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Autopilot Achievement: How to Turn Your Goals Into Habits

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” - Charles C. Noble

It’s such a simple concept, yet it’s something we don’t always do. It’s not exceedingly difficult to do, and yet I think it’s something that would make a world of difference in anyone’s life.

Break your goals into habits, and focus on putting those habits into autopilot.

Last week when I wrote my Ultimate Guide to Motivation, there were a number of questions about my belief that having One Goal to focus on is much more powerful than having many goals. There were questions about my personal goals (such as running a marathon, eliminating debt, and so on) and how I was able to achieve them while working on different projects, and so forth. How can you have one goal that takes a long time, and still work on smaller projects at the same time?

These are excellent questions, and my answer takes a little explaining: I try to turn my goals into habits, and in doing so, I put my goals on autopilot. Turning a goal into a habit means really focusing on it, intensely, for at least a month, to the exclusion of all else. The more you can focus on it, the more it’ll be on autopilot.

But once you put it on autopilot, once a habit is firmly established, you don’t really have to focus on it much. You’ll still do it, but because it’s a habit, you only have to use minimal focus to maintain that habit. The goal becomes on autopilot, and you can focus on your next goal or project or habit.

My Marathon Example

Let’s look at my marathon goal as an example. I was just starting out in running, and I had the brilliant idea to run a marathon within a year. (Btw, that’s not the brightest idea — you should run for a couple years before attempting marathon training, or it’ll be much, much more difficult for you.) So that was my goal, and it was my main focus for awhile.

But in order to achieve that goal, I broke it down into two habits:

I had to make running a daily habit (while following a training plan I found online).
I had to report to people in order to have accountability — I did this through family, friends and coworkers, through a blog, and through a column in my local newspaper every two weeks. With this accountability, there’s no way I would stop running.

The daily running habit took about a month to form. I focused on this exclusively for about a month, and didn’t have any other goals, projects or habits that were my main focuses. I did other work projects, but they kinda took a backburner to running.

The accountability habit took a couple months, mainly because I didn’t focus on it too much while I was building the running habit. But it stuck, and for that first year of running, I would report to people I knew and blog about my running every day (this was in Blogger blog that has since been deleted), and I would write a column every two weeks for my local paper.

Once those two habits were firmly entrenched, my marathon goal was pretty much on autopilot. I could focus on my debt reduction goal (as an example) without having to worry too much about the marathon. I still had to do the work, of course, but it didn’t require constant focus.

And eventually, I ran the marathon. I was able to achieve this because, all year long, I had the daily running habit and daily accountability habit. I put my marathon goal into autopilot, and that made it much easier — instead of struggling with it daily for an entire year, I focused on it for one month (well, actually two) and was able to accomplish it while focusing on new habits and goals.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryun

Other Applications

This works for many other types of goals, of course. For example:

Debt reduction: I turned this goal into a few different habits, including creating a monthly spending plan, learning to stick to the spending plan, and making automatic debt and savings payments. Once these habits were on autopilot, debt elimination was a sure bet.
Weight loss: The daily exercise habit was an important first step. Then I got into healthier eating habits, one at a time. Recently I added the habit of tracking my calories, and that’s helped a lot.
Writing a book: This was simply setting a time to write, and making myself write during that time, no matter what. Once you have that habit, the book will come.
Getting organized: This is three main habits — designating a spot for everything I own, putting things in their designated spots immediately, and doing a daily processing of your inbox(es).

As you can see, just about any goal can be turned into habits if you think it through. Let’s look more into how to do that.

How to Turn A Goal Into Habits

It’s a pretty simple process, but let’s go over it step-by-step:

You goal should be written out very clearly. The better you can visualize your goal, the easier this will be.
Think about the steps needed to get to your goal. There may be many.
Can the goal be accomplished with a series (2-4) of daily or weekly actions? For example, to save money, you will need to make a savings deposit every payday, before you pay your bills. Through that regular action, the goal will eventually be accomplished. Figure this out, and that’s your habit or series of habits.
Figure out the amount of the habit will need to be done to get you to your goal by your timeline. By “amount”, I mean that you have to figure out quantity times frequency to get your desired result. For example, I can run every single day but not be prepared to run a marathon if I don’t do enough miles or long runs. So if I’m going to run every day, I have to also know how far (and any other things such as different workouts on different days). If I’m going to have a savings deposit every week, I need to know how much is necessary for each deposit in order to reach my goal. Figure out this “amount” for your habit and make a schedule.
Focus on the first habit for at least one month, to the exclusion of all else. Don’t worry about the other two habits (for example) while you’re trying to form the first habit. For more on forming habits, this article is good place to start.
If more than one habit is necessary, start on the second habit after a month or so, then on the third, and so on, focusing on one habit at a time until each is firmly ingrained.
After all the necessary habits are ingrained, your goal is on autopilot. You will still need to focus on them somewhat, but to a lesser extent. If any of the habit gets derailed, you’ll have to focus on that habit again for one month.
After you’re on autopilot, you can focus on a new goal and set of habits.

“Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.” - Spanish proverb

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it. :)

Autopilot Achievement: How to Turn Your Goals Into Habits

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” - Charles C. Noble

Break your goals into habits, and focus on putting those habits into autopilot.

My Marathon Example

But in order to achieve that goal, I broke it down into two habits:

I had to make running a daily habit (while following a training plan I found online).
I had to report to people in order to have accountability — I did this through family, friends and coworkers, through a blog, and through a column in my local newspaper every two weeks. With this accountability, there’s no way I would stop running.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” - Jim Ryun

Other Applications

This works for many other types of goals, of course. For example:

Debt reduction: I turned this goal into a few different habits, including creating a monthly spending plan, learning to stick to the spending plan, and making automatic debt and savings payments. Once these habits were on autopilot, debt elimination was a sure bet.
Weight loss: The daily exercise habit was an important first step. Then I got into healthier eating habits, one at a time. Recently I added the habit of tracking my calories, and that’s helped a lot.
Writing a book: This was simply setting a time to write, and making myself write during that time, no matter what. Once you have that habit, the book will come.
Getting organized: This is three main habits — designating a spot for everything I own, putting things in their designated spots immediately, and doing a daily processing of your inbox(es).

As you can see, just about any goal can be turned into habits if you think it through. Let’s look more into how to do that.

How to Turn A Goal Into Habits

It’s a pretty simple process, but let’s go over it step-by-step:

You goal should be written out very clearly. The better you can visualize your goal, the easier this will be.
Think about the steps needed to get to your goal. There may be many.
Can the goal be accomplished with a series (2-4) of daily or weekly actions? For example, to save money, you will need to make a savings deposit every payday, before you pay your bills. Through that regular action, the goal will eventually be accomplished. Figure this out, and that’s your habit or series of habits.
Figure out the amount of the habit will need to be done to get you to your goal by your timeline. By “amount”, I mean that you have to figure out quantity times frequency to get your desired result. For example, I can run every single day but not be prepared to run a marathon if I don’t do enough miles or long runs. So if I’m going to run every day, I have to also know how far (and any other things such as different workouts on different days). If I’m going to have a savings deposit every week, I need to know how much is necessary for each deposit in order to reach my goal. Figure out this “amount” for your habit and make a schedule.
Focus on the first habit for at least one month, to the exclusion of all else. Don’t worry about the other two habits (for example) while you’re trying to form the first habit. For more on forming habits, this article is good place to start.
If more than one habit is necessary, start on the second habit after a month or so, then on the third, and so on, focusing on one habit at a time until each is firmly ingrained.
After all the necessary habits are ingrained, your goal is on autopilot. You will still need to focus on them somewhat, but to a lesser extent. If any of the habit gets derailed, you’ll have to focus on that habit again for one month.
After you’re on autopilot, you can focus on a new goal and set of habits.

“Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.” - Spanish proverb

If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg. I’d appreciate it. :)

Posted on 8 June 2008 in Goals, Habits |
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Comments (48)

Jonathan B. Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:29 pm

Ah, I see. Your idea of focusing on one goal only makes more sense to me now.

I like the quote by Charles C. Noble because it’s so true.

Clay Collins | The Growing Life Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:39 pm

I like what you write about not taking on too many new habits simultaneously.

It’s worth thinking about when to give up on a habit, and when to change your goals. A lot of people, once they’ve written something down, feel like a failure when the habit isn’t achieved. But perhaps the problem is in the goal itself. If a habit doesn’t resonate with you on a fairly consistent basis, then perhaps there’s a reason you’re not motivated. And perhaps the goal needs to be changed.

Joel Falconer Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:52 pm

Love the one goal concept. I think one-goal vs many-goals is comparable to single-tasking vs multi-tasking: you can only truly work on one thing at a time, and adding peripheral tasks just weakens the quality of the task you’re spending most, but not all, of your attention units on.

