Goblin mindset: Goal setting versus taking it as you go

A widespread concept in the area of improvement of any kind is the topic of goal-setting. Setting the right goal can help focus you significantly and can give a lot of motivation. On the other side of things it will also limit your approach in some way, and you can get bored and lose motivation if or when you reach your goal. 

Why set a goal?

The main reason to set a goal is because it will help your thinking and your approach. If you have a well-defined goal you can easily tell if your progress is on the right track. Are you actually closing in on your goal. It will also help you continuously subconsciously consider your approach and look for improvements to reach your goals faster. 

I have used goals to help my decision-making, for instance when I did the 30 days to a token challenge, where I had a very specific goal. 

How to set good goals

The most popular approach to goal-setting is to make them SMART:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-based

To make a SMART gold-making goal the most important things to define is how much gold you want to aim for, and how fast you want to get it. 30 days to a token is a good example of a SMART goal, as long as getting a token i relevant to you. 

The relevant criteria is probably going to be there for you if you are into goldmaking. That being said, it may be that some levels of goldmaking stop being fun to you. If reaching a goal requires multiple accounts or more time than you can dedicate, then it’s probably not relevant to you. 

Another challenge is how to know if your goal os achievable, particularly if you are just starting out. I would suggest just setting an arbitrary one, measuring your progress, and then you can use your experience to set a better goal for your next push. 

Measurable is only useful if you actually measure your progress

You need to measure your progress. I would suggest tracking your gold and AH totals, as well as your weekly sales. Do this once a week on the same day. It’s just three numbers and they tell you the vast majority of what you need to know. 

If your AH value + liquid gold total is increasing, then you know that you are getting richer. If your sales are increasing, then your approach to sales is working. There are other more specific things you can measure, but this depends on your markets, preferences and other factors. This is probably only going to be relevant for intermediate or advanced goldmakers, so if you are just starting out start with the three first. 

Variance can be high, so let your goals run for a while

I would suggest setting your first goal for about 3 months out. This creates a longer term mindset, which I think is very helpful as goldmaking is a long term project.  Then you start measuring your progress and at the end of the first month you should reassess the goal and re-calibrate. Make sure you don’t adjust the goal down too much though, as you want something that will push you. Depending on your audacity and interest you can have goals between 4 tokens up to getting the brutosaur in a 3 month period. The brutosaur is quite ambitious, and requires a lot of effort, but it’s doable in 3 months. 1-2 million gold are also nice round numbers to aim for. Ultimately only you can now how rich you want to get, and the most important point is to get started!

The argument against setting goals

There is an argument to be made against goal-setting. Personally I mostly don’t have any specific goals for goldmaking. I just like exploring what the AH has to offer. Ultimately I could probably make more gold if I set a goal in that direction, but I do goldmaking because I enjoy it, and I prefer to play around with different markets and ideas. As long as I’m profitable and have fun I don’t really feel the need to hyperoptimize, I just prefer experimenting. 

What are your goals in 2020? Let me know in the comments!

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