Planning for part 2: Goals, Intentions, Time.

Switched to Blogger because it's easier to use! Upon self-reflecting a little, I realized that part of me not keeping up to date with the blog was that I hated the wordpress interface... So now I can be more productive with this thing! (pls dont judge for using Blogger lol)

Goals!

Goals are hard to define! The thing about goals that disturbs me is that it takes a long time to figure out what exactly do you want to do, but small goals always just feel unsatisfactory. Even then, there are a few vague things that I can aim for:

• To be timely with blog and assignments.
• To do all readings on their due date.

Those were the easy goals that are easy to define and easy to accomplish. Now, it would be productive to come up with goals that would make the process of the project that I have to produce better. 

How can we do that? Best idea I have at the moment is to try to imagine what the moment to moment of creating this project would be like, which is a near impossible task, so let's scale it down.

What are the things I need to accomplish to complete this task? (just off the top of my head)

• Research
• Conventional research (reading stuff, talking to people, experiencing things, etc.)
• Explorations (creative work)
• Producing the final product
• Figuring out what that will be (hypothesizing, experimenting, etc) 
• Making a draft
• Refining into a final product

So now one has to break down these two, because at the moment they are too vague and don't really serve any purpose. Most binaries screw up the way we look at the world, but in goal setting you need clear Success/Failure conditions in order to be objective about whether or not you've achieved it. Starting with the Research goal:

• To have, by the end of every week, 3 to 5 written sources that I've looked at.
• To talk to at least 5 people involved in the art scene of Abu Dhabi (at least 1 must be an "expert")

Those seem objective enough. It's the numbers, I tell you. You either have the numbers or you don't. That's what makes them so effective. I guess.

So, now the Producing goals

• To carry out my daily practice throughout spring break (starting today, every day, 500 words to develop the "World of the Black Flood")
• Every week, make something and post on blog
• Have a draft by whatever the deadline is
• Have a final which is more advanced than the first draft

The one here that I really don't like is the second one about posting on blog. Because it's not concrete what I should be making... I could just make a haiku and that's it. But that's actually alright, I would say! It'd definitely be a step up from last time! Just make something, and eventually there will be progress!!!

Intention!

Honesty!

Personal Growth!

Time Management!

Whatever is this? I've never had good time management. I have memories of finishing things last minute from as far back as 4th grade. Of course, the more time goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that finishing things last minute is not healthy. Not for me, and not for the things. So then what do we do? Here's some strategies that I've heard over my lifetime that could help:

• Make a plan!
• So I will make a checklist of all my work! I actually downloaded an app for this earlier today. Let's see how that works out...
• Get somebody else to hold you accountable!
• I actually have a friend that might do this...
• Make a clear schedule where you set aside time to work!
• Ehhh... do I really have to do this..? I guess I do..? Umm... Let's see how the other two go, and if things don't improve I'll use this as a last resort.
• The problem with this one is how to implement it. Because often what will happen is that I will just end up procrastinating when I tell myself that I will actually do work. Probably getting a study-buddy would help. Someone who can hold you accountable for working when you have to work.