Don't change the goal, change the plan

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When you fail to reach a goal you abandon the goal and pick up a new one instead of abandoning the plan and formulating a new one, it's a common tendency to believe that reaching the goal is virtually impossible and a worthless pursuit after your first failure, not knowing that its level of difficulty is precisely what is so attractive about it. How difficult something is dictates how gratifying it would be to achieve it. That makes the win all the more glorious. That is why we have big goals.

When you've set a goal that you're fully convinced is the right one, if it grips you tightly and you can say with conviction that this would instill some meaning into your life then go all the way.

If you fail again, keep going. Be relentless, be persistent. There is no other way to achieve greatness. There is no other way to reach a goal.

If the plan doesn't work, change the plan

Naval Ravikant had this brilliant saying

It's not 10,000 hours, it's 10,000 iterations.

You can really spend hours and hours doing the same thing and come up with no results. Results are what you ultimately use to evaluate your plan and your performance. If you're not getting results, you're not doing things right and maybe you need to change your plan.

When things are not going the way that you want them to, Zoom out. Look at everything from a bird's view. Analyse the landscape and see where you're wrong. Improve based on the feedback you get, always. Because you can do things stupidly for a while and not know that.

Always assume that there is a room for improvement. You waste less time that way, you grow that way. Yes it's a massive shot to the ego but that is just how it is. If you can't be honest to yourself and admit to yourself when you're wrong then the only way you're going from there is down.

The key to true mastery is improvement based on the feedback you get from the actions you take towards your goal. Not that I have achieved mastery in anything yet, but this is how the true masters of their craft think and this is how they function.

It's a long way to the top, but there are many ways to the top of the mountain, if one of the ways to the top is blocked then choose a different way. Don't change the mountain. But that is assuming you know the goal that you chose is exactly the goal that you want to achieve, that it is your goal and not someone else's.

Perhaps you fail because you're not even following the plan

Also, a lot of times you think the plan isn't working when it's actually the case that you're not even following the plan. I remember that I used to get poor grades in the beginning of college and I was wondering whether I should change the degree when in fact I wasn't even doing the basics.

Was I going to classes?

-No.

Was I keeping up with the schedule?

-No.

Was I even trying?

-FUCK NO!

How can I expect to get results when I'm not even doing the basics, I wasn't even following the most fundamental plan. Of course, I wasn't gonna get any results!

It is pointless to blame the plan when you're not following it, blame lies upon you.

Do the basics, do them really well. Do them for long enough to master them. If there's any meta plan for achieving a goal, it's this. Master the basics. It will get you most of the results.

See ya!