Sometimes it’s better not to set goals or make big promises. A goals can help you stay on track, but it can also become a mental burden that kills the entire endeavor.

So rather than put a strain on your brain with an enduring thought of a grand end result, such as “Write a book on seabed hunting,” you will feel less pressure every day if you choose to focus on immediate actions that slowly affect the long run: (in the case of writing the aforementioned book) writing your thoughts down, structuring them, drafting, revising, etc.

Analyzing Goals

Here’s a simple exercise for you: write down three goals that you are either currently working on or are planning to pursue in the near future, and share them in the comments below.

Now, let’s look at what your goals look like on paper. How detailed are they?

Most goals tend to be awfully vague.

• Write a book
• Quit my day job
• Earn $100,000 in a year
• Learn Cantonese

The problem is that they’re too far away from your current standpoint to serve as realistic beacons. If you’ve just started jotting down ideas for a new book that you want to write, you’re probably not going to finish it in the next couple of weeks. So what you’ll need is a set of actionable tasks that push you forward. I’ll remind you again that a big goal will give you a general idea of what you’re going to accomplish, but that should not equate to a realistic goal that you should be able to achieve in a short period of time (several days).

Being fixed on a goal that’s a lightyear away easily becomes a burden that you eventually begin to resent. The more you focus on the end result the farther away it seems to be. Focusing on the ultimate goal causes you to lose focus on the more important stuff, that is, smaller actions that, in the end, actualize the goal.

When you start to resent the promises you’ve made (to yourself or others) you begin to wish that you had never made them. This is when the goal takes all your attention but you fail to accomplish anything. You procrastinate. You think obsessively about the burden. And you want to quit.

When this happens you need to stop, and rethink.

Certainly not all endeavors are meant for everyone. Although we may initially enthuse over something that seems interesting and worth devoting ourselves to, it’s possible that we end up losing all interest in a matter of weeks or a single night. Sometimes it takes no longer than 10 minutes, but it can also take years to realize that it’s not our enduring passion. And that’s fine. I think it’s better to quit and look for something that you can genuinely feel passionate about in the long-term than it is to force yourself to finish what you’ve started.

Dissecting Goals

As I said, you shouldn’t dismiss your goals altogether. Say you want to learn Mandarin Chinese. We could assume that your ultimate goal is to become fluent in the language. Achieving that goal generally takes years, so you’ll need to break the goal into much smaller, actionable tasks that you can complete along the course of those x number of years that it takes to become fluent.

Let’s take a look at one possible way to start.

1. Learn pinyin, i.e. Chinese written using a modified version of the Latin alphabet. (Estimated completion time: 2–3 days)
2. Learn how to say, “Hi, do you wanna go drink beer with me?” (Estimated completion time: 1 day)
3. Get the pronunciation right for the phrase. (Estimated completion time: 1 day)

“Learn pinyin” can sound similar to “learn Mandarin Chinese” but the difference is that it doesn’t take years or months or even weeks to learn how to read and write pinyin. This is why it’s important to append an approximate time limit to each task. But you should also note that the longer the time limit the less realistic the task usually is. So if you estimate that a task will take a month to complete, I highly advise you to break that task into even smaller sub-tasks that take days—not weeks or months—to complete. Again, you’ll want to focus on the present, not the future.

People, like myself, who have difficulties kicking off might find it easier to work on tasks by providing directions on how to go about completing them. I’ve noticed that writing down instructions for myself usually helps me to orient myself and get started. It’s a great way to combat procrastination.

Here’s what I might do with the above tasks if they still seem too ambiguous.

1. Learning pinyin, of course, doesn’t happen all by itself. You need to acquire some source material. So what you can do is, Google “learn pinyin” and look for a nice website with audio clips that shows how you’re supposed to interpret pinyin.
2. To learn how to say “Hi, do you wanna go drink beer with me?” in Mandarin Chinese, you can search for a forum or any kind of online community populated by native Chinese speakers, and ask its members to translate the phrase into Chinese.
3. For correct pronunciation, you need to get the phrase in pinyin. Once you know how they’re spelled in pinyin, you can then apply the knowledge you’ve gained from studying the pinyin system and polish your pronunciation.

