We're in the middle of October now, particularly the third week of Big Picture Month. After spending most of the year exploring how to progress towards organized data in a variety of specific areas, I hope you're enjoying a broader look at what's driving us all to pursue these things.
Big Picture Week 3: Long-Term Goals
We spent the previous two weeks looking at pain points (where things feel "wrong" as we use our technology) and root causes (what fundamentally makes those things feel wrong to us).
For example, a pain point that makes you dread opening your email inbox might be caused by a giant unread message count a single important message you don't want to respond to, or knowing you'll get to inbox zero but only because you spend two hours every day doing it.
A pain point that you feel whenever you pull out your phone might be due to a sprawling, unorganized mess of apps spread across five home screens. Or it might be the annoyance of constantly swiping away pointless notifications. Or it might be a gnawing realization that you spend way too much time on your phone in the first place.
It's time to use the ideas from the last two weeks to clarify some long-term goals that will move you towards clean data and a pleasant, stress-free relationship with your technology.
Everyone has different pain points and root causes for those pain points. Likewise, we all have our own desires and goals regarding our technology. Of course, there's plenty of overlap among us since many general tech problems are common. However, what each of us wants from our technology and our interest and ability to pursue those goals will necessarily be unique.
This week, I invite you to consider your long-term goals in light of the pain points and root causes you've considered for the last couple of weeks.
Thinking long-term is helpful at this stage for multiple reasons:
- It took time to get into this situation, and it will take time to get out of it
- Long-term goals are often easier to come up with, being more high-level
There's an easy way to start this process: consider your pain points and their root causes, then make goals from the opposite of those scenarios.
Don't worry about being too specific or listing the details of achieving those goals. Just work on forming a mental picture of what it would look like for things to be better than they are. Write a sentence to describe each goal that comes to mind, and write it as though you've already accomplished it. For example:
- My email inbox is clean and easy to process
- My phone doesn't bug me with distracting notifications all the time
- My photo collection is organized and easy to navigate
These positive statements put you in a frame of mind to make wise decisions concerning your data. Once you've articulated a few goals like this, you'll more easily recognize choices that move you either closer or farther from those goals:
- Should I install this new app? Or should I at least not enable notifications?
- Should I unsubscribe from this newsletter, which I've read only once in the last six months?
- Should I add this article to my read-later list?
- Do I really need to leave this tab open?
See if you can articulate at least one or two of these long-term goals. Think about how your digital life will be once you reach them. Let yourself taste the joy, peace, and freedom, even if only for a little while in your imagination. You don't need to get there right away. You just need to think about what you want enough to picture the results.
Enjoy thinking about your goals, and happy data-taming!