We chase productivity without asking a deeper question: Are my actions actually moving me toward who I want to become? Being busy feels good. It's a quick hit of dopamine every time we check something off our to-do list – even if that list has nothing to do with our actual goals.

In my own pursuit of reaching my goals, I began developing a simple framework to help me align my daily actions with the person I wanted to be. This isn't a radically new concept here. It is more like a refined mental model that’s built from things you've probably heard and read before. But it’s designed to fit together in a clear, usable way.

The goal is to help bridge the gap between big-picture intentions and everyday behavior. I call it PATH.

It stands for:

• Purpose – your why

• Aspirations – the vision of who you want to become

• Targets – clear, measurable goals

• Habits – the consistent actions that support those goals

This is the framework I use to stay oriented. Not just to be productive, but to be intentional. I still get off track, but I find my way back a bit quicker.

In this article, you’ll learn how to apply the PATH framework to clarify your direction, set meaningful goals, and build habits that stick.

Table of Contents

1. Busy Doesn't Mean Effective

2. The Power of Frameworks

3. A Framework For Reaching Your Goals

4. Complexity and Difficulty Are Not Synonyms

5. Summary

Busy Doesn't Mean Effective

Being busy can feel like progress. Sometimes it is – you're moving toward your goals, checking boxes, staying active. But other times, it's just noise. A way to avoid sitting still. A way to avoid asking the harder question: Is this making a meaningful difference?

Sometimes, we chase productivity not because we're clear, but because, in fact, we're uncertain. And doing something – anything – feels better than acknowledging we might be lost.

On the other hand, you can have clear goals and develop effective habits. But if someone asked you why you picked those goals, would you have an answer? Why do you want to lose ten pounds? Why do you want to start that company? What are you really aiming for?

Here's a thought experiment: Imagine your funeral. You get to pick one person to give your eulogy – and they can only say one sentence about you. What do you hope they'll say?

This is a personal question. And I know my answer very clearly. Do you know yours?

The Power of Frameworks

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

— James Clear

In programming, a framework is predefined code that helps developers build software more efficiently and effectively. It abstracts away the implementation details of common problems – things you could handle yourself, but probably don't need to. The tradeoff? You give up some flexibility in exchange for speed. In other words, frameworks help you solve your problem faster by deciding a few things for you.

Developers lean on frameworks like React or .NET because they help us focus on solving meaningful problems, rather than wrestling with boilerplate code. PATH works the same way: it abstracts the structure so you can spend more time executing on what matters.

When it comes to setting goals, it's no different. It's easy to get lost in these implementation details and end up overcomplicating the process. We want the perfect strategy or the ideal plan. But in reality, progress almost always beats perfection. Initially, we don't need the most elegant system – we need one that we can follow.

That's where frameworks shine. They reduce friction and help you stop tinkering with the how and start taking action on the what. They free up mental energy, allowing you to focus on actually solving the problem.

This isn't new. Every great tool – whether it's a budgeting app, a productivity system, or a JavaScript library – obscures just enough complexity to help you move towards a solution faster.

A Framework For Reaching Your Goals

PATH is a framework I've used for years to align my actions with my desired future self. Most goal-setting systems start with habits or outcomes, but PATH begins a bit further back: your purpose.

P is for Purpose

Purpose is the core of who you are and what matters most. It is your mission statement, no more than a sentence or two. It should be you. A strong purpose will help you get back on track when you veer off course.

A is for Aspirations

Once you've decided on your purpose, the next step is to dream a little. This is the fun part.

Where do you want to be in the next 5 to 10 years? Try to picture a typical day of your ideal future – not necessarily what you own, but what you experience and do.

• Where do you live?

• What time do you wake up?

• What do you do during the day?

• Who are you with?

Here is an example:

I live by a beautiful lake in the mountains. I get up around 7 am, go for a long run, and then eat a healthy breakfast. I spend my day writing. Evenings are slow, spent laughing on the porch with friends and family.

Now, let's break that down into aspirations – broad themes that define the kind of life you're building. From that vision, here are three I see:

• Be in good shape

• Be a writer

• Spend quality time with friends and family

These are your aspirations – the "A" in PATH. And they're not meant to be specific or time-bound. Think of them as a compass, not a destination. Their job is to give you something to aim at over and over again.

T is for Targets

Targets are the specific goals we aim to achieve.

Each aspiration should have one or more targets – clear, time-bound goals that move you in the direction of your aspiration.

These targets should follow the SMART framework:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Realistic

• Time-bound

For example, if you aspire to become a software developer, a target might be:

Contribute one fix or update to an open-source project by the end of the month.

If aspirations are our compass, targets are the destination. They let you measure progress and know when you've arrived.

H is for Habits

Habits are where the rubber meets the road.

Every target should have one or more supporting habits – things you do consistently that move you towards your goal. While they will generally be daily or weekly routines, one-off tasks are also acceptable. The idea is these are things that move the needle.

For example, if your target is to run a 5k event, a habit might be:

Run 3 miles every other day.

Or, if you're just starting, you may want to create a one-off task such as:

Map out a running route.

