In the last years, I’ve tried countless methods to be more productive and achieve my goals with more probability, with successes and failures.
When I think about it, there is only one winning combination that works for me :
- setting tiny habits that you are capable of doing every day on the one hand
- setting ambitious but short-term goals on the other hand
- iterating and correcting goals and habits along the way Each of my habits consist in very short, but efficient habits that I know I can do every day. For example :
- one lesson on Duolingo
- 5 minutes of language flashcards reviewing
- 5 minutes of intense cardio
- writing down one insight I’ve learnt today in a notebook
The goal of these habits is less to be efficient than to remind you what your goals are and give you a baseline of regular practice, even for the bad days.
Following this idea, something that also works great for me is to set some habits that you really can’t escape. One example is attending language lessons with a private teacher : if you pay in advance, you will feel obliged to go there every time. When you are forced to do something, your progress is inevitable.
But habits alone are not enough. When I saw how much my language learning improved with a single 5-minute routine each day, I started stacking habits onto every goal. Contrary to what I expected, I quickly became disappointed.
Having my days filled with the same 5-minute habits started to feel like I was just ticking boxes.
I realized I couldn’t grind my way to my goals through routine alone. I needed to cut down the time I spent on these self-imposed tasks and make space for motivation and spontaneity again.
Which is why I had to add a second component : setting ambitious but short-term goals (weekly or monthly).
Weekly goals is when you really get your things done.
But unlike the previous tasks that rely on habit or obligations, weekly goals are short-term enough to rely on your motivation of the moment. This is where you can move the cursor : high when you feel energized, lower when you need rest (and knowing that habits are here to back you up).
I found out that this combination gave me the best results, as they capitalize on all motors of the human psyche : a little bit of obligation does no harm, but it need to be counterbalanced with motivation and feeling like you’re still in control and free to advance the way you want to.
What are your own frameworks to reach your goals ?