goals

Avoid ‘Decoy Habits’ To Stop Putting Off Your Goals

When you fail to approach a goal honestly, you set your self up for endless procrastination. You come up with excuse after excuse, always forgiving yourself for never getting anything done. Gretchen Rubin, writing for the Happiness Project, calls this the “decoy habit” and wants you to stop.


How Do You Handle Conflicting Goals?

Setting goals for what you want to accomplish is great, but what do you do when the things you want conflict with each other? How do you handle contradictory ambitions?


You Only Live Up To The Standards You Set

While I’m not one to advocate many personal development hacks, there is one “hack” that I think everyone should use: have high standards for yourself. Having high personal standards will almost immediately force personal growth and will help you live up to your potential day after day. It’s also really simple to execute.


How To Stick With It When You’re Learning Something New On Your Own

Most of us have a passion to learn something new — whether it’s advancing our skillset, picking up a new hobby, or just taking on an entire new learning experience. But unless you’re incredibly dedicated to it, learning something new is surprisingly hard to stick with. Here are a few ways to make your new habit stick.


‘Yesterday’s Home Runs Don’t Win Today’s Games’

Success can be just as detrimental as failure if you allow yourself to slack off immediately afterwards. This Babe Ruth quote is a great reminder of how you shouldn’t coast too much after achieving a goal.


10 Ways To Overcome Creativity’s Number One Crusher

“The worst enemy of creativity is self-doubt,” wrote Sylvia Plath in her journal. And she couldn’t have been more accurate. Self-doubt can persuade us to stop creating or keep us from sending our work out into the world. It can be so influential that it colours how we see ourselves, ensuring we don’t pick up a pen, paintbrush, camera or other tool for decades.


Combine Bets With Personal Obligations To Commit To Projects

Maneesh Sethi hired somebody on Craigslist to slap him every time he opened up Facebook while he was working on a project. He got that project done. You don’t have to hire a slapper, but you get an idea of how “precommitting” can work wonders for procrastination.


Give Better Feedback By Keeping It In Context With The Overall Goal

Giving feedback or criticism is never easy to do without making someone feel bad. Time suggests that when you orient the feedback around the overall goal, it’s more likely to come across as helpful rather than hurtful.


Alive Helps You Reach Your Goals By Turning Them Into Manageable Steps

Alive is a new webapp designed to help you take those long term goals in your head such as “learn Mandarin” or “exercise regularly” and turn them into a plan, complete with individual steps you can follow. The site also lets you get help from friends and motivate others to achieve their goals.


‘Don’t Start Anything Until You Know The Answer’

Do you ever think of your conversations with others as successful or not? Mike Williams, CEO of The David Allen Company, thinks that you should — and that there’s one question you should ask yourself before you start anything.


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