January 06, 2024 - Hierarchy of Fulfillment 2024

The last few weeks closing out 2023 and leading in to 2024 I've been honing the list of:

1. experiences I want to have and share with family and friends this year and far in to the future
2. the projects I need to execute to support those experiences and sustain new ones in the future,
3. and the habits I need to work on establishing and sustaining in to make those projects, and by extension those experiences a foregone conclusion

Such is the general structure of my Hierarchy of Fulfillment with added dimensions for:

1. the pre-requisite areas of my life necessary to achieve experiences (eg my physical and mental health, my capabilities to acquire resources, my social life, etc.)
2. The area of focus within each of the above area (slightly more specific things like job-related outcomes, preventative health vs aspirational health goals, etc.)

Tracking Habits

This year, I've clearly identified the habits to support each project and experience, and the cadence (daily, weekly, monthly) that I need to perform them. I'm tracking each of these habits both in my GTD task manager (Gqueues), and also as a goal in Daylio.

Example of daily habit tracking in Gqueues

Example of daily habit tracking in Daylio

Tracking the habits in both is sub-optimal, but I'd like to see which one works for me. It also doesn't hurt to have reminders in two places. I hope that tracking in one or both will let me periodically look back at the activity that helped me progress, even if the exact goal isn't met and will motivate me to continue making progress. I think this is the idea behind the Github Commit calendar. This is mine as of 2024-01-06:

Avoiding unhealthy productivity

I've also chosen to remove or at least "grey-list" the projects or habits that are aspirational and not directly supporting my highest tier of desired outcomes ("Experiences of Novelty and Awe"). I can look at these projects and habits as "optional", and "Best effort", and I don't have to feel bad about not doing them since the cost of not doing so is less than the cost of not doing anything else on my list.

Everything that remains outside of the "grey-list" means I should be naturally motivated to work towards them and I understand the impact of doing or not doing them. I can also sequence my projects throughout the year or a quarter at a time so that I don't feel like I have to do everything all at once.

Collaboration

Lastly, with my annual goals written out and organized clearly, I can share it with my close family and friends who can either participate in the activities or support me in my pursuit of them. In some cases, our goals are the same, so we can naturally support each other. Lastly, I can print out a physical copy to put in the bathroom to look at in the morning while I brush my teeth, and/or on my desk to remind me what I'm working towards during the day.

Report Card

I haven't yet graded my 2023 results, but I expect them to have achieved about the same or maybe a little less due to some challenges with reduced capacity this year. But that is another post for another day.