Hacking Goals

This article is about how to hack personal goals, not goals I have set in the field of hacking.

General

I have read a lot of good articles related to setting and meeting goals and I would like to track some of the details. In particular, our brains seem to have a lot of heuristics that can lead us to failure or be exploited for success.

• People remember interrupted tasks better Ref

Delayed Gratification

We like goals because they give us a sense of purpose and meeting them gives us a sense of accomplishment. But there ways in which we can short-cut that sense of accomplishment.

• Fantasizing about completing the goal
• Telling others about the goal

Seeking that sense of accomplishment is our motivation. Getting it depletes our motivation. Instead of fantasizing about the goal, think about how it might fail. This creates anxiety and we are motivated to resolve the anxiety. This helps us avoid the forms of failure we envision.

Planning

Planning helps (but needs to not be "fantasizing about success"). Set clear, measurable goals focusing on the near-term. Also, have contingency plans. When things go wrong, our first instinct is to give up. If we have a contingency plan, we can default to this.

Defeating the Monkey

To beat the instant gratification monkey, exploit his weakness - reason. Go through and figure out every thing the monkey wants to do and why not to do it, or get it out of the way. Then start. Anything that wasn't on the list probably isn't important, so adding stuff later isn't allowed.

Procrastination

In my experience, procrastination is almost always a symptom of an unmade-decision. If you are procrastinating because there is something else you want to do, strike a deal with yourself using that as the reward, if not, just convince yourself to take one step.

1. Set aside 5-20 minutes for "planning"
2. Find your short term goal and work backwards trying to fill in as much detail as possible
3. Create a plan you can step through and check if each step needs a contingency plan
4. Do step #1 and then reward yourself, but set a strict contract on when you will come back to step #2

Thoughts

I hate the whole "envision success" but certain thoughts do actually help.

• "Flow" I love getting in a state of flow. Thinking about that makes me want it, and I know the only way to get there is to push through the startup
• Winning: not proud of this, but I want to win. Not the personal, self-satisfying victory, but the kind where I am the best.