So.

[billywoods]

I think some people would step back and take a better look at the rationality of their goals if they made a bet of some sort, e.g., if I don't reach 5d in 3 months then I will go to work dressed up as Sai, purple hair included.

But, again, see my earlier post about how definitely-attainable goals are not always the way forward. Putting money, pride or reputation on the line will force you to set underambitious goals - and then succeed, and feel smug about the whole situation, even though you could have done better. (In the same way, paying for language classes is universally far more motivating, far more psychologically rewarding, and far less effective than learning a language alone online, in my experience.) Of course, there's also the danger that you'll put money on the line, then realise you can't live up to your goals, and just feel doubly bad (how many people take out gym memberships they never use?).

[emeraldemon]

I don't think it's intuitive at all, as there is no standard definition on how to compute a quartile, some methods better than others depending on what you're trying to do. For more info: http://bit.ly/YMjmFW

The article was interesting, but the question of how to handle in-between values for discrete distributions doesn't particularly bother me. Admittedly "intuitive" is not an objective thing, and if you really think standard deviation is more meaningful to you, more power to you. For me IQR is something I can easily visualize and hold in my head, and standard deviation is something abstract involving the square root of the sum of squares.

If I were to approach testing "intuitiveness" I might do something like this: give people a description of a distribution using summary statistics, and ask them to draw a picture or pick from a set of pictures the matching distribution. Or alternatively give someone a set of data points from some real phenomena and ask them to guess various statistics about it like mean, median, standard deviation, etc. In a test like that I bet people would typically do a better job guessing the median and IQR than mean and standard deviation. We use mean and standard deviation because they are mathematically convenient, not practically so.

[emeraldemon]

One more piece of anecdotal evidence: I think people came up with the 68–95–99.7 rule of thumb exactly because percentiles are easier to think about than standard deviations.

[Tami]

I don`t care about percentiles and statistics etc.

All I`d like to say is that, if you want to do something, then do it. It`s much more glorious to try and fail than not to try at all. I`ve plenty of ridiculous dreams, myself, including becoming a rock star and becoming high dan at go. In my experience, taking action doesn`t always get the results you wanted or anticipated, but it does get results, and that makes life much more interesting than just sitting there growing older.

The only caveat is responsibility: we all have our duties. But so long as you do your duty, then may God support you in all actions you take toward your dream!

[Kirby]

...
The only caveat is responsibility: we all have our duties. But so long as you do your duty, then may God support you in all actions you take toward your dream!

What are duties?

[Tami]

...
The only caveat is responsibility: we all have our duties. But so long as you do your duty, then may God support you in all actions you take toward your dream!

What are duties?

I meant things like children, wives, husbands, jobs, other people, one`s own health and so on. It`s not fair to chase a dream if it means hurting or neglecting somebody else who needs you.

[tj86430]

...
The only caveat is responsibility: we all have our duties. But so long as you do your duty, then may God support you in all actions you take toward your dream!

What are duties?

And what is god?

[OtakuViking]

Haha :p

Update. I'm 5d on tygem (don't play on kgs anymore). And somehow, I can't seem to maintain a study journal.

I think Ed has a point. I don't think alot of people reached their goal (yet). I guess setting tight time limits might encourage some to try harder. It didn't make any difference to me. For me it's best to just do some tsumego when I want to and play when I want to. (It seems to make me stronger so why change it?).

[Uberdude]

Feeling left out, I'll make a public goal:

British Champion within 5 years.

Of course I'll try to do it sooner

[Bantari]

I think Ed has a point.

Which is?
Don't set up goals?
Don't set up ambitious goals?
Don't talk about your golas publicly?
Most people never get very far?
Life is hard and then you die?
Go is hard and the you die?
Don't start study journals?
Don't study at all?
Or what?

Or did I miss his explanation? Would not be the first time.

[Joaz Banbeck]

I'm still trying to get on that list.

[logan]

Hi, I've made a new list:

'People Not on the List Who Want to Be on the List' List
Joaz Banbeck
Me
Uberdude

please let me know if you'd like to be on this list.

[rhubarb]

Hi, I've made a new list:

'People Not on the List Who Want to Be on the List' List
Joaz Banbeck
Me
Uberdude

please let me know if you'd like to be on this list.

I would not like to be on the List, but I would like to be on the 'People Not on the List Who Want to Be on the List' List.

[Bonobo]

Hi, I've made a new list:

'People Not on the List Who Want to Be on the List' List
Joaz Banbeck
Me
Uberdude

Uhm, shouldn’t this be an opt-in list? PLEASE TAKE ME OUT OF THAT LIST. Oh, was I shouting?

please let me know if you'd like to be on this list.

Right, THIS is the way to do it. You've gotta ask me before putting me on that your list.

[tapir]

Study journals are no contracts, they are simple threads with goals and maybe dreams, written down to get psyched up (and maybe psych others up, too).

And I thought study journals are for studying.

In my opinion high dan / professional level or in other words decent, mostly correct play should always be what a go player strives for. The problem with big announcements isn't necessarily that they are aiming too high, but the attitude. In some cases it is as if people say "Either on top or not at all." - then setting yourself up for failure with overambitious goals just is a way to quit playing and shouldn't be encouraged.