New Years is seen as the time to set goals. Despite this, 70% of Americans did not make a New Years resolution last year. 23% of the people who did make resolutions quit by the second week in January. Last year, I was among the 70%. This year will be different.
How I’m Approaching My Goals
When it comes to goals, such as projects or decisions, I prefer to visualize them from start to finish before I start them. However, real life usually doesn’t give us this luxury. We’re put in situations where we have no idea how we got there or how to move forward. But we move forward anyway because that’s the only thing to do.
Sometimes premeditating every single step might seem ideal for goal-setting, and sometimes the opposite, diving in headfirst, might seem ideal. However, in reality, an approach between these two extremes usually produces better results. I’ve named this approach skimming. I don’t need in-depth knowledge of a subject to make a decision about it or to put it into practice. All I need is a general understanding, a “skimmed” understanding. That’s enough to get started now, and it also gives a foundation for me to explore the subject more later.
Don’t just take it from me. Product developers and project managers alike often aim to produce a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), a product that satisfices just enough requirements to proceed to beta testing. Skimming aligns with the concept of MVPs. And for certain types of projects, it’s useful to have three types of plans: a minimalist plan, a realistic plan, and an ideal plan.
| Minimalist Plan (MVP/skimming) | A plan for completing the bare minimum and no more Satisfies all requirements but does not go beyond them Makes sure that all necessary work is done to receive credit |
| Realistic Plan | A plan for completing the project based on what will most likely happen Accounts for delays, failed tests, and other circumstances Useful for assessing the situation and troubleshooting a process before it begins |
| Ideal Plan | A plan to reach the best outcome possible Assumes that all resources and systems will work and everyone will consistently bring their A-game Encourages people to think big and take initiative |
Putting it into Practice
This year, I’m approaching my resolutions by skimming (minimalist) and once I have my bearings, per se, in a subject, I can move on to dreaming big and setting stretch goals (idealist).
One of my resolutions is “learn concepts of visual design.” Depending on how far I want to go with it, I could choose from the following approaches:
| Minimalist View (MVP/skimming) | Learn relevant terms and definitions Practice a concept until I can produce one satisfactory artifact showcasing it |
| Realistic View | Learn relevant and tangentially related terms and definitions Produce an artifact that I can post on this website |
| Ideal View | Be able to converse about the topics with professionals using industry-standard jargon Produce artifacts that adhere to multiple concepts of visual design |
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by my goals because I’m thinking of achieving the ideal version of them—and of getting them done all at once. But using this model, if I reduce the goal bit by bit, I find that I am more confident in it and can visualize it more clearly.
Here’s to a year of skimming and minimal analysis paralysis!
Jennifer Goon 