Setting goals is the easy part, achieving them is the difficult bit. But that success is more likely if those goals are set based on a unit of time than one of distance or quantity, says Redditor cntlswvs, a Ph. D. student at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He/she uploaded notes from important papers on behavioral change, which are full of tricks on forming new habits or changing old ones. One particular tip stood out:
Time goals rather than distance goals are better. (Run for 10 minutes, not for 3 miles. It's much more effective. Study for 2 hours, not 2 chapters.)
Time-based goals also have the added advantage of letting you start small and be specific about your target. In fact, doing a little bit every day is a good strategy to get huge projects done, like writing a book. For example, Darren Rowse recommends allocating just 15 minutes to any task you want to do. Here's his reasoning:
1. Identify what you want to achieve
2. Allocate 15 minutes a day to it
3. Over the next year you will will spend 91 hours on your task
Hit the links for more on behavior change and incorporating the 15-minutes-a-day habit.
How To Get Overwhelming Things Done | Darren Rowse
Photo by Bitch Cakes.