When you have a set of actionable tasks, you’re good to go. The rest will take care of itself, as long as you keep preparing more actionable tasks as you go.

Above all, enjoy the process. When you genuinely love what you do, the goal suddenly becomes a neat by-product. In other words, the action itself becomes the goal, meaning that the excitement and passion stem from the little tasks that you immerse yourself in.

Some four weeks ago I got struck by a spell of procrastination. A lot of new things happened during a short period of time, which seems to have plunged me into the abyss. But I also learned (and am still learning) a lot from Mr. Procrastination himself.

You see, when you have to deal with big changes in life, it can feel like having the carpet swept under your feet. You might still think that you’re in control but that’s just the protective part of your brain that’s trying to comfort you with encouraging thoughts. So, you’re most likely not in control.

We humans have to live through various changes in life: unemployment, new jobs, promotions, firings, the loss of loved ones, relationships, marriage, breakups, graduations, pregnancy, parenthood, surgery… things that alter our daily lives, and things that can instantly make our laboriously developed habits crumble.

You can be living a very controlled and productive life, but all that is very prone to collapse when a single event sweeps you off your feet.

For instance, if you win the lottery and end up quitting your job, you might think that you’ll now have all the time in the world to pursue your hobbies. But when you are suddenly given complete control over your time, it can be incredibly hard to manage your time. The overwhelming amount of free time would more likely turn you into a couch potato.

Prolonged temporary comfort is perilous.

When you are struck by these spells of unproductivity and loss of purpose and control you do, however, eventually realize where you are at. You realize that if you keep going like this, it’s oblivion where you’re headed. You realize that you won’t learn anything new. You won’t improve your skills. Nothing will change. You might gain knowledge from all the YouTube videos you’re watching, but I doubt it will bring you much contentment in the long run.

It’s the comfort of staying where you are that takes you to oblivion. It’s easy to wake up in the morning, put on a bathrobe, brew a load of coffee for yourself, and arrive at your computer. You could be checking Facebook and YouTube all day if it were up to you. And you would just try to convince yourself that you can quit anytime you want: “I’ll start doing the stuff next week.” That’s all too familiar.

Recognizing the perilous road.

Putting things off like that is like waiting that you grow out of your cradle so you can start doing other stuff than drinking milk and getting your backside cleaned by others.

But when you realize the fact that you are getting consumed by procrastination, it can be extremely hard to take that first step and leave your temporary comfort zone. Leaving your comfort zone is never easy, but it’s the only way to make significant progress.

Sometimes procrastination is necessary to make yourself realize that you have to get off the looping highway. Procrastination can be a powerful too, but you have to combine it with thought in order to defeat it. You need to become aware of the perilous waters you’re sailing; only then can it become your guiding star (at which point you would try to poke its eye out).

We also have to realize that we can never completely destroy the God of Procrastination. After all, procrastination is one of those elements that makes us human. It’s okay to procrastinate as long as it doesn’t become an enduring obstacle. I agree with Leo Babauta on what he says about procrastination: “lazing around can be a beautiful thing.” By all means, if you love playing video games (like I do) why not devote one day to immersing yourself in the wonderful world of mushroom kingdoms and rocket launchers? As long as it doesn’t negatively influence the way you want to live your life.

Takeaways.

• Don’t be afraid to procrastinate. It’s not a disease; it’s rather normal. And it can actually guide you when the procrastinometer is about to burst.
• Extreme procrastination will open your eyes. This is when you should meditate on your current state of life. Ultimately, where is all of what you’re doing taking you? Is that important? What is important? What should you change in order to get what’s important?
• Stepping out of your comfort zone is tough shit, to say the least. But you’ll be the f***ing grand champion for doing so. It takes serious balls, but all of us have the power to do so.

I certainly do. I’m a slow writer, so it usually takes about two hours until I get to hit Publish. But I seem to become more productive when I leave the “office” and work somewhere else. The surroundings just have this magical effect on me. In fact, I’m now writing this post on the living room sofa—resting against a pile of cushions. Sometimes I go out to the porch and work there.

