šŸ§  Why I stopped setting goals

Welcome to reThinkable - my weekly newsletter where I share actionable insights to build a wealthy and healthy life.

Hereā€™s what weā€™re covering:

  • ā›” I stopped setting goals

  • šŸŽÆ What are Anti-Goals?

  • šŸ› ļø How to create your Anti-Goals

Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 36 seconds

ā›” I stopped setting goals

In 2020, I quit my 2nd full-time job just 3 years out of college. 

7 months before that, I decided I wanted to try to build my own business.

I had been working in finance, where the work culture was toxic ā€” I worked 80-hour weeks, there were no boundaries, and I was exhausted all the time.

But I didnā€™t set a goal to quit within 7 months. Why? I knew that statistically, I wouldā€™ve given up and stayed at the job.

Instead, I created Anti-Goals and everything changed.

In todayā€™s email, I wanted to share what Anti-Goals are, how they increase your chances of succeeding, and how you can set your own.

šŸŽÆ What are Anti-Goals?

The concept of Anti-Goals can be traced back to Ancient Greece, where philosophers often envisioned the worst-case scenarios. 

But they didnā€™t do this because they were pessimistic people ā€” they did it because it helped them mentally prepare for potential pitfalls and come up with strategies to avoid them.

Similarly, creating Anti-Goals helps us visualize scenarios we want to avoid, which is scientifically proven to be more effective than the traditional goal-setting approach.

Letā€™s say I want to save $3,000 in 2 months so I could quit my job (because I hate it). Hereā€™s the traditional way to set this goal:

  1. I decide on an outcome: I want to save $3,000 in 2 months

  2. I identify milestones to help me get there: Iā€™ll stop going out to eat

  3. I implement strategies: I start cooking meals at home

Initially, I might be great at this goalā€¦ but probably only for a few days. The problem is that most people naturally lose motivation to stick with their goals over time.

It becomes too easy to find a seemingly reasonable excuse to give in ā€” perhaps after a long stressful day at work, you feel you deserve to treat yourself just this one time. Unfortunately, this ā€œone timeā€ will become two, three, or even ten times.

On the other hand, Anti-Goals center on identifying what you don't want, rather than what you do. In other words, these are the opposite of your goals:

  • I donā€™t want to be buried in debt

  • I donā€™t want to work 80 hour works

  • I donā€™t want to ask my friends to borrow money

Setting Anti-Goals are more effective for 3 reasons:

  1. Our brains are not designed for progress but for avoidance. Meaning, our brains naturally respond more urgently to avoid negative outcomes than to chase positive ones. A mouse will run very fast if there is a cheese in front of it, but it will run even faster if there is a cat behind it too.

  2. Anti-Goals clarify what you want by defining what you don't want. Since this simplifies our options, itā€™s easier to choose and take the right actions.

  3. The concept is based on the idea of ā€œInversion Thinkingā€ ā€” a mental model that says hard problems are easier to solved backwards than forwards

šŸ› ļø How to create your Anti-Goals

Hereā€™s a 3-step process on how I set my Anti-Goals:

  1. Deep cleaning

  2. Find a solution

  3. Take action

Step 1: Deep cleaning

Similar to how you occasionally deep clean your house, you pick one focus area to start.

So pick an area in your life that you want to improve: job, personal finance, business, relationship?

Review how you spend your time and energy and be honest about what sucked you donā€™t enjoy about it and would be happy to let go.

Letā€™s say I want to set Anti-Goals for my job, I looked at my calendar and wrote down everything I didnā€™t enjoy about it:

For example:

  1. Working until 7pm

  2. Feeling low energy during the middle of the work day

  3. Having unproductive commuting hours

Step 2: Find a solution

After you find tasks tasks you donā€™t enjoy, decide on a solution to it to see how you can stop doing it.

For example:

Anti-Goal: I donā€™t like working until 7pm

Solution: Avoid meetings where my role and contribution are insignificant

Anti-Goal: I donā€™t like feeling low energy during the middle of the work day

Solution: Replace coffee with green tea for sustained longer-lasting energy

Anti-Goal: I donā€™t like having unproductive community hours

Solution: Carry a book with me to make the commute time productive

Step 3: Take action

Next, you need to take action on the solutions you came up with. If the solution doesnā€™t work, then review it and consider another solution.

For example:

Perhaps itā€™s difficult to carry a physical book with me on the commute everyday. Iā€™m giving myself 1 month to try it and if it becomes too much of a hassle, Iā€™ll review and see if I should switch to podcasts or e-books.

Setting Anti-Goals helps you to focus your energy on avoiding things you donā€™t enjoy, which helps you get to your end goals faster.

PS: What are some of your Anti-Goals for 2024? Iā€™d love to learn more about you and your aspirations. Simply hit ā€œreply emailā€ to let me know. As always, I read your emails and reply to them :).

šŸ”Ž reThink More

šŸ“ˆ Waitā€¦ is the Fed planning to increase interest rates again?

šŸ“° If youā€™re reading this newsletter, youā€™re apparently on the right track to experience a lifetime benefit of $100,000.

ā–¶ļø Watch it: My latest YouTube video, how to save $10,000 effortlessly, according to science.

šŸ“ reThinkable Quiz

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See ya next week, Vincent.

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