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Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals

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Re: Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals

#2
Agree with the OP. I also think that competition and negative or positive reinforcement is critical to goal execution. Then once you have goals you can try to have habits, but many times goals work and habits you thought you developed don't stick. If habits worked for everyone, there would be no Weight Watchers. That company survives off of people continuing to think it works, when it only works temporarily for most.

Re: Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals

#6
I was setting goals for myself, failing miserably. Then I thought Dan was onto something. Oh no! Now I'm going to reevaluate my goal setting now. Maybe the best thing is to not read HN so frequently!

Re: Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals

#9
I think you're missing the point of Dan's article. For me, the takeaway from that was "giving yourself too concrete of goals too fast will often lead to abandonment of the entire process to preserve your ego". While I do agree solid goals are important eventually, I agree with Dan's overall point.

It's just the idea of getting comfortable with the grip and texture of the rungs at the bottom of the ladder before trying to climb it.

Re: Why Dan Shipper is Wrong about Goals

#10
OP: How do you suggest that people go about setting specific, challenging, and achievable goals? While you've described flaws in Dan Shipper's arguments, you haven't provided concrete advice about what the right thing to do is.

I found Jamie Wong's post on negative social incentives[0] to be helpful in motivating oneself once a specific goal has been set, but I still find myself having trouble figuring out what goals to set in the first place.

[0] http://jamie-wong.com/2011/12/30/immersion-and-schadenfreude...

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