Although I said I would wrap up about how to be independent in the previous article (this article), let me add a little more! I created a new goal-setting method based on it. Today, I will introduce it.
Is there any better goal-setting method?
Sometimes, we want a more efficient goal-setting method to fulfill our lives. We often set goals and try to achieve them.
However, there are always two problems, as follows:
- We often cannot satisfy our lives, no matter how much we achieve these goals. Despite the necessity of patience for a long time, feelings of happiness disappear quickly after achievement.
- We often fail to achieve objectives, especially if they are competitive. It means that others interfere with the difficulty of our goals. Winning a competition is an example. This makes the prospect of achievement difficult.
This is not worth it. We want a methodology that provides us with continuous solid goals: easy to achieve, less patient, no one interferes with our goals, and fulfilled most of the time.
In such a case, the goal-setting method I created might help, especially if you want to live more self-reliantly. I named it the yin yang goal-setting method. Today, I will introduce it.
About the yin yang goal-setting method
The yin yang goal-setting method has two unique aspects, as follows:
- We reduce the cause to two instead of the usual way of finding a single cause. The two causes have opposite natures, like yin and yang.
- We don’t set priorities or order individual goals in advance. We decide which one to do based on our moods at that time.
They provide us with continuous goals that are easy to achieve, less patient, no one interferes with our goals, and fulfill us most of the time.
Let me explain the details below.
The reason why achievement is difficult
In my opinion, reducing the cause to only one makes it hard to achieve.
Usually, we set one goal based on one cause. For example, we set a goal to be healthier because we believe health affects our happiness. We might set a goal to be millionaires because we expect a lot of money will solve our problems. We usually connect a cause to a goal.
However, there is a problem: we often don’t know what the true cause is.
Try asking yourself, “What makes my life better?” You will soon find that putting all our wants together is hard because we always have contradictory wants.
For example, we might wish for money, but we don’t want to work patiently. We might desire health, but we also feel like eating junky food and refreshing. We want to be active but also rest. We desire to deny and change this world, but we also want to accept and be grateful for this world.
In other words, we are essentially contradictory. That is why assuming one cause never satisfies us, no matter how much we accomplish.
Steps of the yin yang goal-setting method
The solution to this problem is to reduce the cause to two contradictory aspects.
Let me introduce how to set goals with the yin yang goal-setting method:
- Write down your specific goals as much as possible.
- Prepare a piece of paper and divide it into left and right areas. One side is the yin (shadow) side, and the other is the yang (light) side.
- Classify the goals that you wrote down into two areas based on the following criteria:
- Yang (light) side: Activities that are socially positive but stress you. E.g., being active, contributing to others, changing outside, challenging risks, trying hard problems, being logical, adding things, starting something.
- Yin (shadow) side: Activities that are socially negative but fulfill you. E.g., resting, caring for only yourself, changing your inside, creating stability, relaxing, being emotional, reducing things, stopping something.
- If the goals are biased towards one side, add the other.
- You choose which one to do based on your mood. (If you don’t want to do anything, write down ‘Do nothing’ in the yin (shadow) side and choose it.)
- You have to halt the goal when you get frustrated. (This is the necessary condition.)
- Choose which one to do based on your mood again, and repeat this. (You may want to do the goals on the other side.)
- If you want to add or remove goals, do it at any time. You will notice that you can naturally avoid unnecessary means that are not directly linked to your way of life.
Monism vs. dualism
This is the same as the relationship between monism and dualism. They are different as follows:
- Monism is efficient for thinking scientifically, but it is not suitable for explaining chaotic things. Technology belongs to the realm of science. This has an objective view. This is unaffected by the individuality.
- Dualism is efficient in explaining chaotic things, but it is not suitable for scientific thinking. Human lives or values belong to the realm of chaos. This is a mixture of objective and subjective views. This is affected by the individuality.
Distinguishing them makes us use them efficiently. If we want to progress our skills or technology, setting one goal based on monism will work. However, if we want to improve our lives, dualism will help.
The concept of yin and yang is one of the most useful dualism symbols. Yin and yang are opposite, but they are two in one and inseparable. They are closely related. Both are necessary. Both contain the other side of the aspect.
For example, we need rest to be active. However, enough rest makes us feel like taking action. The activity makes us tired and want a break. They are contradictory, but both improve our lives.
Adding the perspective of happiness
Our lives are not scientific. Science cannot define our happiness because we have different values.
In other words, happiness is a mixture of subjective and objective views. We feel unhappy if we can have only milk and bread, but if we know everyone around us has nothing to eat, we will feel we are happy.
This is why only an objective view cannot create our fulfillment. We need to consider our subjective views.
Dualism has an objective and a subjective view. The yang (light) side is the way of monism. The yin (shadow) side is a way of subjective happiness. Balancing them allows us to choose the goals that make us fulfilled.
Why we can easily find the next step
In this way, we can easily find the next step because we can eliminate competitive factors when we don’t want it.
Competitive factors make it difficult to achieve goals when we are not in the mood. For example, imagine a situation where we have to run 100 meters with 100 people. Only a person who wins can achieve his goal. We are not good runners. This is unsuitable as a goal due to external unpredictable factors.
In this situation, we want to choose what will make steady progress in front of us. It is like a situation we can see only 1 meter away. Although we know neither how much we have to walk nor how many others are there, we can relax and proceed forward steadily.
Deciding a goal based on our moods will make it happen. We never choose a goal that seems hard to realize if we rely on mood. It eliminates unnecessary competitive factors.
In other words, this allows us to choose a goal that is easy to achieve, is less patient, has no one interfering with our goals, and can be fulfilled.
We can look back, and then we can feel we are making steady progress. Before we know it, we have come a long way. This makes us accept our way of life.
The shortcomings
However, this requires several sacrifices, as follows:
- The happiness depends on the subject. Our happiness is up to us.
- You cannot use this for social success. You can use this for a life to be more self-reliant.
- You have to be honest with yourself. Lying to yourself ruins this method and yourself. Be sensitive to your physical and mental state, especially to frustration.
In other words, only those who want to live independently can use this goal-setting method efficiently. This method will hurt people who want to depend on others or society.
This method has an affinity with chaos. The more chaotic individuality you have, the more this method will work. This method will also work greatly in a chaotic environment, such as investment.
However, I don’t recommend this way to the general public. For ordinary people, it would be better to follow individual goals.
There is no method without flaws. They are the shortcomings of this way.
Conclusion
That is the new goal-setting method: the yin yang goal-setting method. This is for those who want to live more self-reliantly.
This method would provide us with continuous goals that are easy to achieve, less patient, no one interferes with our goals, and fulfill us most of the time, although we need to be honest with our wants and balance it.
This goal-setting method might help you make your life better.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope to see you in the next one.
