Welcome to Stoic Snippets,
The track that is short in time,
But not in depth.
First say to yourself,
What would you be?
Then do what you have to do.
Epictetus.
Today I want to address the second part of this statement.
I've done countless other courses and Stoic Snippets about the first part,
So let's try something new.
Many of us know that we need a good end goal in mind,
But far fewer of us know how actually to go about doing it.
And since Stoicism is all about doing and not speaking,
I wanted to give you some tips on how to achieve your goals faster.
As Seneca writes,
We should decide what we wish and then abide by the decision.
So here are three decisions we can make this year that will help us achieve whatever goal we have in mind.
1.
Where are 80% of your results found?
Wilfredo Pareto,
An economist and a keen gardener,
Found that 20% of his crops produced 80% of the yield.
He started noticing this ratio everywhere,
And now it is a staple in economics and known as the Pareto distribution,
Or Pareto ratio.
Effectively,
Not all actions are equal in their ability to help you achieve your goal,
So spending time to work out what 20% of your actions gets the majority of results is time well spent.
2.
Can you measure your outcomes?
Peter Drucker famously said that what we can't measure,
We cannot manage.
See,
Terms like more or better are problematic because they aren't easily measurable.
Instead,
They pose a bigger question,
Which is,
How much is more,
And what constitutes better?
If instead you choose to increase your strength by 10% or lose 5 pounds,
It's much easier to judge whether you're on track to achieve your goals.
So rather than choosing vague goals,
Choose very distinct ones that you can measure.
3.
Does your work serve the big picture?
It's easy to assume that the more we do,
The better.
But if we think like this,
Then we can end up going down a very dark and dingy rabbit hole where we do a lot of work but don't get much result.
Each week,
Instead,
Set a meeting with yourself to make sure whatever you are working on is keeping you within your goals,
It's moving you towards what you actually want,
The big picture.
And this is beautifully summed up by the way by Marcus Aurelius when he says,
People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct every thought and impulse toward are wasting their time,
Even when hard at work.
So we may think we're doing the right thing by being hard at work,
But if it's not directed to the right thing,
We are still wasting time.
Be sure to focus on the big picture.
Alright,
Those three decisions will help you no end.
And although they are small steps,
They have big results.
If you're serious about your goals,
Then you've got to keep these three decisions at hand at all times.
Right.
Good luck with that.
Looking forward to seeing what you achieve.
Oh,
And by the way,
If you're looking to learn even more about stoicism,
Then you have to check out my retreats.
They're going to be the best place for you to learn while connecting with others who are also deep thinkers like you.
Plus,
They are super fun.
So check them out.
They are all available under my profile here on Insight Hope to see you there.
