Target Select

The third and final step in the Target Triage Process

You made it!

i’m actually allergic to fireworks this is hurting so bad

Let’s do a quick recap;

Target Triage

Step 1: STORM

That’s where you empty your mind fully onto a piece of paper.
It’s basically brainstorming, but with a timer set for 3 minutes.

This forces you to drop the idea of perfection and just speed it out. You clear your mind to the point of peace and serenity.

Step 2: SIFT

This is where you sift your storm results three times;

First through SCOPE;

Make three columns; Self, Reality and Existence.

In these columns you place the corresponding targets from the chaos you created in step 1, you monster

Secondly through SCALE:

Label each target as either Adventure, Quest, or Journey.

Lastly into a SET:

Option Lock; you are only allowed to choose a set number of targets (in this case 9), each of which has to have a unique combination of column and label.

By the end of all that, then, what you should have is a set of 9 targets, one each of the following:

Self/Adventure, Self/Quest, Self/Journey

Reality/Adventure, Reality/Quest, Reality/Journey

Existence/Adventure, Existence/Quest, Existence/Journey

Now we’re moving on to the third and final step of the Target Triage Process; SELECT.

This step’s really simple and a lot like the last one. The list you have in front of you contains nine Coarse Targets; now, we’re going to turn that list into one of three Fine Targets. Basically this just means choosing three of those nine with no overlap. Once this is done you should have each column and each label represented only once.

So your end list should have one each of Self, Quest, Journey. By choosing one of each you’re removing two of the same.

Here’s an ugly thing to give you an idea of how this works;

Let’s say you choose Self/Adventure as your first Fine Target. That would get you this:

So then you could just continue and do two more.
But here’s what we’re gonna do instead.

The next step is…

X IT OUT

Cross out the other boxes that share a row or column with your first chosen target. As you can see with the help of this visual masterpiece, that leaves you with 2 Quest and 2 Journeys.
Choose your second target.

REPEAT

In this example, you chose Quest/Reality as your second target. Nice choice. So, you check the box and again cross out the options that share the same row and column.

WINNING

So in this example, you wound up automatically getting Existence/Journey as your last target. Sweet.

The reason this ends up working beautifully is because it forces you to x out targets that you actually want to accomplish. It forces you to see that every action you take and decision you make will come at the cost of another opportunity.

This might not be fun at first, but I promise you it is extremely powerful.

It’s important to keep in mind that once you have your three targets, you’re not done forever. You can (and will) come back to those you crossed off, and many more. But the point here is to force your mind to understand that you have a finite amount of time, energy and resources, and focusing those on a single point will ultimately serve you way better than scattering your energy all over the place.

Final step:

Take a blank sheet of paper and write down your three Fine Targets.

This page goes up on the first wall you see when you get home. Look at it every day, and work towards all those three as much as possible.

EPILOGUE

goodbye forever

If you’ve read through the whole Target Triage, congratulations, you’re insane.

But seriously, I hope it’s been of some help to at least one other person as much as it has helped me.

Remember, though, that while this is a massive step forward, there is much more to come on your journey!

This is, after all, just the beginning.