How to set your Wisdom goals 

Wisdom goals (AKA learning goals) are usually focused on the acquiring of knowledge.

We have a need for Wisdom goals in order to maximize our learning, skills and their application in our lives - as with all the other pillars we wish to prioritize what, how and when we learn.

Here we will take a more systematic approach and align our best practices to all the “common” objectives and components of the goals with increased focus on the following:

• All our learning: knowledge and skills acquired will have as integrated part of the goal the application of all that we are learning

• Knowledge (or skill) acquired will have “follow up” goals to maintain it for as long it is needed or desired.

• Our subject and objective of learning will be integrated so it will support and accommodate our other Pillars - no Pillar stands on it’s own and they are all interconnected but the Wisdom is unique in the sense that our Wisdom is supporting all other and simultaneously can hold in itself all the others (the ancient philosophers of Greek and Rome considered Wisdom the “ultimate good” and a “Wise man” as the model of the perfect man)

Now that we have a sense of the unique attributes of wisdom goals let’s review the main questions we need to answer in the process:

Why do we need Wisdom goals?

First to lay the ground for the discussion let’s look at some examples of extraordinary people:

• A medical student who struggles during med school researchers learning techniques, graduates and becomes a learning expert and a YouTuber coaching people all over the world on productivity and learning best practices.

• A wine business owner starts using social media to enhance his business during which he learns all about social media and becomes a world wide expert on the subject selling books and coaching others.

• A bright engineer with a vision to change the world through his inventions learns to become a successful business man to fulfill his dreams since all his past associates lacked the business savvy to execute his plans

The last one was less obvious so I’ll give the curious reader a hint - think of a manufacturing facility that producing cars in any color as long as it’s black.

As we can learn from the examples above the Wisdom goals of an individual change during the normal life cycle due to:

1. External circumstances

2. Personal realization of strengths that were not apparent before

3. The need for supporting skills and capabilities to achieve other goals

One may argue that this is the normal course of a life’s journey and there is truth in that statement and still one would be better of planning the learning objectives as soon as possible with the current understanding so to be further ahead in the game as possible and adapt to the above situations in the best way possible

So if to summarize in a few words: the best outcomes are determined by careful planning and evaluation followed by clear plan and execution otherwise we risk seeing our learning journey becoming chaotic, random and left to chance outside the formal educational system.

What our Wisdom goals should be?

The Wisdom “what” part of the goals are divided in 2 main categories:

• Knowledge - everything that we “know” including math, physics, finance, history, and many more (example: for a cooperate lawyer the knowledge base will include the Law, along with: accounting, bossiness administration, intentional restrictions laws and many more)

• Skills - any capability supporting performing a task, a job, creative work, physical wort ext.

each one will have different structure, let’s review what is important to include in the goal with some examples:

Knowledge

• Milestones type: Acquired material and ability to recollect and use it

• Possible purpose       | Time frame and application                                                   

  • Support profession. | Current position at work - as long as relevant        

  • Life wisdom.             | Per stage in life, possibly for entire lifetime          

  • Personal interest.     | Personal interest - for life (or as long as the interest remains)

• Maintenance: Review and repetition

• Advancement: Continued - Focused or ranged

  • Focus - dive deeper and specialize

  • Range - expand and explore

Skills

• Milestones type: Ability to perform a task and the conditions under which it can be performed and to what level

• Possible purpose           | Time frame and application

  • Support profession.     | Current position at work - as long as relevant

  • Improve quality of life. | Per stage in life, possibly for entire lifetime 

  • Support community.    | As long as possible to utilize the skill

  • Hobby.                         | As long as practiced 

• Maintenance: On going practice

• Advancement: Measured and ongoing improvement - faster, more accurate, less energy expended or any other measure of preferred outcome

How to set our Wisdom goals?

Addition to the guidelines in the setting goal article here .

During the process we wish to use the following questions as guides:

• Have the purpose of the goal in mind.

• How and why one should retain and remember the acquired knowledge or skill.

• How will it be implemented in one’s life.

• Is it actionable, how?

• What is the impact on one’s life, How?

When to set our Wisdom goals?

We have reviewed a few examples of how the Wisdom goals of individuals change, although it’s true for all goals the Wisdom goals have a cardinal support role for all the other pillars and so we should set them, review and updated them anytime we do so for any other goal from the other pillars.

The constant update of the Wisdom goals as soon as we update or add new goal will make sure we are always maximizing our progress towards the supported goal and simultaneously optimizing our Learning process