It feels liberating to work on your stuff someplace else once in a while, especially if you’re used to working in the office. It frees from the confines of your workroom. You don’t want to keep glancing at the same paintings and walls every time you try to gather inspiration.

You don’t have to attempt anything extreme. Of course it would be fantastic to leave your post, book a one-way ticket to the Bahamas, and just write blog posts while relishing an ice-cold beverage under a curving palm tree. But that might turn out to be destructive, as you might be tempted to toss away your laptop and jump into the water.

A simple change is what works best. If you have a backyard, take a reclining chair with you and start working under the sky. Or go to a nearby forest, and bring a tarp to spread over a flat piece of rock, which will serve as your temporary office. And don’t forget to bring a bottle of water with you to avoid having to go back inside to quench your thirst. You will want to minimize distractions. Only take with you what you need for completing your task.

What I’ve noticed is that changing your posture can also have a significant effect on your productivity. Whenever I feel uninspired while sitting in an ordinary upright position, I try to see if lying on my back helps me to draw inspiration. Also, suspending your legs above your torso affects your circulation, which can also boost your creative faculties. (I’m not medically certified, but this is just something that I’ve personally noticed.)

So, break free from your habits. Let yourself go crazy with ideas. Experiment with different locations. Go back to those places that yield success. Have fun.

Do you have any further tips? I would be happy to hear about them in the comments.

Last Wednesday I talked about how time limits can reduce procrastination, but this time I’d like to emphasize an important practice that has at least had a huge effect on my productivity, and more than that—motivation.

Really, it’s quite simple. It’s already written up there in the title… “Work first, then play.” Pure wisdom, and very practical for a change.

As you probably know, I dedicate a portion of my daily life to entertainment. And I must admit that sometimes it’s really hard to stick with a schedule. Weekends are the hardest. When I wake up on a Saturday morning, more often than not, I have these impulses to immerse myself in the world of entertainment, mainly video games and books, especially if I’ve been there the previous night.

The problem with that is that if you start your day with entertainment, you often need to make much greater an effort to transition from that mindset to a mindset of productivity. Even if you set time limits, it’s easy to be fooled by the abundance of time you have in the morning. Two hours can easily become three hours, four, and so on when you are tricked by the clock.

When you’re having fun, it almost pains you to let go of it. When you’re in the middle of an exciting Civ IV campaign or doing a Lost marathon, you just want to continue. One game leads to another, and a couple of Lost episodes easily keep you snared until the end of the season. It’s a vicious cycle.

The counter-technique is simple but works like magic. It’s so effective it’s ridiculous. (Or maybe I’m a slow learner and just simply didn’t get it before.) It doesn’t really require any practice or conditioning. You only need to fight the initial temptation of taking the easier entrance to your day. When you start with work in the morning and end it by 5 o’clock, the rest is all up to you. You no longer have to stress over what you still have to do in the evening or at night. So start with the important stuff first. It works. I only wish I had realized this when I was in school.

We all have different schedules and commitments each day. Some of us are busier than others while others have more time on their hands. Many “successful” people, or those who tend to attract a lot of money, are often seen as busy because they supposedly have more (money-related) commitments to attend to. Well, I’m not here to judge whether that’s true or not… and, in fact, I’m starting to digress, so let’s move on.

What I actually want to talk about is time management, or more specifically, managing the time spent on daily entertainment. After all, we all want to relax at least a bit every day by watching TV, reading trashy novels, playing video games (my favorite), and so forth.

But if we don’t manage our time properly, we easily become consumed by all the entertainment that we have access to. The entertainment starts to control us, when it should be the other way around. And when we should be productive, we lose it because we fail to safeguard our schedules from unwanted shortcomings.

This is especially important for those individuals who have personal commitments in their daily schedules. An example of a personal commitment could be a project that you’re working on. Blogging is a personal commitment. Running your own online clothing store is one too. Weightlifting is an personal commitment. Activities that are initiated and, for the most part, done by you are what I call personal commitments.

So why is entertainment a threat to those of us who have personal commitments? You guessed right. TV and video games make us lazy. You can’t stay productive if your eyes are glued to your nice flat screen display. You need to free yourself from that kind of entertainment slavery (despite your being quite happy in that state).

