How often, when we decide to learn a new skill, start a new project, or try something new, do we acknowledge the effectiveness of our goal and the system we build around it?
“I want to learn piano” – vague and meaningless. It won’t help you adhere to a practice and it provides for no sense of accomplishment.
“I want to weigh 160lbs at 10% bodyfay” – better, but you have a narrow margin between “too easy to provide motivation” and “so hard it discourages me”. Not useful for starting up.
Consider starting with quantified intent:
- “I’ll practice 4 songs on piano this month”
- “I’ll work out 3x per week”
You don’t need to master the songs, and the workouts don’t have to be long or hard. Commit to showing up. Quantifiable, easy to win, and still positive even if you fail.