The 5 Best Articles
I’ve written hundreds of articles which touch on goal-setting. If you’re not sure where to start, here are the best five:
- Set Goals in the Middle Why, for some pursuits, it’s actually better to wait before picking your target.
- Two Types of Growth We tend to see progress as a straight line. In practice, diminishing and accelerating returns are more common. Here’s how to spot them and how it should alter your approach to your goals and projects.
- Do the Real Thing
- Why It’s So Hard to Stick to Your Goals (And How to Make it Easy) I introduce the action-intention gap, and how to close it.
- On Keeping Your Word We all instinctively avoid breaking promises to others. But what about the promises we make to ourselves?
In addition to my articles on goal-setting, I teach a course on how to create goals and systems to take the aspirations you have and make them happen in your life. If you’ve ever felt like the gap between what you intend to do and what actually happens is large, this is the course to close the gulf.
How to Set and Achieve Your Goals
- How to Push Past Your Analysis Paralysis
- The Simple Algorithm for Making Big Life Decisions
- The Overkill Approach: How to Solve the Hardest Problems You Face
- The Most Important Skill You Can Learn
- If You Want to Be Fit Don’t Buy New Running Shoes
- How to Start Projects You’ll Actually Finish
- The Science of Achievement: 7 Research-Backed Tips to Set Better Goals
- How to Make Hard Life Decisions
- Should You Set Deadlines for Your Goals?
- What Should Your Goals Be?
- How I Choose Projects
- Make Plans Work on 20% Effort
- How to Execute a Successful Side Project
- How to Achieve a Goal (If You Don’t Know Where to Start)
- Why I Stopped Setting Long-Term Goals
- Be Ambitious with Goals, Not Deadlines
How to Find Motivation, Commit Yourself and Do the Work
- You Fail to Reach Your Goals Because You Design them Badly
- How to Work on Your Goals When You Don’t Have Time
- How to Commit to Long-Term Goals
- You Probably Have Too Much Motivation
- How to Build the Habit of Finishing What You Start
- Unpopular Opinion: Don’t Just Get Started
- Impossible Standards: The 3-Step Process to Reach New Heights in Your Work and Life
- How to Commit to the Things You Start
- Are Successful People Just Putting in More Effort?
- Is Obsession a Prerequisite for Success?
- How to Kick Yourself Out of a Slump
- How to Stay Motivated on Long Projects
- Success is Stamina: To Win Means to Keep Playing
More Thoughts on Goal-Setting
- How to Know When to Give Up
- Success is Boring
- Why You Should Be More Extreme
- Self-Discipline Comes First
- Do You Even Want Success? (The Perils of Achievement Bias)
- The Hard Way is the Easy Way
- Is Ambition a Good Thing? Thoughts on Striving Without Selfishness
- Hustle or Mediocrity?
- What is Self-Improvement
- How Important is Growth
- What’s Your Life Strategy?
- What’s Next?
- You Should Have More Spectacular Failures
- Failures of Intensity
- The Formula to Help You Decide Whether to Strive or Settle
- Should You Accept Your Constraints or Try to Improve Them?
- Should You Do Intense Short-Term Projects or Build Long-Term Habits?
- Bold Moves are Often Easier than Small Ones
- Catch-22s and Bootstrapping Your Life
- Don’t Know What You Want?
- Feeling Lost? Stop Worrying About Your Life Purpose
- You Can’t Set Goals to Fix Your Flaws
- Why Goal Setting Can Leave You Miserable (and how to avoid it)
- Should You Wander the World or Build a Home?
- How to Set Goals (Without Being Obnoxious)
- How Much Time Do You Spend on Your Most Important Goals in Life?
- Why is Taking Action Hard?
- Is Your Path a Staircase or a Circle?
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.