Goal setting is not easy

Just like any other f*cker on the planet, I have started to plan my goals for 2014... because that's the sort of thing you do.. you know... take the opportunity of a psychological re-start and try to create new things within you and within your life. 

What started like a motivational exercise has soon become an overwhelming, getting more stressed, needing to take some deep breaths exercise. I soon realised goal setting wasn't easy at all. Goal setting made in a more mature, professional way, not in the way of writing some bullet points on a piece of paper. is not easy 

I started with a spreadsheet. Most of things in my life start with a spreadsheet - I know this might sound sad for some of you - but I think using tools that match your pattern of thinking is useful. My brain is organised like a spreadsheet, I can think in spreadsheets and this is the best way for me to structure or start anything. 

Also, because I work with spreadsheets, I started going into work mode - how can I make this spreadsheet (just like any other deliverable that I do) even better than just a list. So I added relevant columns, like Goal name, goal description, steps required to achieve that goal - with timelines for those interim steps, notes and then a KPI - the measure for success for each goal or for each interim step if necessary. 

A sanity check for SMART after writing all of this - some failed and then.... well, by the end of this exercise I felt so overwhelmed, so buried under the massive weight of my own expectations and plans that I honestly didn't even know where to start and what do to first... how to even begin to tackle the monumental task of achieving all of these objectives. 

This is where I am now, a bit lost and confused by my own "motivational" failed attempt. But I will come to it and will make this work. It's a work in progress model, and it will need some refining. No deliverable is perfect when you start it. But with a lot of creativity, persistence and patience, it becomes the right deliverable in time.