Setting those pesky time limits

It’s hard to limit your pleasures, but when things need to get done, that’s what you have to do. You have to make a choice: either keep indulging and stay lazy, or control the “happy hours” and get your things done. (If you chose the latter option, keep reading.)

1. First of all, I’d highly suggest that you start off by getting up earlier. You’ll be in better control of your time if you get up before others do, and before you have to go to work, school, et cetera. (More on getting up earlier.)
2. Set a time limit for all activities. Have your day structured so that you can focus on entertainment at the end of the day—not the beginning or the middle. And if you have multiple things that you want to do, time them separately; exempli gratia, 1 hour for TV, 1.5 hours for reading comics, and 30 minutes for YouTube.
3. Start with longer time limits. If you’re used to playing video games 6 hours a day, don’t go down 2 hours right away. It will probably just have the opposite effect on you.
4. Gradually decrease the durations. When you get better at spending your time frugally, you won’t need as much time to finish doing what you’re doing. You also get used to time limits over time, which makes it easier to psychologically accept shorter time limits.
5. Don’t procrastinate/multitask. But don’t kill the enjoyment. If you’re reading a newspaper, don’t try to watch TV simultaneously. Do one thing at a time. Don’t stress yourself.
6. Obey the time limits. Or otherwise it won’t work. Create reasonable time limits that allow you to invest adequate time in your personal commitments.

These principles should primarily be applied to working days (Mon–Fri). Weekends are your days off, so you should focus on relaxing and getting your mind off work. But I still do recommend segmenting your activities so that you wouldn’t end up spending your weekends on the couch.

I used to have over 30 RSS subscriptions in Google Reader. I think reading blogs is one of the best ways to gain knowledge on a topic because of the dynamic and consistent flow of articles. While following all your favorite blogs can easily become an addiction, too much is too much.

Having 30 blogs on my list kept me pretty busy—to say the least. Having those blogs on the list was convenient when I just wanted to relax and enjoy reading stuff because I could choose from a large selection of posts. But on most days I was frustrated by the never-ending stream of posts. When I opened Google Reader in the morning, I was welcomed by 30-45 posts. And you can guess how much time it takes to go through every post if you don’t want to resort to skimming through most of the content.

In the end, I just couldn’t take it anymore. Following 30 blogs was too much. I didn’t want to stop reading those blogs but I didn’t want to continue like that either. But I finally made the decision, about six months ago, to drop two-thirds of the RSS subscriptions. And it felt great.

At first I felt insecure because I thought I would be missing out on valuable information, but then l realized that there are millions of blogs out there, and hundreds and thousands of excellent blogs offering mountains of great content. Anyway it would be impossible to follow all of them without suffering from fatal stress. So I just had to simplify my RSS list, and pick the ones that I had enjoyed reading the most, and eliminate all the rest.

So now I’m down to 10 subscriptions—which I still think is too much, but I’m seriously considering cutting it further down to 5 or less (you can probably guess that Zen Habits is still on the list). The awesome thing is, I’m no longer shackled by Google Reader. I have more time to focus on more important things like writing and learning Spanish (for which, by the way, I strongly recommend the greatest language learning audio program ever, Pimsleur Spanish).

I didn’t feel as if I was missing out on anything. I realized that by spending less time on reading RSS feeds, I would have more time to apply the knowledge and test things out. You don’t really need to follow five different blogs about blogging to learn how to blog better. Just choose one and focus on applying the concepts instead of passively absorbing them and doing nothing.

What I also like to do with frequently updated websites like The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Lifehacker is not to subscribe to them at all. It would just be too much of a hassle to receive tens of additional posts on my RSS reader every day. Instead, I check them once a week, just randomly, pick the most interesting articles, and leave the blog cooking for another week.

How many feeds do you have on your list?

Writing a book is a long and laborious, yet fulfilling undertaking. But before you continue reading any further I must confess that I have yet to complete my first book. I am, however, doing well on my current book, so I’d like to share some ideas from my own experience so far—on how to not run out of steam.

