Notes on goal-setting

2024 was my most successful year for goal achievement. 

I published my first book, recorded my first audiobook, ran my first marathon, published more than 365 videos on Instagram, published over 60 articles, launched a digital product, and gathered hundreds of research articles for my next book. 

I did something drastically different from previous years. 

I focused on input days. 

I told myself it didn’t matter if I achieved any specific outcome. It didn’t matter if I sold zero copies of my book, or had to walk the marathon, or got no views on my videos. What mattered was that I showed up and did the work on the days I said I would. 

By changing the metric from outcomes to inputs, I controlled the narrative. Some things went better than expected. Some things went worse than expected. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that I showed up and did the work that day. 

If you’re setting goals for the year, try this out. It helped me greatly. 

• Think of the thing you want to accomplish. 

• Then, identify one key daily action that could get you there. 

• Set a goal to show up a certain number of days to complete that action.

• Do everything you can to optimize for showing up.

Let me know how it goes. 

P.S. If one of your goals is to spend more time creating art, consider joining me in the 15-Day Consistent Creativity Challenge. There’s still time to join.