A series of fortunate events

How to not suck at setting goals

I’m going to be honest with you. I used to suck at setting goals. And I’m not alone - most people do.

I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions. Make your resolution today - whatever day it is. There’s an old Chinese proverb that says the best time to plant a tree was 100 years ago, and the second best time was yesterday. Start now.

So if you suck at setting goals, you won’t by the time you’ve finished reading this!

Paradigm shift - what’s a goal anyway?

Here’s the key. It’s super simple. So unassuming it could pass you in the street and you wouldn’t know a thing.

James Clear, Ali Abdaal and the rest of the Productivity gang may be waiting for me in the car park with baseball bats for saying that. Bear with me, I’ll explain.

Goals aren’t the destination. They’re a compass that tells you what you should be doing at any moment to be in alignment with your desired outcome.

And that’s why you probably suck at making goals.

Most people set a goal that says ‘I want to achieve x’.

If they’re super switched on they’ll even say ‘here’s what I’m going to do to achieve x’, and it’s usually something crazy that they’ve never done before, but if they can juuust become superwoman overnight it will happen. Promise.

The truth is, that’s not enough.

I’m sorry for invoking James Clear’s good name unnecessarily - he’s actually right about this. There’s two key steps to unlocking any goal.