The Effects of Experimentation, Moderation, and Goals

Everything in moderation, and there’s a perfect balance in this life if we can find it. — Ryan Robbins

I’m a fan of experimentation and moderation.

With experimentation, we can try new things to see what works, and what doesn’t. Because of experimentation, I check my personal email once or twice a day. This may sound normal to some, but as a former email addict, this is a vast improvement. I also took a hiatus to starve my social media temptations, and now I only use it to reply to friends. I unfollow everyone on Facebook and mute everyone on Instagram to ensure the addictive feed doesn’t steal my time.

As my Dad always says, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.” I always remember this quote and it provides me with a sense of balance. Little did I know, that’s what I wanted all along.

With some introspection, I’ve realized whenever something was out of moderation, such as email or social media, I created an experiment to moderate my usage. Experimentation and moderation have been so beneficial, I carry this approach as I dip my toe into a popular personal development topic: Goals.

Even though I may not have realized it, I’ve been a big advocate of goals for years. I didn’t want to make goals just to have them, so I didn’t. Or at least that’s what I thought.

I had to ask myself a lot of difficult questions to dig through the layers that were hiding the truth. Layers about being important and accepted by society. Layers about following every self-help guru so I could live the life they promise in their book, podcast, or seminar. (Spoiler alert: Spending money on their products won’t make you successful.)

While some bloggers, like Leo Babauta and The Minimalists, advocate getting rid of goals entirely, I don’t agree with that either. Goals serve a purpose. They’ve helped millions of people achieve millions of great things. Yet, I want to change course, and part of it is due to my intentions.

Instead of setting a goal to run another marathon, I’ve created a rule for myself to exercise for 30 minutes each day. There is nothing wrong with running marathons, but my intention is to live a healthy lifestyle, not to run marathons.

Instead of setting a goal to write a book, I set a rule to write for an hour each day.

Instead of setting a goal to save up a specific amount of cash, I set a rule to auto-deposit money from my checkings to my savings each month.

Goal lovers might argue my “rules” are actually goals. I personally don’t label them as goals, because I don’t have an end date or a specific tangible outcome I want to achieve. I’m in it for the long term, and goals tend to be temporary and need constant attention and care. With rules, you can set and amend them when necessary, which allows you to focus on the craft.

Daily exercise helps me stay healthy. Writing daily helps me become a better writer. Saving money from each paycheck helps me save for the future. Improvement is important to me, but I don’t have a specific destination to reach.

Habit lovers might label my “rules” as habits. In my mind, habits are automatic and rules are not. Some days I don’t want to exercise or write, yet I have to get myself to do it intentionally. Habits tend to get a lot of talk about how long they take to establish, but I’d rather focus on the craft.

The truth is, you can call it whatever you want. Goals, habits, rules, it doesn’t matter. I’m not here to bash any of them, and they’ve all helped me at different points of my life. If you want to call it practices, do it. If you prefer to call it rituals or a routine, go for it. Call it whatever suits you, and pursue it. Don’t get stuck on the label, focus on the craft. Do it every day, and put your all into it. Because whatever you do, as long as you do it, will help you get to where you want to go. Create a strategy that blends what you consider to be a goal, habit, and a rule, and experiment to see if it works.

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