Ask HN: How have you achieved your goals?

[comet]

I've never really had a consistent or a long term goal until recently, when I did try writing something down, breaking it into small bits, and following through everyday. Surprisingly, it worked! So much so I even built an app for it. But just being curious, do you all set goals often? If yes, how have you managed to consistently set and achieve them?

[henning]

Goals are great. If you go looking for information, you will probably find that people say they should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. You want something that's challenging enough to get you interested, but not so hard that it requires you to do things like not sleep, go into high-interest debt, etc.

I've found that achieving goals where nothing changes can be pretty anti-climactic. An example is weight loss, where you reach a normal weight or whatever goal you have and afterward, either you keep doing what you were doing or you'll gain weight (unless you do something else that changes calories in vs. calories out).

Taking a break from goals is also a judgment call and not necessarily something to be ashamed of the way motivational YouTube videos will say.

It's up to you what you want to do with your life. If you set a goal but wind up giving up on it, hopefully you can still learn something from the experience. Beating yourself up or telling yourself you are a "quitter" or a "failure" does not help.

Motivational books and videos will basically idolize being a perfect robot that never relaxes, never takes time off or does anything relaxing, and in many cases neglects basic things like spending time with family, sleep, etc. I think that's unrealistic. I need something sustainable if I'm going to make a lasting change in life. But that's just me.

[comet]

Agreed, in my little experiment, I made it a point to do little everyday towards my goal, if not a lot, with no pressure on how much I achieved in a day. The idea was to build consistency. It's surprising how well this approach worked for me. Just filling in the "What did you do today?" bit kept pushing me forward and kept me motivated.

I think the whole "be-the-hardest-worker-in-the-room" holds good only when you're so into your work that you forget what time it is. Otherwise, it definitely becomes a chore and a health hazard.