Again, these habits (or tasks) are needle-movers. Following them – actually following them – should almost guarantee that you reach your targets.

When it comes to building a habit, the key is to start small, sometimes really small. In the beginning, the goal isn’t performance, it’s momentum. And while momentum can be hard to start, once it’s moving, it’s even harder to stop.

If you’re trying to build a writing habit, begin with two sentences. If you want to exercise more, start by putting on your workout clothes. Or just drive to the gym. The point is to make starting frictionless.

Consistency also depends on cues. Every habit needs a reliable trigger – something that prompts you to take action. It might be a specific time of day, walking in the door after work, or finishing your morning coffee. Over time, that cue becomes automatic, and so does the habit.

Complexity and Difficulty Are Not Synonyms

There's a moment in the boxing film Bleed for This where the main character is asked, "What's the biggest lie you've ever been told?" He answers:

"It's not that simple."

The interviewer tries to clarify – as if she believes the main character doesn't understand the question – but he cuts her off and essentially says:

"No, that's the lie. It is that simple."

That line stuck with me, because we often treat life like it requires a perfect plan before we can begin. However, sometimes the hardest part is simply deciding.

Don't confuse something hard with something that's complex. In my experience, the most meaningful things in life are often simple yet challenging.

Knowing what to do isn't the challenge. It's doing it – over and over again, especially when it's boring, inconvenient, or the outcome is uncertain. That's why clarity matters, and frameworks can help.

There's the person who spends their entire life looking for an elevator. And then there's the person who starts climbing the stairs.

Figure out who you want to be, and filter your goals and actions through that lens.

I'd bet almost anyone reading this could name a few things that would take less than an hour a day that would completely change their life over time. The difference – the only difference – is that the person who gets clear on what they want and then actually does those things every day...gets there.

At the end of the day, the goal isn't to be productive. It's to be intentional. To align your daily actions with your goals and ensure those goals are pushing you toward the person you want to become. That's the idea behind PATH – a framework for being intentional.

Summary

If you remember nothing else, here’s the heart of PATH:

• Purpose – Define your why. A short, personal mission statement that keeps you grounded.

• Aspirations – Paint a picture of who you want to become. Think 5–10 years out, focused on experience, not possessions.

• Targets – Turn aspirations into SMART goals with clear deadlines. These give your vision structure.

• Habits – Identify consistent, meaningful actions that drive progress toward your targets – daily, weekly, or even one-off tasks.

I’ve created a free Notion template to help you get started with the PATH framework.
→ PATH Goal Tracker Essentials

There’s also an upgraded version available for those who want habit tracking, progress calculations, and more.
→ PATH Goal Tracker Plus

Found this helpful? I write about practical automation, productivity systems, and building smarter workflows — without the jargon. Visit me at brandonwoz.com.

I like to spend a few hours in the beginning of the year doing a reflection of the past year, and brainstorming goals for the new year. Here’s a reflection of my 2022 year.

Setting your goals can be a daunting task. Whether you have already set your goals or still need to do so, this guide will give you the tools and resources you need to set goals that truly matter to you – and help you to achieve them.

It doesn’t matter whether you are starting to set your goals in January, or in the middle of the year. The best time to set your goals is now.

Why is Setting Goals Important?

Goal setting is important because it provides a clear direction, a plan to follow, and a means to measure progress. It allows individuals to focus their energy and efforts on what is truly important to them, rather than getting bogged down by the many distractions in life.

Goals are an essential part of personal and professional development as they provide direction and purpose to our lives. Having a written goal provides a clear destination to work toward and a roadmap to follow.

Framework for Setting Goals

In this section, we'll discuss some steps you can follow to setup actionable goals that you feel motivated to follow.

Step 1: Start with your vision

There is one quality which one must possess to win, that is a definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it. – Napoleon Hill

Here are some prompts to help you set your goals:

1. Envision your legacy: What impact do you want to make and how do you want to be remembered?
2. Create a 5-year vision: Imagine where you want to be in five years and what you want to have accomplished.
3. Start with your dream: Think about what you would love to achieve, even if it seems unrealistic.
4. Reflect on your past: Think about what you've been wanting to achieve over the last few years.
5. Consider what you admire in others: What are the qualities or accomplishments that you admire in other people that you would like to adopt?
6. Determine what you want to do less of: Are there any activities or habits that you want to reduce or eliminate?

Write down everything that comes to your mind even if it seems crazy. Your wildest dreams may be unrealistic, but this process will help you steer yourself towards achieving them.

For instance, for me, my dream is to write a book that is important to developers in my community.

Step 2: Break down your vision into achievable goals

Your desire to achieve this goal must be so intense that the idea of accomplishing your goal brings you happiness and excitement. – Brian Tracy, Goals!

Once you have written down what you want to achieve, it is now time to create goals that will help you get there. Here are some strategies for creating achievable goals.

Create goals from your vision

Working backwards from your vision, think about what goals will help you get there. For example, if your dream is to run a marathon, what goals can help you achieve that?

An example of a goal that would help you achieve this vision would be to run 5 miles every day. For me, that goal would be to write a few words every day. Write down all your goals on a piece of a paper or a digital notepad.

