cool that Seinfeld and I agree on this. And if we both agree, then clearly we’re right, and you should do this, too. Basically, it’s that when you set a goal, you should start to track it visually–on a calendar or whatever. And once you’ve got that going, you’ll see a visual chain of success. The longer you go keeping the chain unbroken, the more motivation you have not to break it. Maybe this just works

Like many of you, I take the time every New Year’s to set goals for myself. I take my goal-setting seriously, trying not to set too many, but also setting ones that will really help me do the things I want to do. This year I asked myself what I’d like to be able to say about my year next year. What things did I want to accomplish? Here’s what I came up with. Write 2 books (first and second drafts of each) Get down to 200 pounds Continue to keep a daily journal Speak Slovak better Get better at