This Year I’m Not Setting Goals: I’m Creating Practices

How to make sure you get where you want to be by focusing on the process instead of on the outcomes

All illustrations by the author.

Every time I set yearly goals, I end up either forgetting them, changing them, or quitting them altogether.

Why does this happen?

My theory is that my goals are either too complex, too many, not clearly actionable or not completely under my control.

I remember setting goals in past years such as “earn X amount of money” or “get X amount of email subscribers”. When you first look at these goals they might seem clear and specific; but when you take a closer look, you find they are problematic because of the following reasons:

1. They are outcome-focused. What are the steps required to “earn X amount of money”? If this isn’t clear from the beginning, there will be resistance.
2. They are dependent on external factors. No matter how much work I put in, I ultimately can’t decide how many people will join my email list.

When you focus too much on outcomes, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by unexpected complexity or lost without clear next steps. When success and failure depend on something outside your control, it’s easy to get demotivated and…