So what I got from this was

1. Create goals that are sustainable, start little and grow once you’ve got a good feeling for the possible
2. Always keep in mind the “goal behind the goal” e.g. Not exercise, but health
3. Be mindful you will occasionally fail and remember it’s about the long game.

However, despite being the title of the article, I feel like point 3 got the least attention. I definitely understand allowing for some failures, but it seems this is the stickiest part. How do you avoid one failure spreading to two, and then three, and then next thing you know it’s been months and you didn’t even realize you’d long ago dropped the goal?

Personally, I do the “don’t break the chain” method, having a visual reminder of the number of days I’ve made it helps. Even if I have a gap, seeing that I’ve successfully racked up 14 days in the past gives me the confidence that when I “start again” today, it’s not going to be entirely futile.

But this is just one method, and it doesn’t always work. Just wondering if you had another other advice or elaboration on how to make sure failures remain isolated incidents. Maybe you use failures as a moment to reflect and feed back into 1 & 2? Question whether the goal is still the right “means goal” for the true “end goal”? Make sure failure isn’t because you’ve set the bar too high?

Thanks for the awesome article btw, you helped me put some of my own thoughts into order around goal setting.