Prioritize your goals

If you have a lot of goals at this stage, it helps to pick your topmost goals. When prioritizing, I like to think about the “fire level” I have for each goal. I define “Fire level” as the feeling you get when you think about how badly do you want to achieve your goal? I use 🔥 to denote “HECK YEAH” and 💕 for “would be nice”.

In the book Goal!, author Brian Tracy recommends thinking about your “why” behind the goal and writing it down next to the goal.

Since we have finite time and it is possible you won’t be able to achieve all your goals in one year, knowing your “Why” will help you determine how much fire you have in you to achieve this goal.

Knowing how strongly you want your goal will also help you evaluate if this goal is worth pursuing when it is time to re-evaluate goals.

Bring goals under your control

You have better chances of achieving your goal if you have control over the outcome.

For example, if I set a goal of becoming a best-selling author, I am setting a goal that is not under my control. I can try to write the best book I can, which is under my control, but how the audience receives it is not under my control.

So to bring this goal under my control, I can reframe my goal to be “write a well-researched book on topics that my audience is interested in”. Now this is under my control, and it makes it achievable for me since I can do research to ensure I am writing a well-informed and in-demand book.

Identify the areas that require improvement

For each of your goals, evaluate why you have not achieved your goal yet. In his book Goals!, Tracy recommends identifying any obstacles or barriers that are preventing you from reaching your goal.

Be specific and thorough in considering all possible factors that may be hindering your progress. What are you missing right now to achieve your goal? Where are you good? Where do you need to improve? These are the gaps you need to work on to achieve your goal. Write these down as tasks.

Define success

One of the key questions to ask yourself when measuring progress is, "How do I know I achieved this goal?" Having a clear understanding of what success looks like will help you know when you've reached your goal.

In the book Atomic Habits, author James Clear suggests thinking of your goals in terms of quantifiable metrics, such as numbers and percentages. This makes it easy to track progress towards your goals.

For example for me, I will know I am making progress towards achieving my goal if I start writing chapters and have completed a certain number of chapters in a year. So a measure of progress for me is the number of chapters I finish by the end of the year.

Step 3: Prepare for failures

As we all know, not everyone who starts a new year’s resolution sticks to it by the end of the year.

How long do you think it takes most people to drop their new year’s resolutions? 23% of people quit by the end of the first week, 64% after the first month (according to a study with Australian and UK citizens), and 81% before the end of the second year.

Why do you think that happens? It’s because people lose motivation when things get tough.

When we haven’t prepared ourselves for the adverse situations, it becomes hard to stay on track and be motivated to overcome hardships when progressing towards our goal. Instead, when we prepare for failures, we've prepared ourselves ahead of time to tackle the situation.

So to ensure success of your goal, it is important to prepare yourself by thinking about the issues or challenges that might occur. Some questions that can help your prepare yourself are:

1. What will stop you from starting this goal?
2. What are some things that can go wrong when you are making progress?
3. What can you do when you encounter failure?
4. How can you prevent yourself from burning out?
5. How can you get back on track to keep your momentum going?

Write these down next to your goals, so that when you see you are not making progress, you can use these to get back in the momentum.

For example, it will be my imposter syndrome and the habit of procrastination that will stop me from even starting. When I do start, I may feel bored, unmotivated or too tired at the end of the day to write anything. I may run out of ideas while writing or feel burnt out.

But if I prepare myself for these things in advance, I can get a better handle on things when they go south.

Step 4: Make it a habit

Once you know your goals, it's time to put them into action. Do something everyday that brings you closer to achieving them, even if it is for a few minutes.

To make it easier to be consistent towards your goals, it helps to establish a system that helps you achieve these habits everyday. In Atomic Habits, author James Clear discusses the importance of setting a habit system. Here are some tips from Atomic Habits that can help you establish your habit system:

Find your “clutter”

Clutter is any time that is not directly progressing you towards your goal, adding to the joy of your life, or helping you relax.

Take an inventory of the time you are spending every day on each clutter activity. By removing your clutter, you can bring intention into your schedule and clear up time to put your goals on your calendar in the form of daily habits.

Block time in your calendar for a habit

It becomes a lot easier to achieve your goal, when the habit that will help you achieve that goal is scheduled in your calendar.

It is a lot easier to forget about a goal if it is not accounted for in your day-to-day life. Use your calendar or however you schedule your time to appoint time to achieve goals.

Remove friction

Instead of relying on motivation, create a system that makes it easy to follow through on your good habits and hard to slip back into bad habits.

Think about how you can help your future self be in the right mindset to achieve the goal. Remove all distractions.

For example, if you are going to workout, make it easy for your future self to get to the gym by keeping your workout clothes next to your bed so you can put them on first thing in the morning, and load up your pump-up playlist on your phone so you can play as you go.

Figure out baby steps

Often, a goal feels overwhelming to achieve because it feels like a giant elephant we need to eat. But, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Similarly, in order to build lasting habits, small, incremental changes are incredibly important. Think about what is the smallest thing you can do to make a baby step towards your goal today.