I can imagine that stamina is one of the worst obstacles of newbie writers. The word count for novels starts at roughly 75,000 words, but even a smaller manual or report of 15,000 words or less can be a daunting task for fledglings. If you’re used to writing long emails or blog posts of about 500 words each, getting over the hurdle to book writing can be exciting at first, but also poses the danger of getting overwhelmed in the long run. Even blog posts can be sometimes hard to finish. And while a high word count doesn’t guarantee good content, a story of 15,000 words will definitely not be be seen as a novel. Reaching a comfortable length can take many months, depending on consistency and effort. But unless you are already a professional wordsmith, you should consider developing a few habits that will tremendously help your writing.

I have actually started a couple of book projects over the years, but sadly, none of them even reached the rough draft status. I had a lot of enthusiasm to write the texts, but the nonexistent planning that I did was probably the primary reason why they ended up permanently in the unfinished books folder (aka trash). And if you’re like me, similar works will probably remain there for all eternity simply because later you probably won’t be in the same mood anymore; your thoughts and interests tend to change over time, which means that continuing an old work requires the kind of editing an adjusting that can easily kill your enthusiasm. So, my first piece of advice is: maintain consistency, and try to work on your book as often as possible.

Structure is key

As I mentioned, I failed to do any significant planning for my previous books. This eventually led to lack of focus, lack of ideas (because the topic became too diluted), and the inevitable burnout. The wise thinkers have kept repeating that a well-planned project is half done, and this is also my advice here. When you have a clear picture of what you are supposed to write about, the writing itself suddenly becomes a whole lot easier when you have roadmap. Having a skeleton for your book keeps you mentally sorted and focused. The best way to plan your book is to structure it properly.

The first step, therefore, is to brainstorm the chapters, and order them in the most coherent sequence so that the reader will be able to easily transition from one idea to another (the same thing applies to paragraphs, by the way). You don’t need much more than this to stay focused on your ideas and keep yourself fueled.

The second step is to write a short summary (3–5 sentences) of what you will discuss in the chapter. You shouldn’t worry too much if the ideas are not the final concepts that you want to include in your book. They should, instead, serve as a guideline for you to focus your writing or overview the contents of the book.

I am, in fact, now writing an ebook (which I am planning to offer as a free download) based on a blog post, 44 Skills Every Successful Person Should Learn, I published in January earlier this year. The reason why it’s progressing so much better than my last projects is that I have a clear structure. The 44 skills also function as individual chapters. And since I’ve already written in the post the essence of what ideas every chapter should include, I have a clear picture of what needs to be written.

If you are planning to write a book or a report, or if you are currently stuck, I recommend that you invest some time in preparing the foundation for your work. You might be tempted to write impulsively without structuring your text, but creating a table of contents alone will definitely make you notice how much easier and more comfortable the writing process becomes.

If you have additional tips, I’d be grateful if you could share them in the comments below. Thank you.

The 24-hour time limit can be a pain in the butt sometimes. Most of us have to spend 8 hours a day outside our homes, and an extra 30 minutes to 2.5 hours on commuting. If we allocate another 8 hours to slumber, what are we left with? Roughly 6 hours, right? That includes the time we need for cooking, doing the laundry, washing the dishes, taking a shower, et cetera.

But when we come back home in the evening, what do we usually have in mind? At least I want to crash on the sofa and relax. I’m too exhausted to start thinking about other projects when I’ve been dealing with projects for the whole day. I just want to have the evening off.

Evenings are full of distractions

Say, we have 4 hours of dedicated free time per day. Not too bad. It’s true, we can accomplish a lot in 4 hours. But the question is, will we have the energy to study after a full workday? It won’t be easy with all the mental and physical distractions.

• “I’m tired. I wanna sleep.”
• “I wanna lie down on the couch and listen to music or watch TV.”
• “I should spend time with [spouse's name].”
• “I wanna have fun with the kids.”
• “I have to help them with their homework.”
• “I have to call grandma about the cake recipe.”
• “I wanna play Fallout.”
• “My brain isn’t connected to a power supply.”
• “I don’t want to do anything right now.”

