The Three Sieves
Refining Targets at a Deeper Level
This is no time to stop.
First off, do a quick cleanup.
Remove duplicates. Clear out things that don’t really matter to you.
Now… time to get sifting.
The First Sift:
Chaos to Clumps
Sifting Targets through Scope
On a fresh sheet of paper (or the other side of the same one), make three columns. Each column gets a name, and we’re going to clump all similar targets together.
The columns are…
Self.
Self refers to (spoilers) the self. Any target that centers around your body, mind or spirit would fall into the Self column.
Reality.
The Personal, External aspects of life. Home, Love and Finances all fall under this category of targets.
Existence.
Finally we have existence, which is simply whatever does not fall into the other two categories.
We’re going to get more into each of these later with some clarification, but for right now the focus is simply to place your targets into the column you think corresponds best.
The idea is not to be perfect; it’s to get a first draft that we can work with.
The Second Sift:
Clumps to Clusters
Sifting columns through Scale
Using the paper with columns created in the previous step, go through each item and label them as one of the following three…
Adventures center around the experience.
Adventure.
The key defining feature here is the lack of any specific “point” beyond the successful start of the Adventure. Due to their experiential richness, Adventures favor the Agent within us. Creation and introspection take a supporting role to the act of doing.
Essentially this type of target is about the experience itself. The act of being there and living it.
Whatever else happens is all part of the Adventure.
Quests center around the achievement.
Quest.
A Quest usually consists of several smaller goals merged into a larger target. Most of what leads up to the climax of a Quest is of relatively low importance and essentially interchangeable. Preparations and preliminary targets tend to be high in number and take a lot of time compared to the execution.
The most important feature of a Quest is that it requires you to move off your normal path in order to achieve something that will ultimately make a difference in your life.
Journeys center around the purpose.
Journey.
If Adventures are exciting high points and Quests are projects with clear beginnings and endings, Journeys are long stretches brimming with both. The major differentiating factor for a Journey is that it has no clearly defined endpoint.
By their very nature, they cause us to move past our current state so we can grow into our next best version. It can also be helpful to think of Journeys as likely to outlive us- meaning they should be as grand as possible in both scope and scale.
Hey.
You still there?
Good.
Let’s continue.
The Third Sift:
Clusters to Coarse
Sift again to collect a Set
Go through the list of targets you just labeled in the Scale Sift until you feel satisfied.
Then, from each of the columns, choose one Adventure, one Quest, and one Journey.
What you end up with is a list of 9 Coarse Targets, each of which should be its own unique combination of Scale and Scope.
Self/Adventure - Self/Quest - Self/Journey
Reality/Adventure - Reality/Quest - Reality/Journey
Existence/Adventure - Existence/Quest - Existence/Journey
Let’s recap the columns and each combination to get a better grasp of what each Coarse Target is really all about.
Self
Body, Mind, Spirit
Targets from the Self column are personal, direct and instant. Or to put it another way; Self targets are primarily directed at your inner state of Being and only loosely (if at all) connected to your personal external reality.
Your attitude, behavior, skills, belief, experiences all fall under what we might consider your immutable inner Self;In order to achieve Self Targets, you do not NEED any external objects or other people.
Since this type of target can be completed with no external aid, doing so provides a sense of agency and power as well as a deeper feeling of satisfaction and self-confidence when compared to the other spheres of being.
The obvious caveat here is that your body, which also falls under the Self, has certain external aspects and qualities. But, then again, any and all control you have over your body emanates from within you.
Let’s see what these Self Coarse Targets look like…
Coarse Target:
Self, Adventure
When it comes to the Self/Adventure combination, we think about a particular activity that makes us giddy with anticipation. It has to be something that is not dependent on any other people. Most of the time, in fact, this kind of target will require you to not have other people around.
Here’s a question to help you choose yours. As you ask yourself the question, imagine this decision will cut off all other possible options…
What is one exciting activity that you’ve always wanted to experience for its own sake?
Coarse Target:
Self, Quest
This Target is about obtaining an item or changing a situation connected to your innermost being. Like the Self/Adventure, this target is finite; it suggests its own end at the point where you gain what you seek.
The key difference between this target and the Self/Adventure is that here, the experience is not as important as the end result. What firmly solidifies this Coarse Target as a Self/Quest is the fact that nobody else can verify it; only you will KNOW when you find what you seek.
If you had to trade all your personal achievements for a single new one, what would that be?
Coarse Target:
Self, Journey
The most difficult to understand Coarse Targets are Journeys, regardless of their column; this is because the Journey tends to extend beyond both the experience and the understanding of the Self.
Only once it is over can a Journey truly be quantified and qualified; even then, of course, it remains a deeply and inextricably personal and subjective situation.