If you are thinking of getting in shape and are struggling to go to gym, put on your favorite workout clothes and go for a walk. Bring out your yoga mat and do an easy yoga practice.

The practice of finishing a small task towards your goal can release dopamine, which makes us feel motivated, joyful and successful. Our mind wants to achieve that feeling again, and so getting into the habit of achieving smaller tasks towards our goals becomes easier.

For me, this baby step is getting a few words on the page. I will be a lot closer to finishing my book if I put in 200 words every day. This will help me make incremental progress towards my goal by the end of the year.

Be consistent

Consistency is key to building lasting habits. By sticking to your habits even when you don't feel like it, you'll be able to make it a part of your identity and make it stick.

Step 5: Find people who support you – your hype squad.

Having a group of people whom you can reach out to when you are feeling low, unmotivated, doubtful, or lost is really important and often overlooked.

We undervalue how much we are affected by our surroundings, family and co-workers. Think about some people who affect you day-to-day – your friends, family, co-workers, social circle, and folks who you don’t interact with day-to-day but aspire to be like.

I like to think of this group of folks as my hype squad. These are the folks I reach out to when I am in doubt, need advice, want to feel motivated, want them to hype me up, or am just generally looking to get good vibes when I share my accomplishments.

Here are some roles that you should look to fill:

1. Who is someone who can help you reach your goals? Perhaps this is someone who has already achieved this goal themselves. This person can be your mentor.
2. Who is someone who can be your cheerleader when you feel down? This person can help lift up your spirits when you are feeling doubtful of your skills.
3. Who can be your accountability buddy? This person can help you stay motivated and on track by checking in with you regularly and helping you stay accountable.
4. Who should you surround yourself with so you can stay inspired and motivated? These can be experts in the industry, or someone who is excelling in this field. This person will inspire you, motivate you, and keep you focussed on your goal.
5. Who in your household can help you achieve your goal? We often overlook the importance of family and housemates. Think of how your family can support you in achieving your goal.

For example, for my book, my hype squad could include people who have written a book before, and can therefore offer me advice.

Staying accountable and tracking your goals becomes easier when you are part of a supportive and motivated community. For this reason, I created this Discord community. We help each other stay on track by keeping each other accountable, checking in regularly, and hype each other up. I strongly suggest you become a member of this community.

Step 6: Measure progress and re-evaluate goals.

Forming habits is a continuous process that requires constant reflection and adjustments in order to improve. Tracking progress, staying motivated, and making necessary changes will aid in this process.

Reflect and adjust

Measuring progress towards your goals is an important step in achieving them. Reflect on your progress regularly and be honest with yourself.

If you are not making enough progress, try to understand the reasons behind it. Is it that the “Why” of your goal is not strong enough and you are not motivated to achieve this goal? Is it possible that your schedule is too busy and you don’t have time for this goal?

Reward yourself

To make the journey toward achieving your goal more exciting, reward yourself for reaching milestones. This can help keep you motivated and give you a sense of accomplishment.

Celebrating your progress by setting up rewards for yourself can be a great way to stay motivated throughout the process.

Have a check-in day

In order to make sure your goals are working for you, setup a check-in day. During this time, you can reflect on your progress, evaluate if the goal still makes sense for you, check if your priorities are the same, and see if there are any obstacles that are preventing you from achieving the goal.

This could mean changing some things around your goal, stopping or pivoting if you're not making progress, or even breaking your long-term goals into smaller, more manageable chunks.

This is also a good time to check in with your hype-squad. This check-in day could be quarterly or monthly.

My Personal Goal-Setting Tools

Here are my personal tools that I use to set goals:

Bullet Journal Goals spread – I mentioned writing down your goals on a piece of paper. I use my bullet journal to write my goals for the year. This is the spread from my 2023 bullet journal

Notion template – I use the framework I described in this blog to break down my goal into smaller tasks, habits, my “why”, the fire level, potential failures and my hype squad. I put this in a digital format that I can keep on me at all times. This is the notion template I use. This is inspired by Ali Abdaal.

Discord –This is my accountability community to help you stay on top of your goals. This is a goals cohort, and we check-in with each other monthly.

I am excited to invite the community to join my Discord channel, where we will come together and support each other as we work towards our goals. Together, we will be a powerful force of accountability and motivation, pushing each other to be our best selves.

Whether you're working on personal development, career goals, or just looking for a supportive community, this Discord channel is the perfect place to connect with others who are on a similar journey. By joining forces, we will be able to achieve more than we ever thought possible.

Let's make our dreams a reality!

This is OUR YEAR.

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It's January, which means for a lot of people it's time to make New Year's Resolutions.

Personally, I've never liked the idea of waiting until January to set resolutions for change. But I do like using it as an opportunity to review what I've accomplished in the last year and set goals for the next.

That sounds like the same thing. What's the difference between a goal and a resolution?

There really isn't one, except that resolutions get a bad reputation (probably deservedly), since by February, around 80% of people have already failed to stick to their new year’s resolution.

There are a lot of reasons why that's the case - but a big reason is how hard it is to form new habits. One study found that it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a habit, depending on the person. They also found that it takes at least 66 days (or more than two months) to make that habit automatic.

