Goal Hacks: How to Achieve Anything

You can't actually "evolve to a point where you stop reading these kinds of posts". This is just the result of evolving to a point where you start doing things.

I think the paradox is elsewhere: These articles defeat their purpose. "Start starting" can be paraphrased as "You shouldn't be reading this right now".

I was reading a product review last night and the author started with something like this: "Stop reading. Go buy "ProductX". Use it. Come back and read the rest if you want". And that should be the point every positive review should be making.

I agree with you. Moreover, there is yet another paradox in the article - if you need that much self-hacking and self-tricking to achieve the goal, is the goal really that thing you want to achieve?

I always thought that the goals should be my servants, and I am going to achieve them because it fulfills me and I enjoy the hardship associated with them. This article feels to me like it's upside-down, like I should be a servant of my goals. But why should I?

You concurrently described 99.9% of self help books with this post.

I think that's a bit extreme. If you have some fundamental issue with getting things done, articles like these are clearly not going to help you. If you're already productive, and looking for tips to optimize your execution, it makes for interesting reading. There were several ideas I hadn't seen mentioned on other lists, and some cited journal publications. Not too shabby.

I had a problem with procrastination when I was younger. I wasted a significant amount of time reading a bunch of very poor-quality linkbait blog articles, trying to find something that helped. When I finally bought The Now Habit (print edition and audiobook for my car), I was able to apply a coherent system rather than piecemeal techniques, and this helped to correct what was a fairly big problem for me. Now that I have a system that works for me, small tips are useful. Prior, not so much.

I don't think that's a fair assessment of this article. This self-help article is different from all the other junk out there because it's based on psychology research, not personal hunch.

If you're going to claim that there is one ultimate solution that works for everyone in the nebulous field of achievement, it would be useful for you to back that up with actual research.

Ultimately, I agree with you, except that reading these kinds of articles for long enough will get you into the right mindset. Then you can maybe read these kind of articles as refreshers or get some new ideas. Or never read one again.

At least, it's how it works for me.

i find "visualize process not outcome" extremely effective, both in sports and in doing things i don't want to do.

Yes, this is very effeective in the fitness arena. Instead of setting a goal to lose X amount of weight, just focus on goals over which you have more direct control (e.g. a goal to build your strength up to be able to do 20 push ups in a row, or a goal to have a jog 6 days a week for a month).

These goals aren't easy, but they are more directly under your control.

I came in here to post something akin to "InfinityXO" above, but I have to admit this comment just made something click in my head. I'm extremely driven to achieve, but I've been wondering about how to make life more about the "journey" and not the destination and this is a great suggestion.

Now that I reflect, I know I intuitively do this about things I already enjoy, like running/working out, coding, etc... but when it comes to ticking things off the to-do list (or trying new things I'm not "good" at) it's easy to be outcome-focused, which often leads to unnecessary frustration - a choice in itself of course.

Thanks for a great idea!