Laurie Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:53 pm

It’s easy to get too much on our plates and let things fall off. By limiting the goals we have, we can keep ourselves balanced without feeling defeated before we even start. Good points Leo! Im going to try this out with a couple of goals I have.

Jeff - ScienceSays Says:

June 8th, 2008, 23:53 pm

Awesome article - I’ve been working on exact thing with my blog - I’ll have to see if breaking it down into steps helps me out.

Adam Sicinski - Study Matrix Art Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:02 am

That’s a great way to look at goal setting.

Your method helps to put things into perspective. Sometimes we set very large and significant goals that are somewhat psychologically beyond our reach. Because of this reason we struggle to find the motivation to attain them successfully.

However, breaking goals down into simple and consistent daily, weekly and monthly habits helps us to chunk the goal down into small manageable pieces that accelerated our motivation and move us forward towards our objectives with renewed confidence and energy.

Thanks for your great insights Leo. It’s something that I should have probably pointed out in my own post about goal setting. It just simplifies things and helps to put goal setting into perspective.

Jen Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:09 am

I love your blog I’ve been reading you for a couple months now. I’ve decided to set some new habits for myself. I know I’m taking on too many but I’m making exercise my number one. Thanks for the continued motivaton!

Jarrod Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:12 am

Like adam is saying I think this is a really good way to achieve big long term goals.

Not only are you forced to break down the task but by approaching different aspects of it month by month you give yourself a firm ‘auto-piloted’ basis to launch from.

I’m going to use this method for my blogging. I’ve been writing for over a year (before I wanted to get serious) so I’ve got that habit down. Now this month I’m focusing on marketing. Quite exciting, thanks!

Vered Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:34 am

I like the idea of breaking a goal into a series of habits, as a way to eventually put that goal on an auto pilot, thus freeing yourself to concentrate on the next goal.

It has the added benefit of turning a huge goal that may seem impossible to accomplish, into a series of baby steps, each of them relatively doable.

I think it increases the chances of accomplishing goals, but I also have to agree with Clay - if you still can’t bring yourself to work on a goal, it might not be the right goal for you.

Shanel Yang Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:37 am

Wow! That is the perfect synthesis to the problem of how to have many goals (all slowly moving along) yet still focus on (really push) only one at a time! Makes sense.

This also explains why I’ve slowly regained unwanted weight since I started blogging and have been unable to take it off again. Obviously, I don’t care as much about that goal these days. Now that I realize this, I’ll just stop feeling bad about it until I’m ready to recommit fully to that one goal for at least 30 days. Thanks a bunch!

Michael Moniz Says:

June 9th, 2008, 0:55 am

Such great advice. It is so important to move goals into habits. I think you also need to remember to celebrate when you have success. We forget to take the time to celebrate so often. We just move on to the next goal.

Take the time to celebrate and then you can build on each achievement.

Ann at One Bag Nation Says:

June 9th, 2008, 1:10 am

I’ve managed - much to my surprise - to become an early-morning exerciser. It really does get easier with time; maybe my body has adjusted to it in some way. Those cold, dark mornings are a challenge, but I know exercising will feel much better than going back to sleep.

I’m also working on getting my life and our home in order, which is what I blog about. One of my “mini-goals” is to clean out our basement, and I’ve been doing that, five minutes at a time, for about a month now.

Some might think that’s a ridiculously slow pace, but considering I wasn’t spending any time cleaning up down there until I started my blog, I feel great about it - and it is slowly becoming a habit to head down there every day and chip away at the mess . . . like Leo, I feel accountable to my blog, and there are pictures and updates there if you need inspiration to tackle a similar project!

Marelisa Says:

June 9th, 2008, 1:57 am

I completely agree with what you set forth here Leo: once you start performing a series of actions on a consistent basis, you stop thinking about them. When something is on autopilot it’s a lot easier to get it done than if you have to consciously remind yourself to do it and if you have to use your will power to get moving.

By putting all of your focus into trying to create one positive habit at a time, or trying to break one bad habit at a time, your chances of succeeding are much higher than if you scatter your energy trying to change many habits at the same time. It may seem to be more efficient to tackle several habits at once, but by doing this you’ll become overwhelmed and will probably fail to create any lasting results. It’s also important to make each habit you take on small and simple.

I really liked this post.

