Goal Setting
A Big Goals List

A Big Goals List

Everyone can benefit from making a list of 25 amazingly big goals they wish they could accomplish in their lives. What counts as an "amazingly big goal"? By an "amazingly big goal," I mean something that seems audacious to you to set as a goal. It is something you...

Planning for the New Year and Beyond

Planning for the New Year and Beyond

What are your long-range goals? That is, goals that will take a year or more to achieve? If you already have long-range goals, now is a good time to take stock. How will you make significant progress toward them in the weeks and months ahead? The longer-range the...

Goals, Values, and Productivity

Goals, Values, and Productivity

Many people tend to use the terms "values" and "goals" almost interchangeably. But though your goals and your values are related, they are not the same thing at all. Understanding the difference between your goals and your values can help you avoid or solve many...

FAQ: What if I don’t have any goals?

FAQ: What if I don’t have any goals?

In the Thinking Lab, I have a lot of material teaching goal-setting. But generally, the exercises start with writing down a pre-existing list of goals or a vague goal or a list of possible goals. Usually the problem is that people have goals that do not effectively...

Three Reasons Money May Not Be the Goal to Set

Three Reasons Money May Not Be the Goal to Set

In Launch, some people come with money goals. In a few cases that makes sense, but not usually. A well-set goal needs to guide and motivate the action necessary to achieve it — and provide a lasting satisfaction with every step along the way. Money goals often don't...

FAQ: How does a central purpose make you happy?

FAQ: How does a central purpose make you happy?

In the last few articles, I've argued that a central purpose integrates your life, that it fits into a real life, that it needs to be a long-range productive goal, not something else, and how to identify your central purpose. I've asserted that it is important to a...

How to Find and Commit to a Central Purpose

How to Find and Commit to a Central Purpose

Working out your central purpose is one of the most selfish things you can do. It has the biggest effect on your future and your happiness. It’s not a quick process. If you already have a general direction but need to clarify the personal significance for yourself,...

How a Central Purpose Fits Into Your Real Life in the Real  World

How a Central Purpose Fits Into Your Real Life in the Real World

In the last article, I described a central purpose as a long-range productive goal that is stylized and utterly selfish. I gave a few examples of how different people in the same profession could have significantly different passions. And I argued that everyone, from...

How a Central Purpose Integrates Your Life

How a Central Purpose Integrates Your Life

A central purpose is your top productive goal. It’s stylized and utterly selfish, not just the name of your profession. One lawyer might have as her central purpose to defend companies against frivolous lawsuits. Another might want to get innocent people out of jail....

Tip: Integrating Short-Term & Long-Term Priorities

Tip: Integrating Short-Term & Long-Term Priorities

At times you will face conflicts between short- and long-term priorities, such as: "I want to __[insert major goal here]____, but right now I need a job." "I want to start ___[insert new long-term project here]____, but right now I'm just keeping up with day-to-day...

Goals

Goals

A goal is an intention you set to achieve a particular outcome. Here, in summary, is my approach to goals. Goals on different timescales need different standards of doability, different degrees of certainty, and different depths of passion. Long-range goals can be as...

“Should” and Self-Improvement

“Should” and Self-Improvement

In a recent article, I wrote: "Should" is a moral concept. When you say you "should" do something, you are saying it is the moral thing to do. If you, as I, ascribe to the moral code of rational egoism, "I should" means: Based on everything I know, including all of...

How to Dream Bigger

How to Dream Bigger

Tactic: How to Dream Bigger Thinking Tactic Overview What: This is a process to help you open up your imagination as you contemplate your future. When: Use this tactic as a first step when your life seems stuck in a rut or directionless or you have no major goals....

Motivating Three Kinds of Major Goals

Motivating Three Kinds of Major Goals

Your greatest success comes from setting and achieving major goals. The biggest mistake that people make in pursuing such goals is that they don't build motivation into every step. The effort you put in needs to pay off in some way to ensure you persevere to the end....

Engineer Your Life

Engineer Your Life

Engineering your life is very much like engineering a suspension bridge. You start with a goal. To achieve the goal, you need to understand the fundamental forces you will work with, how to balance them to achieve your goal, and the nature of the materials used to...

Five Ways to Make Your Goal Juicier

Five Ways to Make Your Goal Juicier

Often when you set goals, you wind up with a dry statement of something you think you should do. Goals should be juicy! They should be as appealing as a ripe peach. After all, they are your goals. They are to contribute to your life. Just as you choose food that is...

Replace Duty Motivation with Means-End Motivation

Replace Duty Motivation with Means-End Motivation

If you've been following my work, you know that I recommend you motivate yourself entirely by values, not by threats. This means throwing out "duty" as a way to get yourself to do an important but unappealing task. By a "duty," I mean an out-of-context rule or...

Your Goals Create the Garden You Live In

Your Goals Create the Garden You Live In

One of my friends has a beautiful flower garden behind her house. Every flower, plant, and object is there by design. The planning of a garden is a perfect analogy to setting your goals for the year.  First, you don't make plans for a garden or set next year's goals...

Why You Should Pursue Only One Initiative

Why You Should Pursue Only One Initiative

I found an old article of mine arguing that you should pursue only one initiative at a time. It was a little embarrassing to read because I am still learning this lesson the hard way. My latest conclusion is that you need to distinguish initiatives from other...

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