The short answer: re-observe them, re-orient towards them, re-decide to accomplish (or give up), and then redouble your efforts to get them done – act. OODA loop, bam.
I started this website with an explicit set of goals. Here they are:
1-Capture and report quality insights from where leadership, permaculture, technology, and wellness intersect
2-Provide a unique perspective, examining concepts and ideas from my multiple viewpoints (leader, father, entrepreneur, intelligence analyst, military, suburbanite, occasional maniac)
3-Report lessons learned and real-time updates on what is working and what isn’t
4-Explain how to those wanting to do some of the things I do
5-Encourage others to act for the betterment of this world, and the world our children will inhabit
6-Connect with both like-minded and contrary individuals
7-Entertain, especially if you like slapstick and/or how chickens are really little dinosaurs
8-Post weekly
I don’t think I’m hitting them, especially the last (most measurable) one. I have definitely not posted weekly. I have all sorts of reasons/excuses for that, but the first thing I learned about excuses in the Air Force is that there are no. No excuse, blog. So, what do you do when you fail to reach your goals, besides not make excuses for yourself?
It’s time to adjust techniques to re-enable myself to reach these goals, because after reviewing them, I still think they’re SMART and useful.
1- I think this is going OK. I’m not going to drastically change anything here.
2- I’m going to include a paragraph about which role, or roles, I feel I’m filling as I write in each journal, unless it’s obvious.
3- Even if my notes are incomplete, I’m going to post them. You can make sense of them as you choose, but I’ll highlight more refined entries.
4- Instructional posts require me to have a decent idea what I’m doing. I will do more to explain my thought processes here.
5- If you’re reading this, it’s working.
6- No idea how to measure this, or what it actually means. It could be time to write some invectives.
7- Chicken gifs coming soon. For now: DUCKS, YES, DUCKS! …. //giphy.com/embed/BRRe7NQGhuKAM<p><a href=”http://giphy.com/gifs/BRRe7NQGhuKAM”>via GIPHY</a></p>
8- This goes back to the need to open the floodgates to even my less polished thoughts. I’ll do it.
I’m looking at this from both an analyst and entrepreneurial standpoint. Failing fast, forward, and frequently is an approach that resonates with me, because I think I’ve learned much from my mistakes in the past. Testing assumptions is the only way to gather data, and put together new insights. Insights come from examining novel phenomenon, and connecting them. The map isn’t the territory, but I think of failure as getting out onto new parts of that map – even if I don’t examine it closely, I’ll have an idea if I want to come back for further investigation in the future.
I’ll share my failures so you don’t have to follow in my footsteps down the wrong paths – you can find new ways to get it wrong (and eventually right!)
To re-engage on here, I’ll be posting every day this week as I readjust to living with my family again.
See you tomorrow, folks. I’ll find the chickens.
Holistic Human Factors and Design Thinking 