Don’t set goals for 2021

Grow new habits instead

A goal is the final result of a successful habit. By methodically adopting a new habit you’ll end up achieving a goal, but not the other way around. You first need the habit and then the goal will come, eventually. Setting a goal without thinking about the habit that will get you there is like deciding to travel to a new city without looking at a map. What road do you want to take? How many kilometers do you want to walk each day? What are you going pack for the journey?

At some point, you will even realise that the goal doesn’t really matter much. What you want is to incorporate habits you enjoy doing into your life. Because that’s where the change and the joy will come from. The idealistic new year’s resolution is the end result of doing something new every day. Setting just the goal won’t work in most cases. By contrast, a new habit you enjoy doing will move you closer to that goal one step at a time.

Examples of bad goals

• “Read 18 books this year”
• “Run a marathon by summer”
• “Write a blogpost each month”

Instead, try to incorporate new habits into your life that you enjoy doing every day:

• “Read 15 minutes each morning”
• “Run 30 minutes after work every day”
• “Write two paragraphs each night”

Our brains are designed to solve problems and happiness comes from struggling and overcoming them. If you want to climb a mountain you can’t just dream about the views from the summit. You need to enjoy every painful climb step.

Chapter two of the fantastic book ‘The Subtle Art Of Not Giving a Fuck’ by Mark Manson talks about this in deep. I can’t recommend it enough.