Carroll, Ryder: Don't Set a Goal For 2026 Until You Watch This

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Bullet Journal. “Don’t Set a Goal For 2026 Until You Watch This.” November 7, 2025. Video, 12:08. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAk9zvROJFk.

Notes

00:00:18 ADHD shame

My ADHD shame about unfinished projects was reflected as a positive quirk in someone else’s eyes 1c3a1-having-countless-unfinished-projects-can-be-an-insecurity-but-also-a-positive-quirk

00:01:46 - “traditional goals ask us to predict the future”

it assumes that we know what we want and how to get it
but it can take years to figure out how to get there and then actually see if it made us happier or not
Arrival Fallacy - we can’t really predict how we will feel when we arrive

00:02:29 Many goals are not even our own

00:02:48 There are “don’t want” goals

ie. I want money b/c I don’t want to be powerless, I want a better body b/c I don’t want to be alone

00:03:03 Better goal-setting starts with figuring out what do we actually want

intentional goal-setting puts the attention not in the future but in the present
- ie. “I want to be a better writer” - if I set a goal to write a book and I start to work towards it, it helps me be a better writer, whether I finish the book or not.

00:03:56 - Airport vs lighthouse

traditional goals are like airports. If you don’t land perfectly, it’s a disaster. This high expectation also makes it harder to start.
intentional goals are like lighthouses. You don’t need to hit a lighthouse exactly. They only serve to guide you from the distance.

“Sailors don’t go to a lighthouse directly. They use a lighthouse to help them navigate unfamiliar territory.”

00:04:35 - 5 Whys method

write down a goal - ask yourself 5 times “why it matters”
- do it until you find who you want to be
  - choose a goal to support who you want to be
interesting for me because I do multiple 5 Whys analyses per week at work. I’m a 5 Whys ninja. :)
- see: RCFA, TPM

00:05:50 - Even the most meaningful goal can slip away if we don’t check in regularly with why it matters.

00:06:50 - Update your goals based on reality. Reflect regularly to do so.

Also check-in with yourself if your goal still helps making you the person you want to be.
Create reflection rituals! - Rituals help to slow don and turn off auto-pilot
- See: GTD weekly routine

00:07:38 - A good reflection ritual can help differentiate between a bad goal and a bad week.

00:09:24 - Set goals that serve you already by working on them (see: be a better writer)

00:10:17 - Keep a record of what you are thinking, feeling, doing about your goals over time

rituals are important but they also need something to reflect on (your progress towards your goals)

00:11:05

“Goals are powerful tools for shaping the life that we’re given.”

00:11:38 - Traditional goals are for a moment (when you reach it), but your life happens in-between these moments.

- x - x - x - x - :) - x - x - x - x - :) - x
intentional goals are for the in-between times
- - :) - :) - :) - :) - :)) - :) - :) - :) - :) - :)) - :)

Creator: ref-carroll-ryder
My ADHD shame about unfinished projects was reflected as a positive quirk in someone else’s eyes 1c3a1-having-countless-unfinished-projects-can-be-an-insecurity-but-also-a-positive-quirk
Using the 5 Whys method is interesting for me because I do multiple 5 Whys analyses per week at work. I’m a 5 Whys ninja. :)
- Recent years (2024, 2025) I successfully nudged my career towards TPM - total productivity management - at work. I started as a data processing administrator, I evolved into a financial controlling administrator as I was able to do more intricate tasks, but a real change in course was when I got a taste for TPM.
  - A good administrator gets people puzzled. :) If you have a taste for good work, why would you waste it on such a boring thing as administration? But a well-organized data set really makes me happy. :)
    - Niklas Luhmann was born to be an administrator and so was I :)