Are you goal oriented?

[On the Inside]

I am often criticized for not being goal oriented. I might say I'd like to do something or accomplish another thing, but most of the time this is just idle talk. I may have no intention of even starting on the process of doing something towards this idea. I may do some research, look at pictures, talk to some people about it, but that might be it.

However, there have been a few things over the years that I developed a high enough intensity of interest in something that it became an all consuming passion and I was able to git-er done. So it depends for me. There have been things that were definite goals that I was unable to accomplish, too.

Curious about others experiences with goals, hopes, wishes and idle fantasies.

 

[wyverary]

With me, it really depends. The vast majority of the time, no, I am not the least bit goal oriented...I may tell myself "I'm going to do this today/this month/this year!" but in point of fact, my lack of executive functioning (most likely due to my co-morbid Nonverbal Learning Disorder) veritably cripples my ability to follow through with whatever idea I may come up with. As a result, I've suffered more stagnation than progress over my 28 years of life.

 

[The Penguin]

I have always been a goal oriented person. I had many people didn't have faith in me. People said wouldn't be able to handle software development yet I managed to finish that in college. People have told me to give up in my trade since 5 years passed and I didn't a full time job after graduation. I still had faith, I will find something. It might take me 7 years, but I still managed to reach my goal. One problem I see with many people that they give up too soon. Then there others, they are only willing to try for so long until they just give up.

When I was in Ontario, I had someone told me they get rejected for the business program twice. I told them if they get rejected more than 5 times, contact me as this is how many tries it took until I got accepted. To me, I always have to get things I want. I rarely give up on any of my goals.

 

[King_Oni]

I'm goal oriented, however, having clear goals might be a different matter

If I have a goal in mind I can get there; yet they've never been things of societal recognition in that sense. Goals for me always are intrinsically motivated, but at the same time, having goals in general is what keeps me going. So to me it's always the wait until a goal "pops up", and if it does I'll get it done in one way or another.

 

[Ste11aeres]

When I have a goal, I am goal oriented.

 

[DogwoodTree]

I'm extremely goal-oriented. If I don't have a goal, I feel lost, dormant, like a pile of slime with no purpose. The problem is getting myself sold enough on a goal to see it all the way through. Getting started is easy...completion is my biggest challenge. So I try to select my goals carefully. Otherwise, I'll substitute one goal for another before the first one is finished and nothing ever truly gets done.

I do best with short-term goals that are part of a long-term, big-picture goal. So I make lots of checklists. Checking things off my list is a crazy-huge motivator for me.

 

[epath13]

I'm more goal obsessed than goal oriented if I have a goal I can't seem to think of anything else. Now I have a system and try to follow the schedule and focus on all the goals not just one, even though sometimes it is still pretty challenging. I have finally settled on a style of illustrations for my book and now all I want to do is draw and work on the video. If I could I would work on it 24/7 until the whole think starts making me sick

 

[On the Inside]

I'm extremely goal-oriented. If I don't have a goal, I feel lost, dormant, like a pile of slime with no purpose.

Thank you, that is what has been presented to me as being goal oriented. That a person is lost, a zombie, without a goal. That is fine for someone who feels that way, but I have a problem with the idea that someone who isn't goal oriented in that way is lost, idle, and even lazy. That is just a projection of someone else's struggle.

I can and do have goals, I am just not driven by them 24-7. I can be with the right project, but I am not always in need of a goal. I do not feel lost without a goal. I can be happy with the "goal" of enjoying summer evenings for a week or two. And like you, can get side tracked with something else. The goal of cleaning the kitchen can get in the way of making progress on the repair project.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Thank you, that is what has been presented to me as being goal oriented. That a person is lost, a zombie, without a goal. That is fine for someone who feels that way, but I have a problem with the idea that someone who isn't goal oriented in that way is lost, idle, and even lazy. That is just a projection of someone else's struggle.

A friend of mine describes it as being goal/task-oriented on one end of a spectrum, and people/relationship-oriented on the other end, and then people fall somewhere in between. I wonder if it might actually be two different spectrums...a more vs. less goal orientation spectrum, and a more vs. less people orientation spectrum. And some people have more of the less on both spectrums.

Some people aren't driven by much of anything, seemingly. I have a sister who looks for excuses to sit on the couch all day and watch TV. My dad is the same way. It seems to me they're not oriented either to people or to goals...just sit and do nothing as long as you can get away with it. That, to me, is a problem, especially if they're shirking responsibilities in the process.

But I see what you're saying that, to someone like me, sitting on the porch sipping on tea feels very unproductive. But to someone whose primary interests have more to do with finding the value in rest, or in being with people, or whatever, they might feel they're accomplishing a great deal while sitting there.

Once I made it my goal to experience rest on the Sabbath each week...I've found ways not only to make it happen, but also to enjoy it. Because I'm meeting a goal by resting.

Sounds to me like you're feeling attacked by someone who is goal-oriented? Simply because you have a different set of priorities?

 

[On the Inside]

I like the idea of two spectrums, because I have known people like that too, who would get home from work if they had a job and just watch TV the rest of the time, and no socializing. Nothing wrong with that as you say. I also had a housemate who was always doing something towards some greater good, he had is ducks in a row. He socialized a lot, too.

I'm wondering about the people oriented spectrum and how it fits into the goal spectrum.

When I am oriented on a goal, I won't engage with people unless they are related to the goal. (Not that I engage with many people otherwise.) But when I am engaging with people, I can't get any work done. I get the "can't you talk and work at the same time" often. No, I can't multi-task that way, and if it's socializing you want then it's socializing you'll get. It's too distracting, I have to give most conversations my full attention. Don't expect much else for a few days after either, because I'm going to need to decompress.