Sound familiar? It’s only natural to have those emotions. But notice that they are a major cause of procrastination. We might be overcharged with energy on some days, but we obviously shouldn’t count on a fickle perk like that. We aren’t going to be very productive if our working habits are solely based on spasmodic actions. We need consistency to be successful. We need to plan our studies so that we would effectively. The best method for that, as I’ve personally found out, is to wake up earlier and end your daily studies (or any personal work for that matter) before you go to work or school.

The magic of mornings

This is something that I didn’t notice until recently. I’m still a college student so I’m supposed to have a lot of time on my hands, but I love to sleep in so that cuts down the number of hours I can spend doing other things. There are many things I want to do. Of course I can choose to stay up late every night and try to do as much as possible, but it doesn’t always work out that easily. But after adopting the new habit of getting up earlier, I’ve come to believe that there’s some sort of +10 boost to the productivity attribute in the morning.

It actually makes sense because we’re a lot fresher in the morning. We haven’t done anything yet, so our mana pools are still filled to the brim. So why not start the day by completing your personal tasks first?

If you’re planning to learn a new skill like creating websites or oil-painting, instead of leaving it for the evening, get it off your list in the morning. Get up 2–3 hours earlier than usual. Dedicate those hours to completely immersing yourself in the task. Shut out all other distractions like email, cell phones, TV, radio, and then focus on your task. You have all the energy do things, so get some breakfast and embark on your mission.

If you follow this strategy, you’ll have all your evenings off. You will at the same time eliminate any worries you might have about not achieving your goals, because you’ve already fulfilled your duties for the day, and you’re actively progressing toward your goals. No more procrastination.

I’ve recently been playing video games on the PlayStation 3 for long stretches of time. It’s fun because I love to play video games. But on the other hand, it’s also dangerous. Indulgence is a threat to those especially who work for themselves—entrepreneurs and self-learners primarily.

Video games are just an example. Any recreational activity can be harmful to people who don’t work under anyone. But let’s say I’m a clerk in a bookstore. Let’s also assume that that is my primary, full-time job. I don’t do anything else, nor am I looking for any kind of career. That’s fine. In this case, I am free to do whatever I want as long as it doesn’t interfere with my 9–5 job. And when I go back home, I am free to do whatever I want, for as long as I want, as long as I can drag myself work the next day. The job is my duty, and if I want to keep it, I must satisfy their requirements. Obvious, right?

But in the case of self-employed workers and students who are responsible for their own progress, it’s tougher because the boundaries of duty are less strict. There’s a lot of freedom. Too much of it actually. That’s because you are in charge. You are responsible for creating your own schedule, tasks, and goals. You have all the freedom in the world to do whatever you like. You can even choose to take a 12-year holiday if you want, if you’re willing to sacrifice your other pursuits. That’s because you don’t have any duties, unlike people with 9–5 jobs or school syllabi.

Sometimes it just happens that we get so wrapped up in something that we forget about everything else. Even the important stuff. We tell ourselves that it’ll be okay. I’ll continue from where I left off, say… next Monday. That’s fine too. As long as you’re able to fulfill what you’ve decided to do. I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who are well-disciplined and are in near-complete control of themselves. But we’re all emotional beings, and tend to drift toward calm waters. Floating is easy and effortless—until you run out of rum.

So how do we get out of a rut like that? If you wanted to get an instant cure to drag yourself out of a black hole (that didn’t kill you), you would look for some killer technology. Anti-gravity tractor beams. The Force. Any piece of technology that would seem like magic to any 21st century physicist. But since we’re dealing the human mind, and since medicine hasn’t provided us the right meds to organically deal with ailments such as procrastination and indecision, the only way is to vaccinate our minds beforehand.

Your thoughts serve as the vaccine that will prevent you from falling into a rut of unproductivity. In other words, you need to condition your mind to deal with over-indulgence before it happens.

Here are some of the things that you can do to prevent it from happening.

