How Goal Setting and Routine Transformed My Life

More hours spent working doesn’t mean producing more work.

It definitely doesn’t mean quality work.

Or life-changing work. 

We often spend our time working on shallow tasks that don’t provide any value or leverage towards our ultimate goal.

This means that at the end of each day, we feel we haven’t done enough and our minds can’t get proper rest.

To combat this, we keep working late into the evening, but not on anything worthwhile. When we finally call it a night, our lack of progress ruminates in our minds, and we struggle to fall asleep. The mind is still trying to work on the problem.

Our poor-quality sleep rolls over into the next day. Again, we find ourselves groggy, brain-fogged, and irritable.

What now?

You try to produce something of value, but your mind just can’t focus.

And so the cycle repeats. We end up spinning our wheels never quite getting to where we want to be.

The solution is counterintuitive. Do less and rest more! Let me explain…

For the longest time, I had been in this unfortunate cycle. I struggled to get up in the mornings, trying to cram as much into my day as I could. I desperately wanted to quit my part-time teaching job and go full-in on my own business.

But I had no clear goal of what I was actually doing.

I was putting myself under a lot of pressure, and to cope with the stress and get more done, I was neglecting my health. I opted for quick, easy meals to avoid wasting time.

I would drink alcohol in the evenings to relax my mind because I couldn’t fall asleep. My nicotine addiction had taken a turn for the worse; I was smoking again, and a lot. I would wake up in a coughing fit every morning, feeling dazed and lethargic.

This lifestyle was unsustainable. I knew I had to make a change, but I was scared. I didn’t believe I could.

I was worried that if I tried, I would fail again. I couldn’t fail again.

I knew there were only two ways out of this mess. I either had to go inside, using meditation and contemplation to find a way to anchor my mind, or I had to reassess my external goals and find something I could anchor my life to.

I knew meditation would be difficult and take time, so I chose the external approach.

I decided to set a clear goal for myself and embark on a new creative project.

I committed to writing a book, crafting daily tweets, and publishing a weekly newsletter.

With these goals in mind, I set a daily writing target of 1000 words for my book and carved out dedicated time for writing each day.

This gave me a clear direction and something to anchor myself towards.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my life, in particular my outlook and quality of work were about to drastically change.

Although I was desperate to leave my teaching job, I accepted that there was no shortcut I could take. I needed to make money while working on my business to pay for my studio and bare daily essentials.

Within this acceptance, I started to find peace. My mind was so focused on my goal that my subconscious started orientating itself around this output. All of the things I was struggling with, that I was trying to brute-force, suddenly became easy.

The allure of my unhealthy habits faded as I realized that to produce quality work, I needed to prioritize my health and well-being.

Instead of returning to the studio after teaching and working late into the night. I made a conscious effort to go straight home, cook nourishing meals, and prioritize rest.

The result?

Improved sleep, heightened focus, and a newfound sense of purpose.

I stopped drinking and found it easy to get up in the morning. I knew if I could get an hour of writing in before I had to start teaching, I would feel much calmer and less agitated by my job.

Life became so smooth as I dropped into my new routine centred around writing and rest.

I created a schedule that allowed me to do 3 hours of deliberate, focused, deep work.

In those three hours, the work I produced was better and more profound than anything I created during the 9+ hours a day I was working before.

I was no longer flailing about trying to get so much done and getting nowhere.

I didn’t take into account that teaching was also draining my cognitive load, and these hours all added up. I was essentially working 13-hour days.

Cutting down to 3 hours of focused work plus 4 hours of teaching meant that when I was teaching, I wasn’t suffering as much from my job. Thanks to having more energy, I could enjoy it somewhat more.

By accepting my life situation instead of trying to fight it and wishing it were different, it started to change on its own.

What was even more impressive was the fact that one afternoon, having withdrawn the last cigarette from its packet, I had a strange feeling come over me. That this might be my last cigarette.

Normally I would rush straight to the shop to buy another packet, but after extinguishing that cigarette, I told myself, I didn’t want to buy any more.

I had given up in the past, and it was hard. But something about this time felt different. I just had no desire to smoke any more. Stopping felt effortless. I knew if I could get through the initial days, my energy would return, my mind would be sharper, and I would be able to write better and focus on my goals.

This was remarkable.

In less than a week, I had gone from struggling to get up, struggling to sleep, drinking every evening, smoking 20 a day, chewing nicotine gum during class, unable to find motivation, feeling anxious about my future, hating my job, desperate for a new life to completely enjoying my current one.

I was now getting up with ease, working with focus and intent, taking proper breaks. I was avoiding alcohol and nicotine with ease.

All because I got clear on my purpose. I no longer felt I had to numb the pain.

By setting clear goals and a routine I could actually stick to, I didn’t need to brute force my way into change. It just happened.

And it will happen to you too, once you accept your situation and start to plan your way out.

The first step in this process is acceptance.

Even though you want your reality to be different, you can’t change it until you take stock of where you currently are and where you want to go.

To stop addictive behaviour, first, you have to accept and admit you have a problem.

Like me, you might have been telling yourself, “I only have 1 or 2 drinks a night; it’s not an issue.” Except for the fact that the whole day you’re all you’re doing is waiting for 5 o’clock to roll around so you can finally relax.

You have to become aware of how much these habits have a grip on you.

Awareness is the start of change.

Now you know where you are. It’s time to figure out where you want to go.

Don’t try and change too much at once, instead change your focus towards one specific creative project that you find meaningful.

For me, this involved writing a book and producing content.

You can ask yourself.

What is one goal or creative project I could focus on that would have the most impact on my life?

Once you’ve figured out your lever-moving project, schedule time for that activity and start removing any unnecessary things from your routine, less is more.

Start prioritizing everything around the objective of achieving that goal.

This is the key.

If your goal is important enough, any habits that conflict with this goal must naturally fade away.

So make sure your goal is important and meaningful.

If you’re struggling to determine what is most meaningful to you, check out my free guide to identify your values here.

Once you determine what you're focusing on, you will naturally want to get proper rest so that you can give your full focus and attention to your objective.

Focusing on the tasks needed to complete your goal instead of ruminating about the future will help you become more present.

The life you want is inevitable once you focus on what you can do today.

Prioritize time to work on this goal for at least one hour a day.

Be patient with yourself. Worthwhile pursuits take time, but you can start enjoying your life again today.

The path to deep and meaningful work begins with a single step—and with determination and focus, you can transform your life in ways you never thought possible.