Breaking down goals is painful too

[junjizhi]

https://medium.com/@jamalx31/the-trap-of-ambitious-goals-a52fcfc3f683

[junjizhi]

Goal categories

• Recurring, which requires discipline
  • Send one newsletter every week
  • Write N blog posts per week / month
  • Read N books per week / month
  • Talk to N customers per week / month
  • Post N times to Indie Hackers / Reddit per month
• One time
  • Finish MVP over the weekend
• But one time goal can turn into prolonged habit
  • Record N courses videos within a month

H: Recurring goals, need to set an end?

[junjizhi]

Breaking recurring goal down into small tasks helps

• Send one newsletter
  • Go through my Pocket articles and select one
  • Write the first draft about that article
  • Go through my Podcasts and select one
  • Write the first draft about the podcast
  • Review two drafts, and improve to draft v2
  • Draft v3
  • Hit send

Going through the process is painful, because writing every step down requires retrieving the information from memory. More than just simple retrieval, I have to process them and "produce" the texts that make sense to myself.

It's like doing push-ups. When I just started going to the gym, I could barely make it to 30 push-ups in a day.

It's tiring, and people will easily give up after a few rounds of trying and not seeing results.

Doing memory retrieving and retrospecting at the same time is like doing push-ups. It exercises the brain muscles that we don't use often.

Also, it's a lonely journey. There won't be flowers, cheers or applause waiting at the end. What you eventually get is just a list of things you may already know.

When I lose motivation, the thing I tell myself is: Don't quit. And don't compromise.

We don't have to make it perfect the first time. We just sketch out something that is close to truth, then we move on with our life.

Next time when we come back, we start from where we left, and do it again. Work wonders to me.

[junjizhi]

We've heard this advice

I was reading Jamal's article about breaking down ambitious goals into smaller, actionable ones.

We must have heard advises like this. But what I'd like to add is:

Breaking down goals is painful, too!

My example

When I started Tonians newsletter, I set a goal for myself: Send one newsletter every week.

I broke the goal down to mini-steps based on my experience:

• Go through my Pocket articles and select one
• Write the first draft about that article
• Go through my Podcasts and select one
• Write the first draft about the podcast
• Review two drafts, and improve to draft v2
• Write draft v3
• Hit send

Doing this exercise was effective. Now I just have to get each step done well, and rest relaxed that I have a good newsletter ready to send by Monday.

The goal break-down process is painful.

It's like doing push-ups. When I just started going to the gym, I could barely make it to 30 push-ups in a day.

It's tiring, and people will easily give up after a few rounds of trying and not seeing results.

Retrieving something from memory while retrospecting is like doing mental push-ups. It exercises the brain muscles that we don't use often.

Also, it's a lonely journey. There won't be flowers, cheers or applause waiting at the end. What you eventually get is just a list of things you may already know.

When I lose motivation, the thing I tell myself is: Don't quit. And don't compromise.

We don't have to make it perfect the first time. We just sketch out something that is close to truth, then we move on with our life.

Next time when we come back, we start from where we left.

We stand in the shoulder of the strongest former selves.

It's painful, but it's also progress.