So, I’m pretty sure I was born about two months too late. I should have been a Virgo.

See, I have this habit. Maybe you’ve noticed. I like to make lists. I like to cross things off of lists. I like to make lists of lists to make. My listmaking could have become a problem in the past. Luckily, I’ve been able to pretty much avoid devolving into making useless lists: “Things I Will Buy With The First Trillion I Earn;” “Names for the Seventeen Dogs I will Own;” “Every Boy and Girl I’ve Wanted to Kiss Ever;” “Designers Whose Careers I’d Usurp If I Had the Skills and Opportunity.”

Given my propensity for compulsive listmaking and its power to help me Get Things Done, I’ve been using 43 Things to track my progress in a handful of areas over the past couple of years. My original profile is one that I’m not going to show you, because it hasn’t been updated in awhile, and it contains semi-embarrassing goals like “join a circus” and “kiss Bill Murray,” as well as goals that are completely irrelevant to my personal trajectory at this point (hint: it doesn’t make sense for me to have goals related to dancing on my list if I can’t dance anymore, and it doesn’t help me to have a list of things I need to do related to living in Cincinnati if I don’t live there anymore).

But the new account is pretty well accurate to my personal goals currently. You can view it here, and while you’re there you can create your own account. See? It’s fun.

The main point of a social networking site like 43 Things is that it enables you to make your goals public and thus be accountable to other people. They can cheer you on, comment on your goals and your progress, and give you advice—but it’s mutual accountability, because they’re making their goals public to you. Because of this mutual accountability and the sense that everyone there is trying to do something meaningful and important, the overall environment of the site is immensely helpful and positive.

I like the fact that the site allows you to have a lot of varied goals at once—”write a novel,” “climb Mt. Fuji,” “travel abroad in 2009,” “have a baby”—and you can track your progress on each individual goal—”wrote 1000 words today;” “sent manuscript to agents;” “cried and ripped the paper out of the typewriter and drank enough to make Hunter Thompson cringe.”

Even better, 43 Things enables you to identify similar or identical goals from other users and get advice from others who have already completed them. As you complete a goal, the site lets you fill out a form telling how you did what you did, how long it took, and the resources and tips that helped you to do it. I just filled out the form on having completed my goal of taking my dog to the vet, which is kind of a rudimentary “duh” kind of goal—it wasn’t a multi-step, difficult thing, so I doubt it’ll be of much help to anyone. But if I complete my goal of, say, posting 500 blog entries, I’m sure I’ll have a ton of advice for bloggers-to-be. (“Don’t blog drunk. Don’t be stupid, mean, unoriginal, or childish. Do good work all the time.” Hey, I already have advice…)

Of course, things change. That’s why 43things allows you to give up on something if it’s impossible or not right for you anymore. See how I no longer want to write three posts a day for the next 45 days? Yeah, maybe I will one day, but right now I can’t sustain that kind of effort without it affecting the quality of my work—I’d eventually be posting mere junk just to be posting, rather than taking time to write good quality stuff. (Plus, let’s be honest; do you guys really want to hear me talk that much?)

I’m really loving it. What I’m wondering is:

  • Does anyone else here use 43 Things? How do you like it?
  • If you don’t, do you use any other online/web 2.0 tool for GTD/goal-setting purposes?
  • Do you find that sharing your goals helps you achieve them? How does that usually work out for you?

    Comment away, kiddos!

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  1. A Review: Three Tiny Habits.