Why We Fail at Our Life Goals & How A Few Startup Practices Can Make Your Life More Awesome

We all really try to plan our lives, diving into countless goal-setting methods, aiming for 21-day habit streaks, and discovering the latest productivity tricks. But let’s be honest, most of the time, it just doesn’t work out. Our willpower fizzles, and life has a way of changing faster than we can keep up. We might map out tomorrow’s plans and pencil them into our calendars, but surprise events, like a family call or a buddy’s goodbye party, can throw our planning right out the window.

So, what can we do besides being kinder to ourselves and ceasing self-criticism each time we trade a gym session for a beer with a friend?

Upon reflection, I sought to envision something even more chaotic and subject to greater unpredictability than myself as a human, yet still capable of achieving its goals despite the odds. That’s when it struck me — a STARTUP aligns rather well with this description.

Startups don’t run on willpower, and they’re often less organized than a single person. Imagine trying to wrangle a bunch of opinionated, fresh-out-of-school teammates from all over the world! Despite the hurdles and constant changes, startups somehow still reach their goals, make sales, and sometimes even take the world by storm.

So, here are a few routines that help them pull it off:

• OKRs
• Differentiation, Hypothesis Testing & Focus
• Agile Frameworks
• Celebrations

(as most of us don’t like long-reads, I’ll split it into 2–3 parts)

First let’s talk about OKRs (Objectives and Key results)

Imagine trying to run a company using only New Year’s resolutions. Sounds pretty unrealistic, right? On the other hand, elaborate management systems, dashboards, and PnL projections — typical tools of large corporations — could eat the soul out of a small startup team. Funnily enough, we humans tend to bounce between these two extremes: from not tracking our goals at all to obsessively counting every calorie in each meal (at least for a week or so before giving up).

One fantastic tool that helps many startups stay on track is OKRs, which stands for Objectives and Key Results. An Objective is something empowering, exciting, and worth pursuing, while Key Results are the milestones that indicate you’re making progress toward that objective. If OKRs prove effective in the chaotic world of startups, there’s a good chance they’ll also be useful in our everyday lives.

Here is an example for the Sales & Marketing OKRs in a Startup:

And here what the personal OKRs may look like:

Lets say you’ve defined your inspiring objective; now you need to track your progress towards it. Key Results help you measure this progress. There are two types of Key Results: INPUTS and OUTPUTS. Inputs represent what you do, and outputs represent what you achieve. While you can’t be certain that a specific input will yield the expected output, things will become clearer once the rubber meets the road and you start acting upon those Inputs. In the next article, which delves deeper into hypothesis testing, we’ll discuss this process in greater detail.

Final advice

Consider your personal OKRs strategically, as these represent the most crucial objectives you want to achieve in your life at this moment. Having three or more OKRs simultaneously might be more overwhelming than inspiring. Less is often better. Prioritize and sequence them across the year based on their importance and urgency. Put them up on a wall and check your progress each Friday.

The beauty of OKRs, compared to traditional goal-setting, is that they are not “finite.” They are designed to be ambitious and inspiring. As a result, OKRs might sometimes be beyond your immediate reach. This is entirely acceptable; instead of being restrictive, overly time-bound, and stressful (as in SMART goal-setting), they provide a sense of direction. This approach removes much of the pressure and empowers you rather than causing stress.

Next time we will talk about Differentiation, Hypothesis Testing & Focus, and how they can make your daily life more exciting and filled with accomplishments.