A Goal Properly Set is Halfway Reached
You are reading my second column on Generative AI and knowledge blog. I must warn you that there will still be nothing “useful” in it. By that, I mean no easy answers, as the internet is full of them — prompts for educators, marketers, butchers, etc. The idea of this blog is that only after some time will you be able to truly understand, evaluate, and use most of these practical pieces of advice yourself, because I hope you could/will learn and understand at least some basic principles.
The first principle could be continuous improvement, essential for growth — not only for learning. This principle is completely opposite from trial and error principle, because it includes the active element of reflective observation.
One does not learn from mistakes, unless they dedicate time to reflect on them.
So, don’t hesitate to use Generative AI, as you have already learned, but constantly reflect on unsatisfactory results, applying the knowledge I hope you’ll gain here. And elsewhere, of course, this is not a church.
Living in internet age, we all suffer from short attention span cycles, often accompanied by a lack of motivation, especially for long-term anything.
We are accustomed to getting our dopamine shots every time we go online.
This embedded impatience is something I am trying to address through the form of these columns without jeopardizing the content. Instead of reading my book, you are reading short weekly columns. My intention is to make them interesting, different, twisted in a way, and divergent, hoping some content will grab your attention and trick you into reading it through. Each column has almost independent chapters to give you some of my condensed insights, to make you think, and to encourage you to google more or even disagree with me. This is my way of understanding the principles that we live and learn in an increasingly complex world.
Adding more tools and accessible knowledge (articles, courses, even books) almost daily does not make things easier. On the contrary, complexity and thus anxiety rise.
That is why this blog is dedicated to principles, not tools.
Goals
We have always been taught that, first of all, we have to set a goal, make it SMART, set direction, pace, and measurement instruments so all involved parties can be on the same page and track progress toward a common achievement. This is exactly what I intend to do. But first, I would like to share some additional personal insights into the benefits of goal setting and common misconceptions as well.
We were always well taught on goals, mostly because it was always about somebody else’s goals, usually business-related. We receive predefined company goals and scale them down to our subordinate team members or employees we manage. It is often a straightforward goal-setting session or template, so we do not need to think about it. And we (gratefully) rarely do. There is always a well-developed company business strategy with prescriptive guidelines that teach you how to set goals in your responsibility realm, and align them with strategic ones. This is a perfect education that I lived for more than a decade, which taught me most principles of goal setting, but also how to use them (the principles, not the goals) for my personal benefit.
Goal setting isn’t just about being productive in reaching a desired outcome; it’s also about personal growth and self-fulfillment.
The art part, as most principles has an art and a science component (reasoning behind, practical part, know-how, skill), is to align goals with your personal values.
Setting meaningful goals rewires the mind, encouraging strategic thinking to achieve desired outcomes.
Aligning goals with our personal values helps us prioritize effectively because each of us is different, with different abilities, hopes, and beliefs, so each path to achieving a (sometimes) common goal should be architected differently.
This is definitely the most important principle — to design the path to reach the goal (business or personal, given or set) in a manner that allows enjoyment and excitement along the way.
Reaching milestones, making small but meaningful wins — getting our much-needed dopamine shots along the way. This is the best way to use this natural booster to stay motivated.
Each one of the S-M-A-R-T acronyms is important, on a weighted scale according to the goal itself, but in my opinion, clarity (Specific) is the most important principle. Setting goals that are clear and specific eliminates the confusion that occurs when a goal is set in a more generic manner. That usually means we are unequivocally all on the same page, with no room to slip out or misunderstand the whole point.
Which slowly bring us to another important principle in our Generic AI In search for Knowledge journey.
Our Goals
To be completely clear and honest, I have my own goals — to amuse myself along the path of guiding and/or motivating you through this important journey, to recall most of my full career knowledge, and this time, to be better than my last writing attempt. This was more than a decade ago, unfortunately in Croatian only, provoked by my friend and editor Dražen Tomić, on his ICT Business portal.
To be honest, as I always am (sometimes brutally, as my close friends and colleagues occasionally complain), I do not know what your goals are. But I care. 😊
I will try to help you (not teach you — I have succeeded in teaching myriad different people, in different situations — sport, business, teaching; but never by lecturing) find, set, and achieve your primary goal — to gain new knowledge with an amazing, personal tutor — Generative AI.
For any other goals you may set — career, personal health, financial, self-development, happiness, new skill development, well-being, or even contribution to society — please pay attention to the principles we will go through and apply them in your own way and at your own pace.
Knowing More
· Information Anxiety is a term coined by Richard Saul Wurman in the book of the same name in 1989. It describes the stress and frustration individuals feel when they are unable to understand or effectively process information. This phenomenon has become increasingly prevalent in the digital age due to the overwhelming volume of information accessible via the internet and digital media.
Information anxiety manifests in several ways, including the fear of missing out on important information, the inability to keep up with the constant influx of new data, and the confusion caused by contradictory or unclear information. This condition can lead to cognitive overload, decreased productivity, and a sense of helplessness.
· S-M-A-R-T: The term was first proposed by George T. Doran in the November 1981 issue of ‘Management Review’ as a structured approach to goal setting:
Specific: Goals should be clear and well-defined to provide direction and focus.
Measurable: Goals need criteria for tracking progress and assessing accomplishment.
Achievable: Goals should be realistic and attainable, considering available resources and constraints.
Relevant: Goals must be aligned with broader objectives and relevant to your overall mission.
Time-bound: Goals should have a deadline to create a sense of urgency and prompt timely action.
· Dopamine role: Wolfram Schultz, a British-German professor of Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge is well known for discovery of the neurophysiological dopamine reward pathways, that expands the role of dopamine beyond mere motivation. It is integral ingredient of the reinforcement learning process. When you achieve a goal, your brain releases dopamine, creating a reward signal that reinforces the behavior, making you more likely to repeat it. This reward system helps in forming habits, making consistent goal setting and achievement easier over time. Additionally, setting smaller, incremental goals can lead to frequent dopamine releases, maintaining high levels of motivation and engagement. Understanding this can help in structuring goals in a way that maximizes sustained motivation and productivity.
· My ICT Business portal columns: Between 2013 and 2015, there were quite a few columns with my name on them (30 if I remember correctly), loosely connected to my thoughts on ICT career counseling at the time. I plan to re-read them again, just to see if there is any progress. · I will start at ‘Mijenja li internet paradigmu znanja’. But if you want to understand my core principles, read ‘Ne vježbajte matematiku’.
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