This year during Three Weeks for Dreamwidth, I'm writing about goal-setting frameworks for goals_on_dw. Read Part 1: Introduction to Goal-Setting Frameworks, Part 2: The 1-3-5 Rule, Part 3: The 12-week Year.


Part 2: The 1-3-5 Rule

No matter how hard you work, you can't do everything. When you have a huge list of things to do, it feels overwhelming. Important things can easily get lost among less vital things. You may struggle to figure out a plan for improvement at work or school.




The 1-3-5 Rule address all of these. It has a few variations, but all of them balance activities in a range of scopes.

* Do 1 big task.
* Do 3 medium tasks.
* Do 5 small tasks.

OR

* Do a step for 1 long-term project.
* Do a step for 3 medium-term projects.
* Do a step for 5 short-term projects.

In the first example, you'll need to think about how to accomplish the big task, then fit the others around it to fill in your day. In the second example, you'll need to think about what is most important over time, so that you don't fixate on either the short term or the long term at the expense of the other.

The 1-3-5 Rule is one of the few goal-setting frameworks that scales really well because you can use it to frame a day, a month, a year, or whatever you need. It serves at home, at school, or at work. This makes it among the most versatile.