Goal Setting, Habits and the "Long Obedience in the Same Direction"

Praxis Podcast with Rhett Smith

At the beginning of each new year we tend to think about turning the page on the current year, setting some goals, and moving with energy and momentum towards the new year that awaits us.

Though there is no magic with the turning of the calendar year, it does offer us a chance to think about resetting.

But this was a different kind of year. 2020 threw all kinds at challenges at us, and as we move into 2021, I don't think any of us are under the illusion that a new year will automatically change things.

But it still does offer us what the New Year transition has always offered us -- a change to pause for a minute and reflect upon what we have been through, and to think about where we are going.

What I have found helpful in this transitional period is to identify some specific goals that I can work on for the year -- ones that I can track and measure -- ones that involve a certain element of risk and the potential for failure.

So in this episode I want to come alongside of you and share what I have been doing that is helpful for me. You probably have your own methods, but I hope you learn something new and beneficial from how I do things.

In this episode I discuss --the importance of thinking about goals over the long term -- not just in short frames of time. I talk about the quotes by Frederick Nietzsche, Eugene Peterson and Rich Roll that sent the context for this "long obedience in the same direction".

--Categorizing goals in the areas of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

--Importance of habits to goal setting and achieving goals, with specific attention to cornerstone/keystone habits.

--Writing down and reviewing and re-evaluating your goals / perhaps in a journal you write with hand -- like the Leuchtterm 1917 linked below.

--The concept of drift and learning to "defy drift" (something my executive coaching mentor discusses)

--Hindrances that often get in the way of achieving goals. Link

Rich Roll on overestimating what can be accomplished in a year, and underestimating what can be accomplished over the course of a decade.

Friedrich Nietzsche on a "long obedience in the same direction".

Eugene Peterson -- A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

Charles Duhigg -- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

James Clear -- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

Drew Sams Instagram post on his word of "outside"

Leuchtterm 1917 journal (I use the lined one / sometimes I use the dotted matrix one as well)