Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Random Act of Kindness #7

Ok, I can't lie to you guys.  This isn't a random act of kindness in the traditional sense.  What it is is a kind bit of advice about goal setting, learned first-hand.  The hard way.

We are now more than two months into this project, and for those of you keeping score, this is only my seventh RAK.  Of fifty.  I swear I've actually done more than that, I just haven't written about them yet.  I'm all like Mother Theresa, promise!

I have a French exam in 2 hours so I'll be brief.

When you're setting a goal, you need to be realistic.  In my youthful naivete, I had thought I could write four RAKs a week.  Turns out, I'm  a jerk  busy.

Ambition is good, but it must be tempered by realism.  Did I really have time to devote four hours a week to this blog, on top of my other responsibilities?  Not really.  Did I want to?  Absolutely.  Am I really that randomly kind?  I don't like your tone.

Picking such an unattainable goal was silly.  I was setting myself up for failure, and every week that went by that I didn't have time to write here I felt like a failure.  I was paralyzed by my own ambition.

What I'm saying here is that when you're setting your goals, remember that it doesn't always have to be perfect.  Sometimes it's ok that your goal just be good enough. 

Don't run a marathon.  Run a mile.  Then lather, rinse, and repeat.

Does this count as an RAK?  Yes, because it's good enough.

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