Process Goals, Because To-Do Lists Are Broken
Fact: goals increase performance.
Setting a goal forces you to specify what exactly it is that you want to achieve and approaching your activities with the end in mind yields multiple advantages. Here are two of the most important ones:
· Studies show that goals increase motivation. If you, for example, bought a new bike and would like to be able to make hundred-kilometer trips before the end of the month, setting this as a goal is going to make you want to, literally, go the extra mile. Hell, having a goal is going to make you go into the cold in the first place.
· Studies show that goals increase effectiveness. For example, research indicates that college students who set goals achieve better academic results than those who don’t.
Supplementing any activity with a goal puts you one step ahead while at the same time increasing your enjoyment of it.
Goals are like bacon: whatever you add them to, it’s going to make it better.
But, just like these delicious strips of bacon should be treated with skill, you can also go wrong with goals.
Especially daily goals are a dangerous tool, which I bet you’re misapplying right now.
