I always have some trouble thinking about how to measure my goals, in every attempt I get frustrated about that, give up tracking it and just go blindly, pursuing something that when I get it I won't even notice. There are some goals that are quite difficulty to measure, such as speaking a language, in my opinion, you can't measure the words you know, because you don't even know if you are able to use it in conversation, sometimes you just know the meaning if you listen or read it, but you can't use that word when speaking. Some goals are really hard to measure, and if you can't measure you can't reach, right?
Really nice post.
I always have some trouble thinking about how to measure my goals, in every attempt I get frustrated about that, give up tracking it and just go blindly, pursuing something that when I get it I won't even notice. There are some goals that are quite difficulty to measure, such as speaking a language, in my opinion, you can't measure the words you know, because you don't even know if you are able to use it in conversation, sometimes you just know the meaning if you listen or read it, but you can't use that word when speaking. Some goals are really hard to measure, and if you can't measure you can't reach, right?
Btw, thanks for sharing!
Hey Douglas, good points. I’m definitely going to have to make a post that digs into the “how” of making goals...this post was more of a “why”.
Learning a language isn’t a goal with an end, but it is measurable.
Michael Hyatt defines two types of goals: achievement goals and habit goals.
An achievement goal has a measurable end.
A habit goal has a measurable practice.
Learning a language doesn’t have a measurable end. But it does have a measurable practice.
And languages are a truly “if you don’t use it, you lose it” skill, so even if you feel you’ve become fluent in a language, you need to keep it up.