It's such a simple concept, yet it's something we don't always do. It's not exceedingly difficult to do, and yet I think it's something that would make a world of difference in anyone's life.
Break your goals into habits, and focus on putting those habits into autopilot.
Last week when I wrote my Ultimate Guide to motivation, there were a number of questions
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There were questions
These are excellent questions, and my answer takes a little explaining: I try to turn my goals into habits, and in doing so, I put my goals on autopilot. Turning a goal into a habit means really focusing on it, intensely, for at least a month, to the exclusion of all else. The more you can focus on it, the more it'll be on autopilot.
But once you put it on autopilot, once a habit is firmly established, you don't really have to focus on it much. You’ll still do it, but because it's a habit, you only have to use minimal focus to maintain that habit. The goal becomes on autopilot, and you can focus on your next goal or project or habit.
My Marathon Example
Let's look at my marathon goal as an example. I was just starting out in running, and I had the brilliant idea to run a marathon within a year. (Btw, that's not the brightest idea — you should run for a couple years before attempting marathon training, or it'll be much, much more difficult for you.) So that was my goal, and it was my main focus for awhile.
But in order to achieve that goal, I broke it down into two habits:
1. I had to make running a daily habit (while following a training plan I found online).
2. I had to report to people in order to have accountability — I did this through family, friends and coworkers, through a blog, and through a column in my local newspaper every two weeks. With this accountability, there's no way I would stop running.
The daily running habit took
The accountability habit took a couple months, mainly because I didn't focus on it too much while I was building the running habit. But it stuck, and for that first year of running, I would report to people I knew and blog
Once those two habits were firmly entrenched, my marathon goal was pretty much on autopilot. I could focus on my debt reduction goal (as an example) without having to worry too much
And eventually, I ran the marathon. I was able to achieve this because, all year long, I had the daily running habit and daily accountability habit. I put my marathon goal into autopilot, and that made it much easier — instead of struggling with it daily for an entire year, I focused on it for one month (well, actually two) and was able to accomplish it while focusing on new habits and goals.
相关单词：forth
forth解释：adv.向前；向外，往外
forth例句：
The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
相关单词：exclusion
exclusion解释：n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行
exclusion例句：
Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球，其他运动一概不参加。
相关单词：minimal
minimal解释：adj.尽可能少的，最小的
minimal例句：
They referred to this kind of art as minimal art.他们把这种艺术叫微型艺术。
I stayed with friends, so my expenses were minimal.我住在朋友家，所以我的花费很小。
相关单词：entrenched
entrenched解释：adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯)
entrenched例句：
Television seems to be firmly entrenched as the number one medium for national advertising.电视看来要在全国广告媒介中牢固地占据头等位置。
If the enemy dares to attack us in these entrenched positions,we will make short work of them.如果敌人胆敢进攻我们固守的阵地，我们就消灭他们。
