Ask HN: How do you stick to long-term goals? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you stick to long-term goals?

3 pointsrg11112 comments

When you are pursuing a goal that takes a very long time to reach, how do you stick with it?

After the honeymoon phase, there are no more surprises, no more mind-paradigm-changing knowledge, not that much growth.

Just a slow, no-end-in-sight slugging for what seems like forever.

Especially when you are alone and it does not provide you with immediate rewards like money or praise. Or you don't get paid to do it.

I find such situations very difficult and often quit. (This did cost me multiple times in the past.) But I don't want to. I want to stick with something for a long period.

How do I do it? Any advice or book suggestions?

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First figure out why the goal was that in the first place. Did you grow tired of it because your goal was to learn a new framework and you kinda did that but now you have to write a bunch of docker/monitoring stuff? In that case it is a signal that you should stop, park the project and move on.

Or is it some project that you are doing because this is something you think you should/aught to be doing? In this case, this is your mind warning you again.

If, and only if, you still want the outcome of the goal should you continue with it.

I have found my main problem is getting started, not so much continuing. I will spent way too much time procrastinating getting started on even things I find pleasurable. Others are different.

For me, on the projects I care about, Beeminder works well.

Being process orientated. Results come from sustained effort over long periods, so I focus on making the process sustainable and enjoyable.

I build Conjure[0], a habits and goals platform, solo and bootstrapped, and have worked on it for 496 days in a row (at the time of writing) and have tracked over 3000 hours of development on it.

I have a daily habit[1] to do at least 1 minute of work a day (also known as a 'Habit Emergency Mode') to maintain a sense of momentum and progress. This helps me through my 'off days', have no 'zero days', and reduce negative emotions associated with the process.

Starting off, I had to manage my expectations and accept it may be a 2 year journey before I started getting any traction, and would commit to 1000 hours before I allowed myself to second-guess myself. I used objectives (within Conjure itself) to track these various time-based objectives.

As you can't always control the outcome, but you can control the process, I focus on making the activity the reward and enjoying the process[2] as best I can, even if I have to go slower at times.

Keeping in mind "you are a product of your environment, " I generally try to consume material and be around people with similar values and ambitions for motivation and peer accountability. I have tracked personal KPIs at various times to ensure I do this enough.

[0] https://conjure.so/

[1] https://conjure.so/guides/time-based-habits-and-objectives

[2] https://whelton.io/same-for-less-and-85-percent-rule

There are some questions for which there is no rational "how" answer -- only some form of courage. For these, the answer you're looking for is to be found either in a community or a spiritual practice.

So: find a community of people who can encourage you to persist and find a prayer or mantra you can say to encourage yourself.

This is good advice and I have seriously considered this in the past. Will look into it more.

It depends a lot on what you are trying to do. But generally, make a plan on how to get from where you are to where you want to be. Break it down into chunks that you can accomplish and reward yourself as you accomplish them. You also need someone that can hold you accountable. Many people will say yes but long term it's impossible for someone to stay interested with you. I suggest you find a paid professional to consult regularly, that will help you stay on point, if you can.

People balk at paying someone but most people need someone to be accountable to. Otherwise they go into a never ending cycle of starting and never accomplishing their goals.

Any examples? I tend to break the goal down into smaller milestone goals.

Yes break down into small goals with rewards for yourself at completion of each goal. Depending on your long-term timeline then having goals that are reached weekly or monthly makes sense (but don't tie them to dates but rather to completing objectives). Then, have a larger reward for yourself for completing the long-term goal.

This makes sense, thanks.

Like learning a new programming language. Especially where are no immediate benefits and use.

Or learning a new (human) language. I do not live in that country or have immediate needs.

Or losing weight. My shape is far from bad, but it not ideal as well. In some shirts I appear okay, in others fat. Removes my motivation.

Or learning something new, say, a new technology thay would give me new insights and/or look good on my resume, but for which I do not have any immediate use.

keeping daily notes works for me. say for a goal of losing weight. I got a daily weight chart, the curve keeps going downhill, that has motivated me to stay on track...

my understanding, if something is not your interest/hobby, need to find something as a good motivation/self-encouragement to enter a good cycle... find some fun in it ...

I moved from recording my weight daily to weekly. The habit of weighing yourself daily can have negative outcomes. For example, you go on holiday and worry too much about your weight as you can't do your weigh in. My friend has taken this a step further and goes by his belt.

I think our habits are very important and worth reviewing. I also removed my stocks app from my phone. I was checking it multiple times daily. I know check it monthly when I do my finances. I feel much better for it.

Habits are important. I think we just need to make sure we schedule them appropiately.

how do i cope with a lack of instant gratification in the context of undertaking a large endeavor?

i know the payoff at the end is worth it to me personally. make sure your undertaking is aligned with your long term goals in life, and its much easier.

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