Goal-oriented person
You've probably heard that sort of description, especially when it comes to the corporate world, interviews, yadda yadda.
Thing is - everybody, more or less, are goal-oriented.
It's just a matter of the nature of the goals, and how successful people are at achieving them.
Such as: what is the time horizon over which one is attempting to achieve said goal?
One of my primary goals ends only with my death, for instance. And it is highest priority and one that is on my mind every day. So that's a major goal, very long-term. I will know I'm successful only when I'm dead.
Usually, I have one thing I want to make sure gets done that day. I might have micro-goals throughout the day, but whatever. I often have a medium-term goal that's within a year that I'm trying to accomplish.
Other aspect: how many goals are you really thinking about? I've only got a few I'm really thinking about at any given time. Maybe three. Usually one or two. But it's not like I have a list of twenty things I'm trying to do.
But most major aspect: what type of goals do you have? What is your ultimate aim? What are your values?
I could go on about SMART goals (the old corporate exercise), but I'm generally not doing that sort of thing. I don't care about that. I do have well-defined items, or sometimes the goal is just to make something well-defined. That can be difficult.
Generally, my real goal isn't: I want this status or this money or something like that. It's: this problem solved [doesn't have to be me who solves it - can be anybody]. This area figured out. This thing improved. These people taken care of.
Sometimes it's just me adding an element. Sometimes it's me setting up a system for other things to happen. Or just pointing the way for somebody else. Sometimes I just touch something once and go away for years before coming back again.
But this is generally why I'm not deleting anything - I am keeping a record, because that's part of my system as a goal-oriented person. It reminds me of some of the steps along the way.
Most of the goals I work on are the "touch once every few years" because I'm just one person among many who are adding to it. That's how many things work in the world. It's not about me - and that's what I mean by goal-oriented person.
None of the goals are about me. None of the big ones, at any rate.
Because a lot of people's goals are about themselves. But mine aren't, really.
Yes, I am supposed to do something, but sometimes, as part of the goal, I do nothing but look or think or just sit quiescent. Maybe it's just not time for me to do anything. It's not always one's place to act, and speaking is an act. Just something to think about sometimes.