Congratulations, you have just finished reading my second book on productivity. I very much hope you also read the first book, because without it this book will not have all the power and message I put into these two books.
I will not repeat myself and list all the conclusions from the first book, because that would take five pages again, so focus on the main conclusions of this book.
As you may have noticed, almost all goals can be broken down into tasks and smoothly and evenly carried out over weeks, months, or even an entire year. These goals should be measurable, specific, finite — in other words, fit the SMART methodology. Any decent productivity author will say you should set goals, not wish for things. Of course that is hard to argue with, especially since I wrote about the harm of wishes in my first book. But I decided to go further and advise you not just to set goals but to cultivate habits. You will complete a goal and put it aside. For example, you will lose weight to the desired result through strict diets and calorie counting, but since any goal has an end, when you reach it you will stop and most likely gain weight again. But if you develop a habit along with the goal — eating properly, counting calories, and taking care of yourself — that will give a long-term, lasting effect. One important such habit is daily check-in with your planned goals and plans. Daily, several times a day, you need to check against the tasks you set for the day, and a little less often — at least once a week — against the goals you set for the month, quarter, or even year. With such a habit you will always live by planning and, upon achieving some goals, immediately set new heights. The practices and methods I described in this book — Daily Intern, Weekly Beginner, Monthly Sprinter, and Annual Guru — will help you solidify this habit. And my example of 2024, I hope, helped you get acquainted with real planning.
Remember that you should have order in your plans and goals; everything should be in one place, two at most. Order does not equal convenience, so besides clear, orderly storage of your goals, plans, and tasks, make sure you can reach them as quickly as possible and that they are always at hand and in view. Start planning with 5–10 goals for the year and do not chase quantity — as you saw in my 2024 plan. If you feel you may burn out and stop, plan the year using vacation or weekends. If you have difficulties with planning, you can always contact me, and I will try together with you to break your difficult goals into smaller tasks.