Daniel Says:

June 9th, 2008, 1:59 am

I think it depends on the goal - major goals require major focus, the kind of focus that can only be achieved with a laser-like focus. I put EVERYTHING else on hold when I stopped smoking. This week, I’m learning to eat vegetarian, which requires perhaps a bit more planning, but less focus and effort.

No matter what your goal, hope you stay happy, peaceful, and free from suffering.

Zenplease Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:13 am

Very motivating!

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

June 9th, 2008, 2:56 am

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor” – Henry David Thoreau

Alex Fayle Says:

June 9th, 2008, 3:11 am

Great post - and perfect timing too. I’m about to enter into a marathon editing session on my novel this week and I needed some motivation for making myself focus on this instead of wasting hours surfing the web and be procrastinatorly productive (ie posting comments on blogs and “researching”).

Andrew is getting fit Says:

June 9th, 2008, 3:32 am

I like the idea of focusing on one goal only but in practice we normally try for a few. But breaking them down and keeping them simple seems like a great idea to me.

Rich Mertz Says:

June 9th, 2008, 6:25 am

That quote about habits appears to be attributed … I believe it belongs to Jim Rohn the motivational speaker, not Jim Ryun, former Congressman from Witchita, Kansas.

Alecia D Says:

June 9th, 2008, 6:29 am

So many times we assume that just because we aren’t able to achieve our goals or stick to our habits its because we just aren’t motivated enough or our goal was too big. It seldom occurs to us that we may just have too many things going on at one time- that we’re simply “doing too much”. I love the idea of focusing on one habit/goal at a time. It gives us time to truly concentrate on the task at hand.

My blog system doesn’t allow me to trackback (or maybe I just don’t know how to do it correctly :) but I used this post for my blog entry today. Good stuff!

Matt Says:

June 9th, 2008, 6:59 am

I see what you mean now. Thanks for the clarification. The key isn’t just to focus on one goal. The point is to not make changes so drastically. People are pretty bad at dealing with lots of change at once. So if one week you wake up and start going to the gym, get your finances in order and start writing a book, you’ll wear yourself out pretty quick.

But if you just make one change at a time, chances are you can deal with that much better and will stick with it. Then, when that is part of your daily life, you can introduce another change and so on…

Mikael Says:

June 9th, 2008, 7:39 am

“That quote about habits appears to be attributed … I believe it belongs to Jim Rohn the motivational speaker, not Jim Ryun, former Congressman from Witchita, Kansas.”

And I’m sure that Rich is right. But it doesn’t change the fact that it is a very true and effective way of reaching your goals.

Ryan McLean Says:

June 9th, 2008, 7:43 am

Great post
This will help me achieve many of my goals for my financial blog.

Ramesh | The Geek Stuff Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:05 am

“report to people in order to have accountability” — I tried this on few of my goals and it made a huge impact on achieving the goal.

As always excellent article.

Alexandros Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:07 am

It’s more a matter of setting the right time-span for a goal to be achieved. It’s about being smart and realistic.

If you start working out and expect great results in a month (not to say in a week), you will probably be disappointed and then unable to continue. But setting the “finish line” even a little more later than expected can be even more practical: Start exercising and say to yourself “I will have results in 1 year”. You will see the results in 5 months, but still you will have the time to make your goal a “lifestyle”, or a habit as you say Leo.

Caroline Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:54 am

A-ha!
Thank you for that post - I think I finally get it. It’s not that I can’t work on anything else until I have a substantial body of work, it’s that I have to get the work habit going and then the rest will follow while I work on another habit (blogging regularly - so set a time to write?).
Having trained and run for a couple of marathons now I know just how long all that training takes and I signed up only 5 months before the first. But you’re right, once I had the running habit in training for the first one, the second was only a matter of adjusting mileage back up again, not of forming a whole new habit.

Monique Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:57 am

Thanks a lot for running (haha - pun intended) with those questions I asked the other day. This really breaks it down more clearly. My tendency has always been to bite off too much at once to the point of not being able to digest it all - figuratively and literally! The whole aspect of starting really small and holding back in doing more is something I look forward to trying.

It also, as you broke it down in this post, proves how valuable being clear and having a good plan are - which is actually the easy part. The hard part, for me at least, is following through on the action.. and that is where/why I’m digging deeper into personal spirituality for core motivation. There are certainly many, many layers to change.

