lzgief

meta

_All my life, the education system, this bureaucracy has sucked the life, time and energy out of me. But for two months now, I am not burdened with involuntary duties! I can finally use my time the way I want to, not the way another bureaucrat wants me to.
That's why this text exists!_

In this post I would like to describe the tools that help me navigate the world around me and set my goals:

__Vision and Self-Reflection__. Human consciousness navigates goals the same way it navigates space. A goal is equivalent to a destination, the issue is the correct definition of the destination. Goals come from intrinsic motivation or external stimuli. There are always a selection of external stimuli and a person can choose which ones to respond to, but motivation, the natural call and predisposition to do certain things, there is little choice with it. But following motivation brings true satisfaction in life. 

According to my motivations I create a vision of the future, an image I strive for. Coordinating my motivations and stimuli in turn helps me avoid life problems, whether it's bureaucracy or paying for a living.

The best tool for articulating a vision are questions. And questions is the thing we can actually control. With attention, helpful questions can be formulated and answers will appear and help aim at the right goal. It is a dialog with yourself. Such dialog can be arranged with the help of psychologist or in the confession but it can be done by oneself on paper or computer. 
I have found precisely the tool to aim, the tool with a set of well-formulated questions and a convenient format for writing answers and revising them. This service is the __[Self Authoring](https://www.selfauthoring.com/)__ program, I call it autopsychology. 

There are three parts to it, the Past is an autobiography to resolve past events, which provoke anxieties; the Present is for assessing your current strengths and weaknesses; and the Future is for creating a vision. I've been using the latter one for a year and a half now. With it I am gradually moving towards my ideal future, achieving all goals I’ve set for myself! I revisit my plans regularly to update my goals and vision, so step by step I could improve my life.

__[Notion](https://www.notion.so/)__ - A user-centered note taking app. This is where I coordinate short-term tasks, whether it's to accomplish my personal goals or to navigate external stimuli offers. The user interface is intuitive, while the range of features available is huge. It's essentially a builder of your own websites and databases. For free, it's an insanely good deal.   
In my daily life, I use a prioritized to-do list. I fraction goals to several medium term projects and/or multiple short term tasks. All to-dos are represented by cards, which I have arranged in status columns: long-term; not started; ongoing and completed. When I move a card to completed - it filters out of sight so not to clutter my workspace. Juggling cards and their states helps me not to get lost in my own matters and still have time for everything. I suggest you try it too, here's a link to my __[template](https://www.notion.so/templates/prioritized-to-do-list)__ (it's free).