In practical terms, this target can best be thought of as the ultimate thematic point of your internal existence.
How does the absolute best version of your future self differ from you in this moment?
Reality
Targets that fall in the Reality Column tend to be tangible if not at the very least more removed from our inner core being than the Targets in the Self Column. Your house, car, clothes, and so on all fall in the Reality realm. Of course, that’s not to say these things are any less important than those belonging to the Self realm.
A helpful analogy would be thinking of Reality as your clothing. While you wouldn’t necessarily die if all your clothes were taken away, it would make existence within the shared realm considerably more difficult- at the very least slightly more awkward.
Another way to think of it that helps clarify the boundaries is this; Reality targets tend to be one step removed from some other more important end result.
When comparing Self and Reality targets it can be helpful to think about what the outcome will do. With Self targets, a successful outcome will change your entire experience of Reality and Existence. When it comes to Reality targets, the successful outcome is more tangential. It’s about changing some recurring aspect that will then in turn change your personal inner reality.
So for example, I could say a Self target is centered around obtaining deep inner peace. A Reality target linked to that could be to declutter my house. The act of improving the shape of my physical environment will in this case most likely help me reach that peaceful state.
Coarse Target:
Reality, Adventure
Reality is, in a very real sense, the buffer between Self and Existence. Our subjective environment, so to speak. In a very real way, it is the color and hue of our experience of all things.
Then there’s the Adventure half, which suggests a light and unexpected nature.
This Coarse Target, then, is about shaking up your personal experience of the subjective world in an easy-to-begin way that has reasonably long-lasting effects.
What exciting Adventure would most intensely impact your daily life?
Coarse Target:
Reality, Quest
There’s a room in my house that swallows all clutter. Whenever I’m cleaning or organizing the main house, all the miscellaneous items and things mysteriously end up in this room. But that is not the purpose of the room, and in fact hinders the room from achieving its purpose. So for me this has become a critical point.
Thus we have the perfect example of a Reality/Quest Coarse Target; Declutter and Organize that room.
Which externally based goal, if achieved, would change your entire life for the better?
Coarse Target:
Reality, Journey
It’d be easy to simply think of this Coarse Target as your life. While that is kind of true, this target can best be thought of as the ultimate thematic point of your internal existence. I’d like to think that my ultimate journey is one that will make me whole again, so I would frame “Seeking the Self” as my Self/Journey combination target.
How does your current environment differ from both your least favorite past and most desirable future environments?
Existence
The Existence Column deals with things that fall outside the scope of our general reach. It is, in fact, an unspoken rule that this category of Targets must be handled with the understanding that you will in all likelihood fail to reach them in your lifetime.
There’s a reason for this, though.
The entire point of the overall work we’re doing here is to cast a wide net. We want targets in each and every area and category, which means also tackling the difficult and insurmountable. Maybe in this section it would be helpful to think of the specific part of Existence that surpasses our reach. Indeed, the entire point of Existence is that it is the most solid thing that we believe without faith. I can believe, for example, that Japan exists without ever having been there personally. This works because I’ve experienced countless amounts of secondary proof- videos, art, people, and so on. Even though none of these things on their own are any more solid and concrete (since they evade my personal empirical knowledge of this place), together the sheer amount of material heavily implies that Japan exists, and so I believe that it does.
Coarse Target:
Existence, Adventure
This coarse target is best exemplified in the first words spoken from the moon to the earth; One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Thinking along those lines will reveal these things to you. So what we’re looking for here is this; an Adventure we can undertake that will affect the Empirical Existence beyond just ourselves and loved ones. I know this is difficult to wrap your brain stem around, but trust me, it’s worth it.
What one wildly uncertain action would you risk in order to improve something that surpasses your own life?
Coarse Target:
Existence, Quest
This is interesting. The Coarse Target of E/Q has to do as always with the empirical world. The target itself is a Quest. Putting these two together, you get a Quest in which the object to be attained upon completion will affect the world beyond the quester’s own subjective reality in a tangible way.
Or to put it in English; a realistic and achievable goal with concrete results that will benefit people beyond yourself.
Something simple, perhaps profound, that will leave a mark on people you don’t know and change lives for the better.
If you could reach one target that you know would change the world beyond yourself, what would it be?
Coarse Target:
Existence, Journey
Here what we’re talking about, essentially, is the underlying purpose of your life. The mark you want to leave on the world. The effect of your Existence that will live on beyond you.
In a sense, the overarching storyline of your entire life; ending in the most satisfying way possible.
What do you want the world to remember you for after you’re gone?
This is it.
Now that you’ve taken the time to go though this entire thing, I’d say it’s only fair that you get to do a more refined version of the final step.