I’m a goal-oriented person. When I started this blog about 2 months ago, I set a simple goal of growing the domain authority of Skillenai. To achieve my goal, I set about writing articles on Skillenai and other sites.
I got good feedback on my first few articles and landed some nice guest blog opportunities. I kept writing at a brisk pace for the first month in pursuit of my goal. I wrote 14 articles in 30 days.
Then I burnt out. I wrote 0 articles in the past 30 days.
Bursts of Passion
Goal-setting promotes bursts of passion that lead to burn out. The story of my first month writing for Skillenai is not unusual in my life. I could tell a dozen similar stories from my past.
How often have you fallen into this pattern: you set a goal that sparks some passion, you have a burst of motivation, then you’re left exhausted when you reach the goal (if you even make it that far)? For me, the answer is “too many to count.”
I’ve come to believe that this pattern not only yields poor results but is also bad for mental health.
Consistent Behaviors
While bursts of passion peter out, consistent behaviors fuel exponential growth. I started noting examples of this everywhere recently.
- All the most successful bloggers, youtubers, and influencers preach about the importance of consistency.
- Small bi-weekly 401k contributions can grow to over $1M over the course of your career. Meanwhile, day traders are more likely to go bankrupt than ever turn a profit.
- I’ve been watering my “money tree” every weekend for 3 years. It went from a little pot on my window sill to this.
Tool for Promoting Healthy Habits
Other than watering my money tree, I don’t have a lot of consistent behaviors in my life. To help me change that, I built a simple tool on Skillenai. The tool is free, but you need to register before using. Click the button below to try it out.
Here’s how it works.
- Missions – Start by adding a mission to group together your new healthy habits around a common purpose.
- For me, my first mission is this:
- “Do work that is challenging and fulfilling with exponentially growing rewards and impact.”
- Habits – Then add some habits to support your mission. Each habit has a set frequency such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
- One of my habits is this:
- “Write an article for the Skillenai blog once per week.”
- Activities – Use the activities calendar to track how consistently you follow through on your new habits.
This tool has motivated me to finally write a new article (this one) after over a month-long hiatus. And if all goes well, it will continue motivating me to write consistently every week without burning out.
What healthy habits would you like to add to your life?
