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Do you ever find yourself committing to a goal, but when it comes to working on it, you end up doing nothing?

Usually, the process looks somewhat like this:

1. You get inspired by a goal

2. You commit to it

3. You start thinking about the steps you need to take

4. You realize that it's more complicated than you thought

5. You end up doing nothing, feel guilty for a while and forget about it

If you're anything like me, this already happened to you 1000 times. You come up with some excuses that justify your inaction and then simply move on with your life.

"I don't have the skills to do this."

"I need to study more about XY before I can start this."

The interesting thing: this is the same in business and private life.

In the company I worked for a few years ago we did above 500 MEUR sales per year. The resources (both knowledge and money) we had were far beyond what private individuals usually have. But still, implementation and experimentation was awfully slow.

With so many resources, knowledge, advice or planning couldn't be our issue. The actual bottleneck was the mindset of people. The company was 150 years old. People thought: "We did XY like this forever. It worked all the time. So why change now?"

What was missing wasn’t skill, but mindset. People saw improvements and new projects as a nice-to-have.

And when everything is a nice-to-have, not a must-have, you lack urgency.

People are bad at following advice

For most people, there is an insufficient reason for action.

The pain they're feeling isn't painful enough to start acting. And simply relying on logic to get you moving is never enough. What people are lacking is what Tim Ferris calls the "Harajuku moment".

The Harajuku moment is when a nice-to-have turns into a must-have. For me, this happened back in school when I suddenly realized that to get the life I wanted, I needed to also start questioning my daily actions. It's not enough to go with the flow, achieve good grades and see where life will carry you. Realizing that a good life wasn't a nice-to-have - but a must-have - is what got me working on this objective (and also made me start this newsletter).

People (including myself) are bad at following advice if they lack the mindset of "I need to get this right". In other words, the prioritization of the goal they commit to isn't high enough. That is why I am so big on purpose, building out your values and priorities and acting in a way to become your future ideal self.

Whenever you find yourself not working towards a set goal, check if you see it as a must-have, or just as a nice-to-have.

Reminders are worth more than actual knowledge

Here's another reason why you might not work on a goal you've committed to:

You forget that you implemented this goal in the first place. You didn't start tracking your progress. That resulted in lower awareness of your goal, leading to no behavioral change. Consistent tracking is oftentimes more powerful than world-class advice from experts.

A friend of mine was able to lose more than 60 kg of fat in about half a year. His method? Every day after waking up, he got on the scale and wrote down his current weight in his notebook. Doing this regularly was already enough to get the pounds melting.

People are problem-solvers. So if you regularly expose yourself to the same problem through tracking and reminders, you will automatically start solving it.

How to increase urgency: turn a nice-to-have into a must-have

"Ok Philipp, I get it. If I want to commit to my goals, I need to turn them into must-haves and track them regularly. But how do I do that?"

Great that you ask, let's discuss the method that I have used with great success since 2019.

The first thing you need to realize is that "doing nothing" isn't a vantage point from which you can assess your options. It is another option on your list. The only difference: it's the only option where failure is guaranteed.

So takeaway no. 1 is: if you want to commit to a goal, any action is better than simply doing nothing.

Next, you can add more urgency to this realization by assessing the cost of your inaction.

Think about the following question: What does it cost you to maintain your inaction? What won't you be able to achieve in 1, 5 or even 10 years from now? This will make the pain of not working on your goal more painful.

Lastly - and this might be a little radical for some - you can dial up your feeling of urgency by reminding yourself of your inevitable and eventual death.

Here's why I think this is a good idea:

First, dying is out of your control. It will happen to anyone eventually, so there's no need in being scared about it. Instead, try to find some motivation from this realization. Second, if you know that your time on earth will be limited, the cost of inaction in 5 or 10 years gets amplified even more.

That is why keeping my mortality in mind is one of the biggest drivers for my feeling of urgency.

Remember, my friend lost 60 kg of weight by simply reminding himself about it regularly.

Imagine what else is possible if you increase your perceived pain and start focusing on it regularly.

Stay seeking.

Philipp