setting goals is overrated

Setting goals in life is not as easy as they say. Achieving lasting change can indeed turn out to be a much more boring task than it seems.

It's the new year and let's imagine for a moment that you have decided to become rich. You may have had enough of your student debt. Maybe you're tired of eating frozen waffles every night for dinner. Or you were inspired by 50 Cent, and you want to “get rich or die trying”… Only to go broke a few years later.

Whatever the reason, it's the new year. You've decided that the new you is going to drive a Rolls-Royce and drink Dom-Perignon.

If you plan to get rich as most people do, here's how you see it:

Start by earning €100.

OK, great, now let's try to win €1,000.

Damn, that was hard, but now let's try to win €10,000.

You get there eventually. Except that, three years later, the very idea of ​​working until you have €100,000 makes you want to drop everything to become a monk.

You think "shit" and you buy a 60-inch TV. Oh, that feels good.

Dreams of bikini parties on your yacht evaporate, along with most of your savings.

This is how most people try to get rich. Besides, if you haven't noticed, most people aren't rich. Most people are just the opposite. And, it's no coincidence.

This is more how people get rich (without ending up in bankruptcy court like good old 50 Cent):

Start by earning €100.

Invest that $100 in skills/training/assets that will ultimately earn you $1,000.

Invest those €1,000 in skills/training/assets that will eventually earn you €10,000.

Then, invest that €10,000 in skills/training/assets that will eventually earn you €100,000.

Then invest that €100,000 until you're on your yacht like a Russian mobster.

These are two different mentalities that allow you to build wealth. People who remain poor or middle class see money as something to spend. People who get rich see money as something to invest in.

spending mindset vs investing mindset

You can call it the “spirit of spending” as opposed to the “spirit of investing.” One makes you rich. The other makes you whip, always fighting to keep your head above water.

So why am I reviewing all of this? Because it's about creating habits and achieving goals in life too. It is the same concept.

Setting Goals VS Building Habits

Consider the most clichéd and universal New Year's resolution of the bunch:

I want to lose 20 pounds and be sexy for the summer.

I think almost everyone has had this resolution at one time or another. In most cases, you're recovering from your January 1st binge. You sign up for the gym on January 2. You force yourself to go 5-6 times over the next few months. Mainly out of guilt, because you spent money. So you feel like you should go. But you don't know what you're doing.

And then you say to yourself: look at all these skinny and sweaty people here. Wow, I feel so tired just looking at them. Can this treadmill go slower? I'm tired. I want a burger. Or maybe ice cream. Or maybe an ice cream burger.

It's February 1 and you find yourself blending into the fabric of your couch. Watching horrible reruns of The Young and the Restless. To wonder how it is that all your clothes seem to shrink at the same time.

Yes, it is hard.

Problems with the conventional pursuit of goals in life (i.e. New Year's resolutions) are very well known at this point.

People tend to rely too much on self-discipline, instead of forming helpful habits. People tend to have bigger eyes than stomachs. They set goals that far exceed their ability or level of knowledge. Then they become frustrated when they make little or no progress toward those goals. People are tempted to take “shortcuts” to achieve a goal. Which often sabotages them in the long run. Like starving yourself to lose weight. Or buy the latest fashionable device to build muscle effortlessly.