It is interesting to read how many others also use blogs for accountability for motivation. Generally when beginning a new blog for this purpose the readership rate is pretty low, it takes awhile to develop an audience.. therefore the closer to home network is likely to be more effective. In the end, I think there’s only really one source for accountability and that’s yourself - which is partly where/how developing habits along your way to achieving a goal can also be a great source of motivation. In that respect, a blog is good to keep track.. just don’t rely too much on support from others.

I’ll be reading you around - Thanks again Leo! :)

Monique

karl Staib - Your Work Happiness Matters Says:

June 9th, 2008, 8:57 am

I think making a new goal a habit is one of the hardest things a person can do. We get so used to our routines that we subconsciously don’t want to give them up.

It’s about creating new mental bridges that are more valuable than the old ones. We can do daily or weekly actions like Leo suggests. When we do it over and over it becomes a part of us. Like any great athlete, blogger or magician, practice makes perfect.

JR Enthusiast Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:06 am

Thanks for such a well-thought out post! Interesting, informative, some good quotes - GREAT! I’ve been reading in conjunction with my typical exercise routine, recently, and I’d like to share a book with you that might offer you some new insights. It’s called Harmonic Wealth and it’s all about finding harmony in your life in all areas - financial, relational, mental, physical, and spiritual. It has some really good tips about how to engage all five pillars (or areas) of your life, and to learn more about how they complement each other. Rather than dealing with each issue individually, maybe take a look at the bigger picture.
Here’s the link to that book I recommend: harmonicwealth.com/read
a James Ray Fan

Marc and Angel Hack Life Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:46 am

This post can act as a reminder to us all. You have to dedicate time on a regular basis to any action you want to convert into a habit.

B Smith @ Wealth and Wisdom Says:

June 9th, 2008, 9:52 am

Leo-Great post. I like your idea of focusing on one goal at a time until it is a habit. Most experts tell you to set a whole series of goals and keep yourself focused. After a week you are so burned out you are ready to scream. By limiting your focus you turn it into a manageable feat.

The other aspect is that it starts driving you into a long term perspective. We are a society that demands instant gratification. We want it all and want it now. Unfortunately life doesn’t work that way.

My continuous improvement plan works like this. I work on always doing thing a little (say 1%) better than before. Over a year this adds up to a significant improvement. Over a lifetime it is profound.

The other side of my plan involves major “ahha” moments where things finally click. You take a leap forward in a moments time.

This isn’t a patented system I’m selling, it is just one of my core beliefs. It’s helped me:
-Go from being a technician to a high level salesman to an entrepreneur.
-Go from being up to my neck in debt to being debt free.
-Go from being a miserable racquetball player to winning third this year in US Racquetball’s national tournament. Note: Thanks Leo on your advice on competing while maintaining a balanced view.

Canaan Says:

June 9th, 2008, 10:48 am

Great post.

I think you’ve mentioned before that you quit smoking. Ironically, I’m an avid runner, but just haven’t been able to give up this habit, which is mostly a social-weekend thing. Although if I’m stressed during the week, it’s the first thing I want. Did you apply the same methodology you stated above when you kicked this habit? It’s kind of a backwards approach because you are stopping something instead of creating something…

Bob Younce at the Writing Journey Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:22 am

Brilliant connection between goals and habits. I’ve always tended to break goals down into manageable tasks, but never really thought about them in the context of ongoing habits.

This really made me think. Good form!

The Zen Dad Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:31 am

There is a lot to be said about singletasking and making it habitual. I am in 100% agreement Leo. Good Posting!
http://www.zendad.net

Thomas Herold Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:37 am

Setting a goal is done by the conscious mind. However the conscious mind influences the outcome of our action by only 3-4%.

The rest is done by the unconscious mind. Therefore succeeding with a goal is done by training the unconsciousness mind with the goal over and over again.

Cheers

Thomas Herold
CEO Dream Manifesto

Philip Says:

June 9th, 2008, 11:43 am

It seems to me that habits are really mechanisms through which you can reach your goals. In this vernacular, it’s not so much that you convert “goals into habits,” but that you identify behavior patterns that will bring you to your goals and make habits of those behavior patterns.

Another good side effect of this strategy is that, as you fill your life with more and more positive habits, those nagging negative behavior patterns that you inevitably pick up are choked out like a good healthy lawn choking out annoying weeds.

Great post, Leo! Thanks for the insight.

