最近读到一篇好文章《How to Achieve Your Goals Easily》想和大家分享一下，参照我们007点评加金句摘抄的模式写了个读后感。英语原文附文末，作者JAMES的文章大家可以看看，感觉和笑来老师理念有很多相同的地方，还可以顺带学英语。
文章说我们定下目标很容易失败的一个重要原因是我们只设定了截止时间，却没有做事的时间表。作者举了两个自身的例子，一个是关于写作，他要求自己每周一、周四写文章，不管长短，不管好坏，从2012年11月12日开始写起坚持到现在，还为此成立了一个社群。这和我们007不写就出局真的简直不要太像了，真是太阳底下没有新鲜事，原来我们做的事情早就有人做了，而且还做的很好了。我们现在只管写就好了，不要为所谓的阅读人数操心，也不用为以后有没有阅读价值操心，谁不是从笨拙开始的呢，关键在于停不下来一直写下去。
第二个例子是关于锻炼，以前作者也是追求某个日期就要达成某个目标，结果就是很容易坚持不下去。现在作者就设定周一周三周五做俯卧撑，并且不设定每次做多少个，仅仅是为了锻炼身体。这个对自己有很大的启发，我之所以体重一直降不下来，就是因为缺乏规律的锻炼，老是想着一下子跑多少公里，一下子要减掉多少斤，最后都是以失败告终。现在我终于明白了自己失败的原因，我应该把关注点放在放在身体健康上，不是单纯为了减多少斤。我其实不用每天都一定要跑够多少公里，或者因为一些原因没有每天跑就容易产生沮丧感放弃掉没能坚持下来。因为我周末会有一些应酬，可以把锻炼的时间重点放在周一到周四上，不限定自己跑多少公里，心情好就跑远点，心情差就早点跑完回家吃饭，不用限制的太死，周末有空就去骑行。而且重点不要放在减肥上，应该放在锻炼身体上，如果身体健康，其实胖一点也没什么。判断身体健不健康，其实看每天的学习状态就很清楚了，每天充满活力停不下来就说明身体应该不会太差。
最后作者结总结我们应该把重点放在练习而不是结果上，要sticking to a schedule(直译过来就是时间表，这个再次证明了笑来老师说的要读原版英文的重要性，读英文就很好理解，翻译过来之后总得有些别扭，还容易理解错误，所以英语一定要学好了，用起来)。题目是how to achieve your goals easily,感觉有点标题党，不过这也是吸引读者眼球的好方法，而且文章内容确实很有干货，一句话总结就是要但行好事，莫问前程，制定好计划，坚决执行。就像我现在所在英语践行群要求大家每天发一分钟绝望主妇的台词语音到群里，看似简单但是坚持下来收获却不小。因为你要发这一分钟语音背后起码得练半小时以上才好意思发到群里，人还是好面子的，太敷衍自己都不好意思发出来。我们没有规定说一定要半年一年内要怎么怎么样口语流利，只是默默地坚持练习下去，至于最终结果会怎么样就交给时间来验证吧。
金句摘抄：1、A better way to approach your goals is to set a schedule to operate by rather than a deadline to perform by.
2、Focus on the Practice, Not the Performance
3、for top performers, it’s not about the performance, it’s about the continual practice.
4、The focus is on doing the action, not on achieving X goal by a certain day.
How to Achieve Your Goals Easily
In the last 6 months, I’ve experimented with a simple strategy that has improved my work and my health.
Using this one basic idea, I have made consistent progress on my goals every single week without incredible doses of willpower or remarkable motivation.
Today, I want to share how I use this strategy and how you can apply it to your own life to improve your health and your work.
The Problem with How We Usually Set Goals
If you’re anything like the typical human, then you have dreams and goals in your life. In fact, there are probably many things — large and small — that you would like to accomplish.
That’s great, but there is one common mistake we often make when it comes to setting goals. (I know I’ve committed this error many times myself.)
The problem is this: we set a deadline, but not a schedule.