There's usually a good reason that people goals give up on their goals - competing priorities (like family and work), or temptations to go back to bad habits (like delicious cookies or an awesome new video game).

Because of that, I follow the same process every year in setting goals and ensuring I'm as successful as I can be. I've done a LOT of research on what makes goals effective, and how to stick to them over the long term.

So, whether your goal is to code for 100 days, learn a new programming language, or start working out regularly, I'm here to talk about how you can set yourself up for success.

How to Get Started with Goal Setting

First, write down everything you want to accomplish. Then, narrow it down. Start with one goal, maybe a few if they're in very different fields (for example, you want to get in shape, start a technical blog, and start saving for a house downpayment). All require commitment and time, but in different spheres of your life.

Circle the goals you've chosen. If you do have multiple goals, make sure you know what their relative prioritization is - which one is most important to you? Essentially, if two of your goals come into conflict, which one is more important? You should have an answer to this question before you continue.

If you're struggling with this process, think about your motivation. Is it external? Did someone else tell you that this is important, or is this something important to you?

If it is an externally-motivated goal, figure out how to generate internal (intrinsic) motivation. People are generally much more likely to stick to goals which have intrinsic motivation.

Now, the hard part. Accept that the goals which you didn't circle are going to be ignored until you accomplish your circled goals.

Dividing your time and energy is difficult, but it's also the reason that many people fail to reach their goals. Trying to do too many things at once can be exhausting, and result in you falling back into bad habits.

Define Your Goals

Now it's time to refine your goals. There are a LOT of different theories on how to set (and maintain) effective goals, but most share several characteristics.

This info is derived from research by Dr Edwin Locke and Dr Gary Latham, who pioneered much of modern goal setting theory. They outlined 5 characteristics which can help you set and maintain successful goals.

Clarity

Make your goals as specific as possible. Instead of saying, 'I want to lose weight' or 'I want to learn Python', try 'I want to lose 10 pounds' or 'I want to create a text-based adventure game'.

These goals are specific enough that you'll know if you've reached them, leaving you with a sense of accomplishment.

Challenge

Set difficult goals. Tougher goals will motivate you to work harder. Plus, even if you fail to reach the goal, the progress you'll make toward a very tough goal will get you farther toward your goal than accomplishing an easier goal.

Commitment

Demonstrate your commitment to your goal. This can be a financial investment (signing up for a year-long gym membership), or a personal one (telling your family and friends what goal you're working toward and asking them to keep you accountable).

Both options will increase the likelihood that you follow through on your goals.

Feedback

Feedback helps you improve on your journey. For example, getting a personal trainer, or a friend who is working on the same coding challenge you are can be very helpful. They can provide direct feedback to help you, or just keep you motivated (and accountable) to keep working toward your goal.

They can also make the task easier by helping out with complex tasks (like creating a workout plan for you, or a syllabus for learning to code).

The more time you have to devote to actually working on your goal, instead of planning out how to work on your goal, the faster you'll be able to accomplish it (essentially the difference between developing a series of steps to learn back-end development and actually carrying those steps out).

Complexity

Account for the complexity of the task. If you've never coded before and you're trying to build a project from scratch, account for the extra time you'll need to learn and troubleshoot something you're unfamiliar with.

A great way to do this is to break the goal down into smaller, more manageable tasks. Set these as mini-goals along the way, which can help keep you motivated as you work toward a larger goal. Plus, the more detailed your goals are, the more likely you are to follow through.

I tend to prefer backward goal setting when working on my goals, but any of the following frameworks can be very helpful! Essentially, the way this works is by thinking backward from your end goal.

For example, one of my 2020 goals was 'I want to pass the AWS Solutions Architect Associate Exam by December 2020.'

Then, I needed to think backwards about how to accomplish the goal. For example, 'I want to pass 3 practice exams with a score of 80% or higher by December 15th'.

I then repeat this process. 'It will probably take me a month of practice questions to achieve the score I want, so I should plan to finish reading all suggested whitepapers by November 15th'.

'I want to read 4 white papers, so if I can read one per week, it will take me one month to finish the whitepapers. Thus, I want to finish an overview course of the material by October 15th'

'The course I plan to take is 60 hours long, and I can dedicate two hours per day to watching course lectures, so I should plan on starting it no later than September 15th.'

In this way, I have a dedicated, step-by-step plan to accomplish my goal and I know exactly when I need to start each stage of my plan.

Key to this strategy is including information on how long I can devote each day/week/month to working toward my goal, how long each stage will take me to complete, and how many stages there are in total.

Other theories on goal setting

Here are some other theories on goal setting. Read through them and find the one you think will work best for you.

• SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) Goals

• OGSM (Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures)

• Just One Word

• Backward Goal Setting

• Goal Journey Map

• Big Hairy Audacious Goal

• The Golden Circle

• Tiered Goal Setting

• Making Tinier Resolutions

• Warren Buffett's Two List Strategy

How to Break a Habit Loop

A habit loop can be broken down into three parts - a cue, a routine, and a reward. For example, I have a very bad habit of checking Twitter far too often. That breaks down into the cue (my feeling of boredom), the routine (me checking Twitter), and the reward (my feeling of interest in a tweet).

