Below are my reflections from the goal setting session I organised last year. We set 1 year, 10 year and lifetime goals. I set very specific and in hindsight, very ambitious goals. Nonetheless the exercise was valuable and I hope to have it as a yearly ritual with friends and family.
Reflections from Goals in 2016
The recommendation in the goal setting exercise was to set very specific and measurable goals. Without measurement, it would be difficult to get feedback, and without feedback deliberate practice is almost impossible.
I’ve added percentages below of how I fared with each goal. When I think of percentages, school grades come to mind. Passing tests, failing tests. My goals list is not an exam, it’s more a mirror board to help me self-reflect and make tweaks in my life where necessary.
(RED = <50% ORANGE = 50% GREEN = >66% )
REACH 3,000 HOURS OF MEDITATION, ACHIEVE SHAMATHA
- I logged 634 hours of formal meditation practice on Insight Timer. This did not include time from the 8-day Satipatthana course (approx: 80 hours of practice). It also does not include time spent meditating on the 7-day Shamatha retreat (approx: 14 hours of unlogged practice hours). Total = 728 hours / 3000 = 24.3%
- I did my first solitary retreat (13 days), the 5-week Cultivating Emotional Balance teacher training retreat and a 3-day Mind with Heart training (for teaching mindfulness and heart practices to secondary school students)
- Shamatha is still an aspiration but I’m going to need a more conducive retreat-like environment ovet a longer time period.
RUN 100 WORKSHOPS/CIRCLES ON MEDITATION & PERSONAL GROWTH IN THE GIFT ECONOMY
- I led/organised almost 20 workshops or circles – 1-day mindfulness intros, sociocracy, NVC, Breathworks volunteering, Laddership circles and in-person circles. Planted seeds for circles at Hiral’s, Divya’s and Raf’s home. 20/100 = 20.0%
- All of it in the spirit of a gift. Gifts that seem to have returned: one month house sitting at Sara/Miguel’s, one month house sitting at Nisha/Anil’s. N/A
WRITE 50 ARTICLES, DO 45 INTERVIEWS, CREATE 5 GUIDED MEDITATIONS AND 3 PDF GUIDES ON LIAMCHAI.COM
- I have 18 articles published on my website and another 7 transcripts and blogs from Laddership on the ServiceSpace website. Still many half-written/unpublished ones on my Evernote though. 25/50 = 50.0%
- I did one Awakin Call interview, but the idea was to interview other people, which I did not (although I have 4 unpublished interviews on my laptop.) I feel I’ve also developed amazing ‘vertical’ friendships this year. 1/45 = 2.2%
- I did not do any PDF guides (wrote a PDF manifesto but never shared it). 0/3 =0%
- I have booked one day (27th Dec 2016) to record 2-3 guided meditations with Ben. N/A
LIVE IN TAMERA FOR A MONTH (SAVE UP £1500+ FOR IT)
- I did not go back to Tamera. Instead I chose to spend the £1500+ on qualifying to become a CEB teacher instead. N/A
- I saved money primarily by working at Karuna, a charity that emphasise team-based right-livelihood. £1500/£1500 = 100%
LEARN 3,000 WORDS IN CHINESE
- I have 523 Chinese words on my Brainscape app that I have studied. I started to lose motivation for it about 2-3 months into the year. It dropped off my priority list as I did not have plans to use Chinese much in the future. 523/3000 = 17.4%
I’ve also added below my initial 10 year and lifetime goals. They’ve stayed pretty similar to my current goals list.
10 YEAR GOALS
- OVER 20,000 HOURS OF MEDITATION (MASTERY OF MIND, OBEs, LUCID DREAMING)
- DEEP AND COMMITTED LIFE PARTNERSHIPS BASED ON TRUTH, TRUST AND LOVE (FAMILY, FRIENDS LOVERS)
- LIVE IN A COMMUNITY
- PUBLISHED 8 BOOKS, TED SPEAKER
- SERVED 10,000 PEOPLE (IN-PERSON) AND 1,000,000 PEOPLE (ONLINE)
- PLAY A PART IN THE UNION OF SCIENCE AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE PATH
LIFETIME
- SURROUNDED BY ENLIGHTENED HUMAN BEINGS
- UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR ALL BEINGS
- FEARLESSNESS
- MEDITATION AS MY DEFAULT STATE
More reflections
Last year was the first time I set goals with strong intentions behind them. I printed the list off, laminated it and stuck it on my wall. In hindsight laminating wasn’t necessary because the goals changed quite a bit. My goals for 2016 were overly ambitious. However on reflection it also shined a light on how much time I do waste and the misalignment with what I want in life and what I actually spend time doing in life. I notice that misalignment is getting smaller, but it’s still there
Some Learnings:
- Time capital is limited. The Time You Have (in Jellybeans) video highlights that very well. Therefore with limited time, it’s impossible to go after every single desire. So to reflect on desires ano imbue them with some wisdom makes sense. What is it that I genuinely want? What is my heart’s desire?
- Read my goals everyday. Clarifying and writing them out is the easy part. Remembering them when the wave of life sets in is the difficult part.
- There’s a balance between sharing your goals with everyone and keeping them to yourself. The former might give you a false satisfaction and sense of approval from people. The latter means you might lose out on the synchronicities and network power of sharing your goals.
Themes for 2017: SIMPLICITY, FLEXIBILITY, SILENCE.
Check out my updated goals list.
If you want to spend time making a goals list for yourself check out the goal setting session instructions. And if you want to share your list on the GDrive folder please do, I would love to read them and help you towards them if I can :-).
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