The Power Of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential

by Leo Babauta

3. Examine your motivation. Know your reasons. Give them some thought…and write them down. If you have loved ones, and you are doing it for them, that is more powerful than just doing it for self-interest. Doing it for yourself is good too, but you should do it for something that you really want to happen, for really good reasons. 4. Really, really want it. This is essentially the same as the above tip, but I want to emphasize it: It’s not enough to think it would be cool to achieve something. It has to be something you’re passionate about, something you’re super excited about, something you want deeply. Make sure that your goal meets these criteria, or you won’t stick with it for long. 5. Commit publicly. None of us likes to look bad in front of others. We will go the extra mile to do something we’ve said publicly. 6. Get excited. Well, it starts with inspiration from others (see above), but you have to take that excitement and build on it. For me, I’ve learned that by talking to my wife about it, and to others, and reading as much about it as possible, and visualizing what it would be like to be successful (seeing the benefits of the goal in my head), I get excited about a goal. Once I’ve done that, it’s just a matter of carrying that energy forward and keeping it going. 7. Build anticipation. This will sound hard, and many people will skip this tip. But it really works. It helped me quit smoking after many failed attempts. If you find inspiration and want to ach...