In order to break that habit, I need to replace the habit and the reward.

For example, since one of my goals this year is to get outside every day, when I feel bored, instead of immediately going to Twitter, I've started getting up and making a cup of tea or going for a quick walk.

Both of those serve as small rewards for me - I end up feeling refreshed, more awake, and more focused. It also means that I'm changing one of the habits which prevents me from reaching my goal (any time I'm mindlessly scrolling Twitter isn't time I'm spending outside).

Identifying the habits you want to change, what prompts them, and what would feel like a reward to you is deeply personal and will depend on what habits you'd like to change. However, identifying the habits which are keeping you from accomplishing your goals are the first step to breaking them.

A quick note that when you're writing goals, it's more effective to write positive goals (like, I want to get outside everyday) rather than negative goals (Watch less TV, spend less time on Twitter, and so on). Your brain tends to find the first more compelling and you're more likely to stick to it.

Hold Yourself Accountable

Physically write down your goals. Buy a notebook just for your goal tracking, tape them to the wall if you like, and tell the people in your life.

Telling other people and writing it down holds you accountable, and makes you more likely to stick to it.

Plan for Obstacles

Figure out what kind of obstacles you’re going to face. If you're trying to lose weight, maybe it’ll be those delicious brownies your partner makes, or the fact that you typically order pizza on Friday nights.

If you're trying to carve out time to write technical blog posts, maybe it's your daughter who wants to play a new game with you.

Then, figure out what you can do to change your environment in order to succeed. Often what determines whether or not your goal is successful is not how much self control or determination you have, but how many temptations you have. The fewer temptations, the more likely you are to be able to stick to it.

For example, perhaps ask your partner to save the brownies for special occasions only, or look for other restaurants in the area which offer healthier take-out options.

A big part of any environment is the people around you. Find friends who will support you (ideally folks who are working toward the same goal) - if you're trying to lose weight that might be folks at your gym, or in a local running club.

If you're trying out a 100 days of code challenge, find friends on the freeCodeCamp forum. Be accountability buddies for each other!

At the same time, figure out who might not support you (perhaps because they want you to continue hanging out with them every week during happy hour) and what to say to them. Tell them what is changing, why, and how much you still appreciate or value them.

And remember – don't sound too apologetic. This is a good thing for you and your friends should celebrate it.

For example, "I've really enjoyed getting together every week, but I'm going to have to start coming every other week. I'm trying to learn how to code and I need to spend Friday nights working on my new project. Thank you for your support!". Practice your script and stick to it.

Plan for Failure

Failure is almost inevitable when you're trying to change old habits. Accept that, and don't beat yourself up too much if you slip up.

Instead, take a deep breath and get back on track – and use science. Studies have shown that people are more likely to be successful during a time that feels like a new beginning (for example, your birthday, or the beginning of new year, or a milestone like moving or starting a new job - or the start of a new week).

So, even if you get off track, use a day that feels like a new beginning to get back on track.

Celebrate Small Successes

Make sure you reward yourself for meeting small goals. If you're trying to run a marathon but haven't run much before, try setting goals to run a 5k, 10k, and a half marathon.

When you meet each goal, celebrate it! Try posting on social media, telling your friends, or giving yourself a small reward (I like Snickers bars).

Check in Regularly

Keep track of your progress toward your goals – and check in with yourself (or your accountability buddy) every few months or weeks.

Are you on track? If not, why not? Are there changes you can make in your environment to make you more successful? Or, is the goal less important now, because your priorities have changed? Perhaps it's time for a fresh start with a new goal.

Looking for more research on goal setting?

• 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person

• How to Crush Your Habits in the New Year With the Help of Science

• Goal Setting Theory

• Research on Forming Habits

A Sample Template for Goal Setting

If you're interested in using this method of goal setting, please feel free to use the template below, removing my example and replacing it with one of your own!

Goal: I want to be able to deadlift 200 pounds by the end of 2021. This goal is clear (200 pounds) and difficult (right now I can only deadlift ~120 pounds). I don't need to account for complexity in this case, as I already deadlift semi-regularly.

Break it Down: In order to accomplish this goal, I need to lift consistently over the entire year (ideally, at least 2x per week).

Feedback/Accountability: I will go to the gym with my partner 2x/week, who will keep me accountable to my goal and will provide feedback on my deadlifting form.

Potential Obstacles: When it's cold, I'd often rather stay inside than go to the gym. Also, part of lifting heavy is eating healthy, and I have a penchant for snickers bars.

Break the Loop: When I'm bored (cue), I go looking for snacks (habit, while the snack is the reward). I'm going to stock healthier snacks, so when I do go looking for snacks, instead of grabbing junk food, I grab fruit or make popcorn on the stove.

Plan for Obstacles: My partner likes the gym more than I do and will be my accountability buddy. Also, I've committed to a gym membership that I have to pay for even if I don't go.

Plan for Failure: I accept that there's a chance that I can't lift as much as I want, but as long as my deadlift improves and I go to the gym regularly, I'm going to be pretty happy because I'll feel healthy (and strong)!

