How can you sustain the energy and enthusiasm of a new idea, opportunity, or project? Setting a clear goal is critical for knowing your target. But willpower for doing the daily work to reach that big goal is a limited resource that will fade quickly. Fortunately, there is a way to create a positive flywheel to drive you towards your priority goals consistently day by day.

Read on: blog.WednesdayWin.com​

Read time: 3 minutes

Let's explore how:

1. Willpower isn't enough

No matter how great your desire is to reach your priority goals, there's never enough willpower to do the daily work necessary. Especially after the initial, irrational enthusiasm wanes and the full scope of work reveals itself, the pressure to give up or move on to a different, imagined easier option will grow and grow.

Plus, using your willpower to accomplish your daily work will lead quickly to exhaustion, frustration, and burn out.

You need to find another way.

• Willpower is a finite resource and is insufficient for doing the tough, groundbreaking work each day
• Our minds are wired for novelty and will seek out the promise of an easier alternative even if that's just a phantom
• You need to put your mental energy into the work you do and not just in getting to the work

2. Habits are the secret

So if raw, daily willpower isn't the way, what is?

Building healthy, positive, and repeatable habits.

Habits tap into something deep into how our minds are wired that allows us to establish regular work patterns that become easier to follow than to skip.

Regular practice followed on a consistent schedule becomes a self-reinforcing vehicle for doing good work. Instead of manually choosing to do the necessary work, one can simply coast into the daily flow of tackling priorities and making progress.

How long does it take to establish a consistent habit? Anywhere from one to four weeks with 21 days being a good standard target.

Use the early enthusiasm of a new set goal to power through that initial period. As long as you remain vigilant, each day will be a bit easier to keep on track.

Establishing a consistent work habit focused on the tasks supporting your goals is the key to making sustained progress.

• You need to commit to get through the ramp up period and can use early optimism to start strong
• Commit to at least 21 consecutive days of practice to start--this is where to spend your willpower
• Every well-practiced habit supports every other habit so adding new ones also gets easier over time
• Over the long-term, think in terms of reps so a miss, or a break in the chain, doesn't derail your consistent habit. Keep showing up and doing the work

3. Cultivate curiosity

Why do some people seem to be able to build those powerful, positive habits while others struggle to even get started?

I've discovered the difference: curiosity.

When you look at the world around you and all of the different ways that people engage with ideas, there's limitless variation. If you approach your own life with curiosity, working through the ramp-up a new habit is not just easier, but fun.

I learned in my daily writing on LinkedIn and X to focus on building my habits like a series of experiments. When is the best time to write? What kind of format works best? When do I create images? How do I organize my backlog of ideas?

That curiosity allows me to feel fresh when I start my tasks each time. What's going to work best and how can I make it better?

Look at others whose results you want to model. What do they do consistently? Why do you think it works? Should you try that or do something different?

• Curiosity is the engine that keeps habit building engaging
• Learn from yourself
• Observe others and try what you learn from them
• Approach your work with the curiosity of an explorer seeking out treasures soon to be in reach

Action Summary

Achieving goals that matter requires sustained effort over time.

Major effort can only be applied when it feels normal, routine, and not an extraordinary burden. Forming good work habits concentrated on those goals is essential to success. And, curiosity is the sweetener that makes forming those new habits exciting, interesting, and a positive challenge.

• Set primary goals
• Break down clear tasks required to achieve those goals
• Build habits based on the work to be done
• Keep it fresh by treating it like a fun experiment in learning

Self-belief enables (or prevents)...

None of this will work without the proper attitude.

You must first believe you are the exact kind of person that achieves the goal you have set for yourself.

You cannot reach your goals if your self image is inconsistent with that goal.

First align your identity and then the rest can flow smoothly.

What do you think? Goals or systems and habits? How do you stay on track? Reply to this email and let me know.

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To your success,

Christopher

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P.S. Like this one? You'll probably want to check out this Wednesday Win on how to get un-stuck if you've lost your focus and stopped making progress, too.

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