Want it now or want it most? ??

?? Time to plan your week! This is your HabitStack Push to work on your big goals this week, even though you're busy.

The Quote

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most." - Abraham Lincoln

The Coaching

This quote from Abraham Lincoln hits me right in the gut, because I know that, at least in some small way, I choose what I want now at the expense of what I want most every single day of the week.

I want to achieve the yearly goals I have for HabitStack, but right now, I want to read Hacker News. I want to be a wonderful husband and father, but right now, I want to lie on the couch. I want to keep playing basketball until I’m 65, but right now, I want a cookie.

Why do I trade future joy for immediate, but small pleasures? Is it just laziness?

That’s part of it, but not all of it. It's also that immediate gratification is certain and delayed gratification is only probable. If I stay disciplined, I will probably reap the rewards, but it is always possible that something unexpected happens and my efforts will be wasted.

“A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush”, is close to a primal instinct.

Working on what we want to be true in the future is a gamble. It's risky. It takes faith and mental toughness.

Here are some tactics to make it a bit easier to consistently play the long game:

1. Accountability to someone other than yourself helps pull you through when your motivation ebbs.
2. Find some way, even if it's small, to make strategic work fun in and of itself. You’re not a robot who can just mechanically “do the right thing” without any joy in the short term.
3. Separate planning from execution. First, plan by chunking down your goals from the year to the quarter to the month to the week. Then, throughout each week, execute your plans. When you have an hour to do strategic work it is WAY easier to get down to execution if you’re already crystal clear on what you need to do.

The Smile

The Habits

1. Pause to remember what your big goals are (don't skip this!).
2. Review your actions from last week (done? not done?).
3. Decide what actions you'll take this week (specific and measurable).
4. Schedule the work in your calendar (time blocking).

Now, you're set to win.

HabitStack makes goal habits easy.

Login or learn more.