Celebrate Small Successes: Feeling really strong and powerful when I lift heavy weights is a huge motivator for me. That feeling (and some really great music) is how I celebrate my smaller successes.

Check In Regularly: I'm going to use an app called 'Strong Lifts' to track my progress.

Why should we write in the first place?

Maybe you've never thought about writing before or maybe you're looking for a little more motivation. Whatever the case, there are a lot of good reasons why writing can help us grow.

Helping others to learn

Coding can be tough. And we all started somewhere at the beginning.

It's a long journey that each of us go through and it's even harder to go at it alone. Luckily, we've had websites like freecodecamp.org and css-tricks.com along the way that have made that journey more manageable, but there's always going to be a challenge that just doesn't make sense.

CSS-Tricks around 2011 when I got my first official coding job via Way Back Machine

This is where we have an opportunity to share our experiences to help others grow. While our favorite coding sites have tons of amazing tutorials, maybe they're missing a key point someone needed to fully grasp the solution.

Whether you're at the beginning or middle of your journey, every experience, big or small, can help another developer on their own journey.

And this is where it can be rewarding. One of my favorite parts of writing has been getting a Twitter DM from someone about how one of my tutorials helped them learn. It's a great feeling knowing you helped someone else on their journey.

Take this as a way for you to give back to the community that helped you learn and grow.

Reinforcing your learning

Thinking back to your grade school Spanish class, one of the tricks to helping the students learn was to reinforce learning. Teachers use different methods like reading, writing, speaking, flashcards, or even that Cinco de Mayo fiesta where you learned about and celebrated Mexico's heritage to help make the language stick.

This applies to development concepts as well. While your solution is still fresh in your head, write it down! Being able to teach what you've learned by writing about it will help those concepts stick in your head.

And just because you write it, it doesn't mean you have to share it. If you're not comfortable sharing it with the world, just keep a copy in a private notebook. You'll always be able to reference it yourself and still reinforce what you know by writing it down.

Documenting our experiences

Doubling up on reinforcing your learning, by writing about your experiences, you're kind of creating your own personal StackOverflow with a list of problems you've already solved.

As much as we had hoped we would remember how to speak Spanish from the classes we took, 10 years goes by pretty quickly and you suddenly realize you can only correctly say "hola" in Spanish.

_Hola sign from Jon Tyson on Unsplash_

If you were the ambitious type, maybe you saved all of your notes. If not, maybe you remember a good website that has flashcards.

Either way, having resources to go back to, whether it's your own notes or that website you still have bookmarked, helps us to quickly reference challenges we've already come across. By writing down your experiences, you're adding to that digital notebook that you know you can always use to remember that quirk you fixed.

Growing your personal network

Everyone has their own reasons for wanting to write and share content – and that's okay! While some of us might be doing this to help others learn, others might be simply trying to get a job or grow their Twitter following.

One of the benefits of sharing your experiences is that you're immediately growing the network of developers that have a little more insight into who you are and the work you've done.

This doesn't guarantee a job, but it certainly can help. All teams are a little different in how they recruit. Smaller teams tend to include other developers more in the beginning of the process who are probably more likely to open your blog and not only read a little bit, but actually understand it.

But even if you don't immediately get hired, you're playing the long game. Opportunities will start to come in small ways that lead to bigger opportunities down the road.

Why you might be hesitating and how we can look at it another way

Sometimes motivation isn't enough. We all have our personal challenges that might prevent us from doing something we want to do. But sometimes it's a matter of finding a different perspective to give you that bit of inspiration to finally dive in.

Imposter syndrome – who am I to write about this?

This is something I've personally struggled with for the majority of my career. Whether I was confident in my ability to do my job or not, I never felt like it was enough to be one of the people writing guides for others.

My website and blog

It wasn't until another team member brought another perspective to this argument (thanks Marquet) – everyone learns differently and maybe my way of telling a story can help someone learn.

If someone doesn't read my work, what are the consequences beyond a little bit of wasted time? On the other hand, maybe my blog post resonated with someone in a way that other blog posts didn't and they were finally able to solve their problem.

And this goes for any level of experience. As Swyx says, the fastest way to learn is in public. If you're not helping someone else, you're at least helping yourself grow.

Finding time – it takes a while to write a post

Time is a funny thing – it becomes an excuse that we use when we don't want to admit the real reason we're holding back.

Of course that's not always the case. Realistically a lot of us have a ton on our plates already whether we work, take care of a family, or are volunteering to help others. It can be a struggle to not want to just sit on the couch after a hard day's work.

But consider the free time you do have. Can you spare 10 minutes jotting down a few notes or even starting an outline of some things you want to say?

While 10 minutes won't write a whole post, if you start the habit and write another paragraph or two every day, you'll slowly end up with a blog post that you can feel good about sharing.

Just don't set the bar too high. If you start off with an unrealistic goal, you're likely to burn out fast and end up back in the same position you're at now.

