1. Explore different interests before focusing on one.
- Correct: Trying chess, trying basketball, taking an open online computer science course, cooking something new, trying tennis, learn how to draw your first digital art, learn the basics of competitive Street Fighter, attempt your first speedrun of a Trauma Center game, etc.
- Wrong: Deciding you want to be a chess grandmaster WITHOUT exploring anything else first.
- Research: https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/sample-then-specialize/
2. Choose your Ultimate Goal in Life™.
- Correct: After exploring several interests, you discover that you are persistently passionate about becoming a content creator.
- Wrong: Graduating college (which is a great goal, but one that leads to your top-level goal).
- Wrong: Getting 1 million Twitch subscribers (this might be an ‘end goal’, but your ultimate goal should be a journey, not a destination).
- Research: https://youtu.be/NBgBy4vP_QE
- More Research: https://characterlab.org/tips-of-the-week/step-by-step/
3. WOOP your life goal.
- Video Guide: https://vimeo.com/262725813
- Wish: What you want. (Your life goal.)
- Outcome: Vivid details of the ideal outcome.
- Obstacle: One (1) inner obstacle, something within your control, that is most likely to impede you from your goal. (e.g. Procrastination.)
- Plan: If (Obstacle), then I will (Action). For example: If I feel like procrastinating, then I will shut off my phone and use the StayFocused browser extension to block out all irrelevant websites (YouTube, etc.) for the next hour.
- Research: https://woopmylife.org/en/science
4. Use ‘Expert Practice’ to get good.
Video Guide: https://vimeo.com/797475870
- Step 1: Break down a skill you want to learn into smaller sub-skills.
- Step 2: Set aside time to remove ALL distractions and focus on one (1) sub-skill.
- Step 3: Find and seek feedback from someone good at that sub-skill.
- Research: https://characterlab.org/activities/expert-practice-for-classrooms/
If you are having difficulty brainstorming or connecting the advice from this post to your life, AI chats like duck.ai can help flesh out ideas.
And that’s pretty much it! This advice is very generic to apply to as many people as possible, but if you follow these, you’ll succeed in life.
Thanks for posting, I dig this and the idea behind the community.
To add to #2, one might consider what their ideal day/week would look like to inform what their goal might be. Understanding what I’d like my lifestyle to look has provided me with direction at different times in my life.
That’s a great tip! Thank you. 🙏😌