 

[Ste11aeres]

A friend of mine describes it as being goal/task-oriented on one end of a spectrum, and people/relationship-oriented on the other end, and then people fall somewhere in between. I wonder if it might actually be two different spectrums...a more vs. less goal orientation spectrum, and a more vs. less people orientation spectrum. And some people have more of the less on both spectrums.

Maybe. Except I wouldn't classify it as goal-oriented vs people oriented. I would classify it as goal oriented vs enjoy-the-moment oriented. Some of the people in the goal oriented camp would have people-related goals, some would have goals that had less to do with people. Some of the people enjoying the moment would be interested in enjoying it with other people, others would enjoy it apart from other people. (Not that everyone without a goal is actually enjoying themself. There are also those who are depressed, etc).

 

[clg114]

I am short term goal oriented. Every day there are people want me to do something for them. These people pay me money for my services. It is my goal to keep these people happy because, well, they pay me money. My long term goals are more personal and take longer. These goals involve my family.

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

I was in the past, when I was trying to accomplish my huge goal, which was to get over my anxiety of talking to others.
I spent almost four years trying different things in my special class at school, before one day, my teacher asked something and I replied with a simple 'yeah'.

The reaction of the class was pretty amazing (and hilarious! ).
A lot of people in the class weren't expecting me to go from being a shy silent type, to a...well, I'm still a shy guy a tiny bit, but I at least talk whenever I need or want to.

So I guess these days, it depends. If I find something new to do, I'll be trying out different ways to hopefully get it done.

 

[AsheSkyler]

With me, it really depends. The vast majority of the time, no, I am not the least bit goal oriented...I may tell myself "I'm going to do this today/this month/this year!" but in point of fact, my lack of executive functioning (most likely due to my co-morbid Nonverbal Learning Disorder) veritably cripples my ability to follow through with whatever idea I may come up with. As a result, I've suffered more stagnation than progress over my 28 years of life.

If you don't mind me asking, what the heck is "executive functioning"!? Of all the Aspie terms to trip me up, that's the one, and I have yet to find a proper explanation anywhere. The best I can figure is that "executive functioning" is what people do when not on auto-pilot and routines.

 

[zurb]

...what the heck is "executive functioning"!?...

Not the most helpful term I think.

an umbrella term for the management (regulation, control) of cognitive processes, including working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, and problem solving as well as planning and execution.

I could be wrong, but I see it mostly as the ability to organize one's self (ie, set goals and follow through at all levels from the mundane to life ambitions).
From my observations, it seems aspies I know are great at ideas and planning. It's the actually doing it that's the tricky part.

 

[Progster]

For me, it depends. I may not have goals I wish to achieve concerning my career or personal life, but I often have self-imposed projects going, as hobbies or special interests. I also often set myself deadlines in order to get work done by a certain time, it's a way of of imposing self-discipline to get things done.

 

[Suzanne]

Not what non aspie's consider goals, but my own version, I guess so!

If I get absorbed into something, my main goal is to get to know every inch of that subject but the problem is that I am eager to share that knowledge and perhaps after the initial interest, my poor husband begs me to stop because he has had it up to his head, with this subject.

My other goals, consists of understanding about who I am and trying to teach myself to work with my issues!

Another goal is to try to be a good christian, as I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses and this is my life and actually, it was in one of our publications, that I came across the word: Aspergers and was blown away, with how similar the young sister is to me!

To me: small goals are large ones and large, does not exist because small overtakes lol

 

[On the Inside]

Well, I am pleased with the results of this poll, as no one checked off "No I am not goal oriented"

Yay for us. It helps me to combat the sense I have been absorbing that I have trouble achieving my goals because I am not goal oriented.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Not the most helpful term I think.

"an umbrella term for the management (regulation, control) of cognitive processes, including working memory, reasoning, task flexibility, and problem solving as well as planning and execution."

I could be wrong, but I see it mostly as the ability to organize one's self (ie, set goals and follow through at all levels from the mundane to life ambitions).
From my observations, it seems aspies I know are great at ideas and planning. It's the actually doing it that's the tricky part.

Indeed, it ain't. Even the Wikipedia definition trips me up. The Aspies I've talked with are constantly thinking, adjusting, tweaking, and adapting on some level or another. Some are writers and artists of other things with multiple completed works, projects, and other things, so it confuses me all the more what this "executive functioning" is. Is it something that only applies to classic autistics and exceptionally low-functioning individuals that must do the exact same thing at all times or meltdown??

 

[On the Inside]

Is it something that only applies to classic autistics and exceptionally low-functioning individuals that must do the exact same thing at all times or meltdown??

I was initially diagnosed with ADD, and "executive function" problems can be a part of that, too. Or any developmental disorder, I believe. I'm high functioning, and have some executive function issues. Many of them caused me a lot of trouble in college, and are a pain in the workplace.

I can research topics, gather reams of notes but have a tremendous amount of difficulty organizing and writing a coherent paper. Yet I can easily write technical manuals for the stuff I make.

I have a lot of skills in a wide variety of areas, I can come up with big ideas of what to do, come up with schemes and drawings of what I intend to do, but lack the ability to make a plan of how to carry out the idea. I work best when I can work out things as I go along. I do this at my job.

I cannot make accurate time estimates. I am fortunate to have very understanding project managers. They are aware of the complexity of the work that I do.