We focus on the end goal that we want to achieve and the deadline we want to do it by. We say things like, “I want to lose 20 pounds by the summer” or “I want to add 50 pounds to my bench press in the next 12 weeks.”
The problem with this is that if we don't magically hit the arbitrary timeline that we set in the beginning, then we feel like a failure … even if we are better off than we were at the start. The end result, sadly, is that we often give up if we don't reach our goal by the initial deadline.
I’ve mentioned this idea multiple times before. For example, in makingthe mistake of putting performance goals before your identityor inchoosing life–changing transformations over daily lifestyle choices.
Here’s the good news: there’s a better way and it’s simple.
The Power of Setting a Schedule, Not a Deadline
In my experience, a better way to approach your goals is to set a schedule to operate by rather than a deadline to perform by.
Instead of giving yourself a deadline to accomplish a particular goal by (and then feeling like a failure if you don’t achieve it), you should choose a goal that is important to you and then set a schedule to work towards it consistently.
That might not sound like a big shift, but it is.
How to Achieve Your Goals: The Idea in Practice
Most of the time, I try to be a practitioner of my ideas and not just someone who shares their opinion, so allow me to explain this strategy by using two real examples from my own life.
Example 1: Writing
As you know, I publish a new article every Monday and Thursday. Since my first article on November 12, 2012, I’ve never missed a scheduled date. Sometimes the article is shorter than expected, sometimes it’s not as compelling as I had hoped, and sometimes it’s not as useful as it could be … but it gets out to the world and into your inbox.
The results of this simple schedule have been amazing. Our little community has grown, seemingly without effort. We now have over 1,100 people (welcome friends!) who are committed to living a healthy life and who areactively supporting one another. Onwards to 5,000 strong!
Related: If you're a new reader, you can find out what it's all about andjoin us for free here.
Imagine if I had set a deadline for myself instead, like “get 1,000 subscribers in 12 weeks.” There's no way I would have written every Monday and Thursday and if I didn't reach my goal, then I would have felt like a failure.
Instead, we are slowly building one of the most incredible communities online. (By the way, thank you for all of the emails, tweets, and messages onfat loss,lifting weights,living longer, andforming better habits. Keep them coming! I'm always happy to get your questions and I'll do my best to help however I can.)
Example 2: Exercise
Back in August, I decided that I wanted to do 100 pushups in a row with strict form. When I tried it the first time, I only got 36.
In the past, I might have set a deadline for myself: “Do 100 pushups by December 31st.”
Instead, I decided to set a schedule for my workouts. I started doing pushup workouts every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So far, the only workouts I’ve missed were on long travel days fromthis trip in Istanbulandthis trip in San Francisco.
I have no total pushup goal for any single workout. The goal is simply to do the workout. Just like I have no goal for any single article that I write. The goal is to publish the article.
The result, of course, is that after doing 77 pushup workouts I've made a lot of progress. If you're interested, you cansee every workout here.
Focus on the Practice, Not the Performance
Do you see how the two examples above are different than most goals we set for ourselves?
In both cases (writing and exercise), I made consistent progress towards my goals not by setting a deadline for my performance, but by sticking to a schedule.
Productive and successful people practice the things that are important to them on a consistent basis. The best weightlifters are in the gym at the same time every week. The best writers are sitting down at the keyboard every day. And this same principle applies to the best leaders, parents, managers, musicians, and doctors.
The strange thing is that for top performers, it’s not about the performance, it’s about the continual practice.
The focus is on doing the action, not on achieving X goal by a certain date.
The schedule is your friend. You can’t predict when you’ll have a stroke of genius and write a moving story, paint a beautiful portrait, or make an incredible picture, but the schedule can make sure that you’re working when that stroke of genius happens.
You can't predict when your body feels like setting a new personal record, but the schedule can make sure that you're in the gym whether you feel like it or not.
It's about practicing the craft, not performing at a certain level. (We're talking about practice. Not a game, not a game.Practice.)
If you want to be the type of person who accomplishes things on a consistent basis, then give yourself a schedule to follow, not a deadline to race towards.