• Don’t shut out your work completely. When you’re keeping your mind off your studies or work, keep in mind that your tasks aren’t going to take care of themselves. Don’t forget your personal duties. If you neglect your duties, you’re only making your life harder in the long run.
• Set a timelimit for your pastimes. Prefer not to watch a marathon of The Simpsons in one go. You can always continue later.
• Wake up early. If you take care of your work or studies early in the morning, and develop a habit out of it, you will have the rest of the day off. (My favorite strategy. It just simply works.)
• Leave something delicious for next time. Concerning your work or studies, have something to look forward to. Make it exciting to return to your project.
• Focus on working with things you’re passionate about. Don’t let your work become a daily grind. As I said, keep it interesting and exciting.
• Work on your projects every day. When you spend time on your work every day, you are able to maintain momentum. If you take a break completely (for several days), you’ll need a lot of acceleration to get back on orbit.
• Complete your work before the deadline. If you want to go skiing in the Alps, take care of your work beforehand. Work on completing your task earlier little-by-little. In other words, reward yourself with a vacation. But don’t exhaust yourself.

Remember to stay focused at all times. And always remember that there are no bosses or teachers coming to you with a stick asking for results. Fulfill your duties responsibly, and don’t cheat yourself.

I would be happy to hear your advice on this topic, so please share your tips down there where it talks about comments. Thanks!

It’s that time of the year now. Most parts of the ham should have traveled through your digestive system by now, so it’s time for some self-improvement. Yes, we’re nearing the end of the decade, so this calls for some New Year’s resolutions.

Have you made New Year’s resolutions before? I have. But before, when I wasn’t aware of the important factors that would lead to success, I couldn’t accomplish what I wanted to. The resolutions just faded away as the weeks passed. Today, I would like to share some tips on fulfilling those New Year’s resolutions in a more organized and effective manner.

Remember that lump of turkey you digested on Christmas Eve? And the glögi and beer that injected a deadly number of calories into your flesh… Perhaps you’d like to get rid of those additional pounds. Christmas and New Year are so conveniently positioned next to each other that it’s like a no-brainer to tell yourself to lose weight after the seasonal diet. Making a decision is a good start, for sure, but there’s more to do if you want to make your decision failure-proof.

A failure-proof plan is of course impossible to attain, but there are steps that can greatly reduce the risks of failing to fulfill your New Year’s resolutions. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has come up with a great method of 6 Changes to adopt new habits into your life. He says that you should break each habit into 8 easy steps. You see, if you only have a goal in mind, it’s a mere thought inside your head. A New Year’s resolution like “lose weight” is too vague. You know what it is, and you know what you want to achieve, but you don’t have a clear idea of how to accomplish the task. So you need to plan it out.

When you have a plan for your goal, you have a clear picture of how you’re supposed to start and what you’re supposed do in the following weeks and months. It’s hard to start doing anything if you only have a vague concept in your head. It’s a different case if you’ve already taken the road and succeeded, but most New Year’s resolutions are set in new grounds where you might’ve mucked around but haven’t found success, so this time you will want to do things differently.

Make a plan that is easy to implement

This year, I want you to be more decisive and more organized, so I want you to take your journal or a piece of paper, and write down your New Year’s resolutions. The fewer the better. In this guide, I will take weightloss as one example.

Under the title, you should put down all the steps and techniques that you will employ in order to fulfill your New Year’s resolution. But follow Leo’s advice and don’t make the first step too overwhelming or too complicated. The first step should be easy. The most important reason for making the first step ridiculously easy is that will also be easy to execute and put into effect. If, on the other hand, the first step is too complicated, you’ll easily postpone the task and fall into a viscious cycle of procrastination.

Which of the following two steps, do you think, is easier to execute?

1. Buy a pair of skis and some winter sportswear.
2. Go out for a 20-minute walk.

Certainly it’s easier and faster to just go out for a walk than to evaluate prices, go shopping and finally buy the gear. Even if you buy the equipment, you still haven’t done anything to actually lose weight. Preparing is good, but you might want to start with something productive first, and then supplement your strategy with other things afterwards.

So keep your plan clear and easy to start. You will also have to stay motivated throughout the whole endeavor, but having a roadmap to guide you through the steps is essential. I will look forward to hearing your success stories at the end 2010!

Happy New Year!