[[Ambiguity]] should be avoided when formulating [[SMART Goals|goals]] and [[Capturing Tasks]]. [[Begin with the End in Mind]]. **Don't hide behind vague deliverables**. [[Failure is most useful when you give your best effort.]] For anything you're doing, have a clear definition of done. Setting vague or squishy goals or deliverables is fear, [[Business is Laziness|laziness]], or both. If you simply say "work on the thing": - You have no way of knowing if you've succeeded - You've no real sense of _progress_ - or _lack of progress_ - You end the day unsatisfied and unsure of what exactly you did - Other people won't know what you've done, nor benefit from it - You look like you don't (and probably, in fact, don't) know what you're doing In sales they say "ABC" -> "Always Be Closing". In your productivity system "Always be _Completing_". [[Project Decomposition]] can be done to arbitrarily small increments. These are also [[Goals Properties that Avoid Burnout]]. Of course, sometimes this means you simply have to **do more** and **try harder**, but that's a good thing. # Examples - [[Timeboxing]] - ⛔️ "Work on presentation" - ⚠️ "Spend 20 focused minutes on presentation" - ✅ "Deliver draft section of presentation for review" - [[Goals (index)|Goals]] - ⛔️ "Create project plan" - ⚠️ "Draft project charter outlining major milestones" - ✅ "Publish drafted charter with milestones for review" - Tasks - ⛔️ "Garage" - ⚠️ "Clean garage" - ✅ "Clean garage enough to pull in both cars" - [[Defining Project|Project]] - ⛔️ "Migrate articles" - ⚠️ "Move articles from notes to blog" - ✅ "Move articles to blog & delete 'articles' folder from notes" ← cleanest definition of "done" **** # More ## Source - [[Myself]] ## Related