I think that I'm caught in the middle of Epistemologies

Epistemology is the science of knowledge or how we look at things.  What are the lenses that we use to filter what we see, and what we know?

I was working on goal setting today and found myself in the middle of two perspectives.  From one, I was looking at where I am now, and setting goals for what I could accomplish in the next 7 days.  From this perspective, I was very much following Kuhn's approach to scientific revolutions.  I am trying to move forward, with no apparent path or destination in mind.  I am just trying to move from where I am and hope that one day, my perspective will shift drastically.  Hmmm.  I know what it feels like to take this route, but I'm not sure that it will get me to where I need to be.  I guess that I could trust in the universe, but I have never felt that my destiny should be completely out of my hands either.

The other approach that I used was to employ all my teacher training and to set the goal with the end in mind.  Where do I want to be, and what are the steps that I need to take to get there?  In some sense, its very behaviorist.  May be, its why I cringe when I try to do this.  I've never been a check the box and live within the guidelines kind of person.  In fact, whenever I try to be this way, I become quite bored and frustrated.

So, what is the answer?  I don't know.  May be to do a little of both!!

Here's my plan for tomorrow:
- Visualize and define the big picture.  Stop thinking logically, but imagine where I would love to be, if I could just set myself down somewhere.
- Then I can think about all the things that I will think, do, see, feel, etc., when I am in this next perfect situation.
- Then I can make shorter term plans to take me towards them.  Probably 3 months and 1 week.

I don't feel that I am good at defining the process of working toward goals.  I don't know what happens, but when I try to be too precise, usually something gets in the way.  But when I set my mind to the goal and trust that it will happen, it generally does. 

Does it make me feel uneasy?  Sometimes.  The down side is that I spend a lot of time feeling like I'm just hanging on and barely getting by.  I would like to have a greater sense of accomplishment than that.  The upside is that I don't spend a lot of time feeling like I'm trying to decide the exact right thing to do for my plan.  I know where I want to go and trust myself to make the decision and do it.  I accomplished my PhD this way, and in the time frame that I initially set for myself.  And even though I've always downplayed this to others, I think it was a pretty good accomplishment!

So, which way do I go?  How do I know?  I don't think it matters.  Because as long as I'm taking my next action and not just thinking about it, then I'm on my way somewhere!

Today I Just Couldn't Eat the Frog!

You know, eat the biggest frog first!  After the big, ugly one is gone, then its all down hill from there.

I kept trying to eat the frog today.  I kept trying to work on the biggest project(s).  But I just couldn't do it.  I just couldn't focus.  So instead, I finally gave in and attacked the things that were swirling on my to-do list and in my head. 

These weren't the biggest tasks, they weren't the most important tasks, but by doing this, I was able to check several tasks off my list. 

Here's the benefit - by checking off the things that I could, it gave me a feeling of accomplishment.  It got my endorphins going.  And, it cleared my head.  They cleared a path so that I was finally able to see one of the frogs, get my hands around him, and begin to strangle him!  Eating some of those frogs, after all!!

Time to Live the Transformation!

Thank you Craig Ballyntine and Turbulence Training! 

Today I realized there are only 120 days until the end of the year.

Thinking of what my life will be life in that short time, I had to ask myself, where will I be?  Will I still have the same goals that I have today?  Will my life look the same?  I honestly hope not.  Don't get me wrong, my current life isn't bad, but its also not the life of my dreams.  So I hope that I will have made progress toward my goals at the end of the next 120 days...and have plans to continue growing forward.

So today, I added a new tab, My Transformation.  There, I will post my progress toward my transformation.  Part of this is entering the 18th Turbulence Training Transformation contest. 

I've come a long way in the past year a half, and have a long way that I still plan to go.  Keep track of my, and my progress here.