Shilpan | successsoul.com Says:

June 9th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Leo -

Working on one goal at a time is the advice that I’ve learned from you and in just few months, I’ve simplified my life a great deal. I’m seeing world with different lenses. I’m still working on sticking to the habit drill but everything that you’ve discussed in this article merits implementation and focus.

Shilpan

Caroline Says:

June 9th, 2008, 12:02 pm

A-ha!
Thank you Leo, I get it now.
It’s not so much about having one goal at a time, as about working on one habit, that supports a goal, at a time.
So if I already have the running habit, for instance, to train for a marathon I only need adjust that habit rather than form a whole new habit. So I CAN train for a marathon and work on other things at the same time.

Pete Says:

June 9th, 2008, 12:22 pm

Excellent writing. Creating habits, and understanding our own, are keys to success in life. Getting started is always the hardest part. I love this blog and feel we are on the same wavelength sometimes Leo. I wrote a piece on turning good habits into bad recently at http://yinvsyang.com/bad-habits-help-make-good-habits/24/.

I feel as strongly as you do about their importance.

Doc KC Says:

June 9th, 2008, 12:39 pm

This is an incredibly informational article and blog on motivation. I’ve learned a lot and will be back often to continue the journey with you!

Dr. KC
http://www.DOCintheBiz.com
http://www.GLCzone.com

Becky Says:

June 9th, 2008, 13:49 pm

Hi Leo,

Any advice about how to get oneself out of a slump?? One of my major goals is a financial goal, which is on auto pilot. Unfortunately though, I won’t reach the goal for another 13 months and in the meantime, I don’t have any extra cash for vacations and other fun things I usually have to look forward to. I definitely feel like I am in a slump and don’t have much exciting going on in my life until I can accomplish this goal.

Logic Says:

June 9th, 2008, 16:15 pm

I like the way you tied the habits to goals. Sometimes Goal need not be a single big goal, but a combination of smaller goals. Like “writing a book” is a combination of “Writing few chapters” and “Writing every day”.

As for me, my current goal is to share my thoughts on my new blog

http://thinkneat.blogspot.com

Thank you Leo, for all the great posts!!!

Leo Says:

June 9th, 2008, 17:24 pm

Hi Becky … I did an article about getting out of a slump … See it here.

More importantly, though, you should learn to enjoy things that are free or cheap … simple pleasures like going to a park or the beach or a lake … going hiking or camping or on a picnic … playing board games with friends or family … cooking and baking … exercising and playing sports. Things like that can make life enjoyable without needing to spend money.

Miss Gisele B | myBeautyMatch.com Says:

June 9th, 2008, 22:49 pm

Leo,

I love the way you think!

Miss Gisele B.

Jonathan B. Says:

June 10th, 2008, 9:54 am

I have always seemed to enjoy things that are cheap, even when I was younger and never had the idea of money on my mind. It was fun to go to a theme park every now and then, sure, but some of my most favorite things were to just play a game of basketball or relax in a comfortable position and read a book. We all know the saying that the best things in life are free. There’s a lot of truth in that.

Rolf Says:

June 12th, 2008, 23:53 pm

Leo, I enjoyed the Ultimate Guide to Motivation and this followup post as well. I think part of the problem for most people is that there are so many things they could be doing its hard sometimes to really focus on what they should be doing. At least this is my experience !

Motivation will get you to the goal, no doubt about it but deciding what the right goal is, is sometimes the thing that eludes us. For me I find that the feeling that comes with being comfortable with my choice of goal/s is a big part of what motivates me to do it.

I’d love to read your thoughts in a future post about how you decided what to tackle and why? How do you choose the important over the urgent?

runzlikeagirl Says:

June 14th, 2008, 11:25 am

When I’m getting ready for an athletic event, whether it’s a road race or triathlon, a training program is obviously essential, but not just for physical reasons. I post it on the fridge so I know every day what I need to do, and then I just do it. (ex: Monday run 3 miles, Tuesday sprints, Wednesday hill training, etc.)

Autopilot is a great way of putting it. Eventually, I get to the point where I don’t think about it, I just know that’s my assignment for the day. If I’m not able to do it in the morning, I work it in however I can. Funny thing is, it becomes second nature so much that when we’re having lunch after the race, I find myself forgetting that I already did it that morning and I’m thinking about when I’m going to get my workout in that day!

Ever since I started training for these events, it began to make sense to me to apply the same principle to any goal that I’m trying to acheive. I develop a game plan with specific steps and then it’s autopilot. Works like a charm! :)