Current Goals

The small number of things I am deliberately working to improve right now.

My Growth Goals describe the kind of person I want to become. My Good Life describes the life I want to build. This page answers a much simpler question:

What deserves my deliberate attention right now?

I do not need to actively improve every part of life at the same time. Most good things can remain in maintenance while a few priorities receive focused effort. When one area becomes reasonably stable, I can move another goal into active development.

The aim is not a perfect week. The aim is to make important behaviors increasingly normal, repeatable, and sustainable.

Current Focus

Keep the active list short. Three major areas is usually enough.

Sleep & Recovery

Why: Sleep supports mood, judgment, learning, emotional regulation, training, health, and nearly every other goal on this page.

Current target:

• Aim for roughly 8 hours of sleep per night
• Use approximately 9:00 PM to 5:00 AM as the default sleep window when practical
• Begin winding down before bedtime rather than treating bedtime as the point when activity stops
• Avoid routinely borrowing sleep to create more time for work, school, entertainment, or exercise
• Notice patterns that interfere with sleep and correct them rather than accepting chronic sleep deprivation

Success looks like:

• Most nights provide enough sleep
• Morning fatigue is decreasing
• The schedule feels increasingly automatic rather than requiring constant effort

Health, Weight & Physical Capability

Why: I want to become leaner, stronger, faster, and more physically capable while protecting long-term health and making exercise sustainable.

Current direction:

• Continue moving toward approximately 190 pounds at a sustainable pace
• Eat in a way that supports fat loss, health, training, and long-term maintenance
• Run consistently and gradually improve endurance and speed
• Every 6 days, complete or work toward completing a 30-minute HIIT session: 10 rounds of 1 minute at 12 mph followed by 2 minutes at 3 mph, totaling 3 miles
• Continue strength training with emphasis on squat, bench press, and deadlift
• Include mobility, stretching, walking, and recovery
• Avoid allowing short-term performance goals to override injury prevention or recovery

Longer-term direction:

• Run 3 miles comfortably at about 8 mph
• Eventually run a 5K in under 20:23
• Participate in occasional 5K races
• Build toward a 1,000-pound combined squat, bench press, and deadlift total
• Participate in occasional amateur powerlifting meets

Success right now looks like:

• Following the process more often than not
• Weight trending gradually in the desired direction
• Running fitness improving
• Strength improving without accumulating unnecessary injuries

Relationships, Friendship & Social Connection

Why: A good life requires people. Relationships are unlikely to remain strong through good intentions alone; they need time, attention, initiation, and shared experiences.

Current target:

• Maintain existing close friendships instead of allowing them to drift
• Initiate contact with at least two people each week
• Try to schedule at least one meaningful social activity every week or two
• Remain open to making new friends
• Express appreciation instead of assuming people know they matter
• Invest in warmth, respect, communication, affection, and honesty in close relationships
• Maintain friendships and interests outside a romantic relationship

Success looks like:

• I am regularly talking with people I care about
• I have upcoming social plans rather than waiting for spontaneous connection
• Important relationships feel active rather than dormant
• I am both giving and receiving support

Maintenance

These areas still matter. They simply do not need to become major self-improvement projects right now.

Career

• Do solid work
• Continue learning useful technical skills
• Look for opportunities to increase competence and responsibility
• Maintain employability and professional relationships

Graduate School

• Attend class
• Complete assignments on time
• Understand the material rather than optimizing only for grades
• Continue progressing toward the M.S. in Artificial Intelligence

Home

• Keep the house reasonably clean and organized
• Handle laundry, dishes, maintenance, and clutter before they become overwhelming
• Maintain personal hygiene and appearance

Finances

• Continue saving and investing
• Maintain emergency reserves
• Avoid unnecessary debt and lifestyle inflation
• Continue progressing toward greater financial independence

Emotional Health

• Pause before reacting
• Notice rumination and redirect attention when appropriate
• Meditate or use other calming practices regularly
• Use counseling, reflection, writing, or conversation when useful
• Practice becoming calmer and more comfortable with uncertainty

Learning & Curiosity

• Read
• Ask questions
• Explore subjects outside work and school
• Keep intellectual curiosity alive without turning every interest into an obligation

Fun & Ordinary Enjoyment

• Watch things I enjoy
• Read for pleasure
• Listen to music
• Spend time outside
• Laugh
• Do things that have no productivity justification

Next Candidates

These matter, but they do not all need to become active projects yet. When an active goal becomes stable, choose deliberately from this list rather than automatically adding more.

• Establish monthly volunteering
• Choose a recurring volunteer organization or cause
• Develop a regular creative project
• Write, build, code, teach, or publish something consistently
• Develop a stronger meditation practice
• Create more recurring friendship rituals
• Plan a major annual trip or adventure
• Spend more regular time outdoors
• Develop mentoring or teaching opportunities
• Improve home organization systems
• Develop greater financial independence and work optionality

Things to Look Forward To

A good life should contain anticipation as well as achievement. Keep several enjoyable things visible on the horizon.

• A trip or vacation
• A race or athletic event
• Dinner or an outing with friends
• A concert, movie, show, or event
• A weekend activity
• A project I am excited to finish
• A new experience I have not tried before

Weekly Review

Once a week, spend about 15–20 minutes reviewing the system. Do not turn this into a large planning exercise.

How is the overall life?

• Body: Am I taking care of my health, sleep, fitness, and recovery?
• Love: Is there warmth, honesty, respect, intimacy, and connection?
• Friendship: Am I maintaining meaningful relationships?
• Mastery: Am I learning, working, and creating?
• Service: Am I useful to people beyond myself?
• Adventure: Am I exploring, playing, and experiencing novelty?
• Peace: Does ordinary life feel reasonably calm, secure, and manageable?

What went well this week?

• What should I keep doing?
• What am I proud of?
• What became easier?

What is drifting?

• Is sleep slipping?
• Am I avoiding exercise or overeating?
• Have I stopped contacting people?
• Is work or school consuming too much of life?
• Is the house becoming chaotic?
• Am I spending all my free time distracted instead of actually enjoying myself?

What are the most important actions next week?

Choose a few concrete actions rather than creating a giant task list.

• One action for health
• One action for relationships
• One important work or school action
• One thing I am looking forward to

Is one goal harming another part of life?

• Am I sacrificing sleep for productivity?
• Am I sacrificing relationships for work?
• Am I sacrificing recovery for fitness?
• Am I sacrificing enjoyment for optimization?
• Am I adding goals when I actually need more margin?

When to Change the Active Goals

Do not change priorities merely because something new feels exciting. Give important changes enough time to become established.

• Use roughly 8–12 week focus periods when practical
• Keep a goal active until the behavior is reasonably stable or the goal is no longer useful
• Move stable behaviors into maintenance
• Add a new active goal only when there is enough capacity for it
• Change goals when evidence or circumstances change
• Abandon goals that no longer support the life I actually want

The purpose of the system is not to constantly feel behind.
Work deliberately on a few things. Maintain the rest. Enjoy life while doing it.

The Hierarchy

When I feel overwhelmed by goals, return to this:

• Growth Goals: Who am I trying to become?
• Good Life: What kind of life am I trying to build?
• Current Goals: What deserves deliberate attention now?
• This Week: What are the next few actions?
• Today: What is the next useful thing to do?

Values guide the direction.
Vision describes the destination.
Goals choose the current priorities.
Habits and actions create the life.