I recently read Jim Rohn’s classic book “7 Strategies for Wealth and Happiness“. As I’ve done with a few books lately, I had a brief discussion about it with GPT-4o to see if there were insights that I missed.
I asked for the main takeaway from the book and got this response:
One of the biggest takeaways from Jim Rohn’s “The Seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness” is the importance of setting clear, achievable goals. Rohn emphasizes that having a vision and plan for your life is crucial for both personal and financial success. Did any specific strategy resonate with you the most?
It’s a solid answer and after a bit of back and forth I pressed into the goal setting a bit more and contrasted it a bit with the lessons from Emmanual Acho about not setting goals. Here was that quick conversation:
Me:
Well, in Emmanuel Acho’s book, Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, he is against goal setting, which contradicts this book. How do you see the two of those?
GPT-4o:
That’s an interesting contrast. Emmanuel Acho argues against traditional goal-setting because it can lead to disappointment and a narrow focus, potentially missing out on unexpected opportunities. Instead, he promotes focusing on values and continuous improvement.
Jim Rohn, on the other hand, sees goal-setting as a way to create a clear path and motivation. Both perspectives highlight the importance of direction but approach it differently. It’s about finding a balance between having a structured plan and remaining open to life’s unexpected opportunities. How do you feel about these differing views?
Me:
I tend to side with Emmanuel’s views, but Rohn’s views are interesting as well.
GPT-4o:
That makes sense. Embracing Acho’s perspective allows for more flexibility and adaptability, which can be less stressful and more aligned with personal growth. At the same time, Rohn’s structured approach can provide clear direction and motivation. You can take elements from both: have overarching values and principles to guide you, while setting flexible, adaptable goals that can evolve over time. Does that sound like a good blend to you?
The quality of the response from GPT-4o was amazing, and makes perfect sense for a way to help blend those two approaches to goal setting.
This also leads to a meta question for me. I’ve long said that I won’t use AI to write content on here, as that’s not the goal for it, and I have no intention of going away from that — but would this be considered AI-generated content for the blog? It essentially is, but I think it still meets my criteria. It’s reading that I’m doing, digging into the text, asking questions, and then laying out the answers. While I’m certainly using AI in this case to help generate the content, it seems quite different from an “AI-generated post”.
All of that said, where do you stand on goal-setting? Do you side more with Jim or Emmanuel?
Great food for thought! In the short run I like to have specific goals with specific tasks to complete those goals. However my long run direction is driven more by my vision and my values guided by my daily relationship God (obviously this is based on my own personal beliefs). I try to evaluate how things are going every three months to make adjustments if needed or give confirmation my goals if it seems like things are headed in the right directions. Once a year I set new goals for the upcoming year knowing that I can make adjustment if need be when I evaluate every three months or if something is clearing redirecting me by either positive or negative circumstances. Just some of my own food for thought.
That feels like a fantastic way to balance the two; set the goals as something to aspire to, but focus on how you’re executing every day.
I think I more line up with James Clear (Atomic Habits) about having goals, but don’t focus on the goals. Focus on the habits that will get you to your goals, then, occasionally look at your goals and don’t be surprised if you’ve accomplished them without even thinking about them. With the right habits, things “just happen.”
That’s my basic approach as well, but somehow it still feels “wrong” to do it that way.