No topic – not knowing what to write about

From speaking with other developers, I've noticed this seems to be tied a little bit to imposter syndrome. Maybe you're getting confident enough that you're more willing to write, but you're struggling to find what to write about. Is it because you can't think of a topic or is it because every topic you think about, you don't think you're enough of an expert to write about it?

Not having a topic can be a legitimate problem, but there's inspiration all around us. If you're working every day as a developer, you're working on problems that you ultimately need to solve. Why not write about those problems? And if you can't write about the problems due to contract concerns, what about writing about them in an abstract way without any sensitive information?

Inspiration for me comes from my experience talking with others. I'm lucky to be on a team that encourages growth of junior developers and during my time helping them out, their questions lead me to think about topics that I took for granted.

Whenever a topic like that comes up, I immediately note it down for later. This topic was on that list! Over time, my list of topics has grown to a point where I don't think I'll even finish it by the end of the year.

My personal list of topic ideas

While that could feel overwhelming, it's also motivates me to have a bigger selection of what I'm in the mood to write about rather than forcing myself to both think of a new topic and write about something I don't want to write about each week.

Whatever the case, find your source of inspiration. You don't need to be an expert on it. It doesn't matter if someone more experienced already wrote about it. Write what you know. Share your experiences. Maybe you'll help someone see the problem from a different perspective.

Finding what motivates you

At the end of the day, writing is something that each of us will need to find our own motivation to do.

Try to evaluate your goals. What are you looking to achieve? If writing is something you truly want to do, you'll need to find your own source of inspiration.

While some reasons might be more valid than others, it's easier to find reasons not to do something than it is to do it.

You got this! ?

In this post we're going to take a look at how 2019 was for me (mostly professionally) and we're also going to set some goals for 2020! ?

I really love numbers, so I'm also going to show you how 2019 was in numbers. I'm also going to share some of the earnings that I made blogging, creating content, and freelancing.

Hopefully this will inspire you to start working on the things that you love (as I am doing now ?).

Note: the first part of the article is my 2019 story. So if you are only interested in the numbers and earnings part, jump down to the end of the article. ?

2019 In Review

General Overview - The story

I started blogging again in February 2019 after taking a break for 1.5 years. At the same time I was working as a Remote ReactJS developer for a company and spent my evenings and mornings writing articles.
I always liked the idea of sharing the things that I'm building so I decided to start blogging again, determined to make it work this time. ?

I also started being active on Twitter. I had around 300 followers back in February 2019.
I quickly found out that the Twitter community is amazing, so it was a joy to share the little things that I was doing with the community - and the feedback was great!

Soon after that (somewhere around April or May) I noticed that people really enjoyed the things that I was doing (and saying ?). So I decided that, starting with January 2020, I was going to go full-time as a blogger.

But...considering that I'm not the most patient guy in the world ?, in June I told my wife that I wanted to quit my job sooner. Like 6 months sooner. ?

At first she wasn't 100% on-board (I can't blame her as I was the only one providing for the family - she was still in school). But after doing some calculations we saw that I could give it a try because we had enough money saved to live off for the next 6 months. So she agreed (and I can't thank her enough, not only for accepting, but for supporting me throughout this journey ?).

Become a full-time blogger + the "semi-depression"

So I did it. 5th July was my last day as an employee.

My journey as a full-time blogger & content creator began! ?

Note that I also had some deals with publications which involved me writing tech articles for them - so at least I had the prospect of making a little bit of money. ?

I ended up only writing one or two paid articles (shame, shame!) and I soon got into a "semi-depression" (at least that's what I call it).
It mostly came from the fact that after 1-2 months of being a full-time blogger, I didn't achieved my expectations of writing X articles, making Y amount of money, etc... all the things that I'd been planning.

By this time I was making around $150 a month from Ads and Patreon - which obviously wasn't the amount I was expecting. And it was all my fault.

I had the opportunity to write paid articles, but for some reason I couldn't do it. I believe it was because of the pressure I put on myself for writing PERFECT articles because they were paid.

We took a 2 week break and visited the Black Sea. It did wonders for my mental health. I stopped putting so much pressure on myself and I started enjoying the process.

After we came home I took on the $200 in 4 days Challenge and I proved to myself that I was able to make money if I had to. This boosted my morale and my productivity increased!

Soon after that I started the #100Days100Projects Challenge - creating one project every day for 100 days in a row.

This challenged ended up getting me one of the biggest deals ever which covered us in terms of the income for the rest of 2019.

Started a YouTube channel

Fast-forward to November. After struggling a lot and thinking that my accent was bad (more or less in my mind), I decided to start a YouTube channel.

It exploded quickly thanks to my wonderful followers on Twitter, reaching 1,000 subscribers in less than a month! ?

Finally made some cash ?

I've read many books and watched probably thousands of hours of YouTube videos and courses on how to monetize your passions (blog, YouTube channel, etc). So I finally ended up actually doing something in that regard. ?

I did 3 things to earn some extra money:

• Added ads on my blog
• Created a Patreon page to be able to accept donations
• Became an affiliate and started promoting web development courses

Below you can see how much I made.

The Numbers - 2019

My blog

• wrote 53 articles on my blog
• had 124k visitors for a total of 309k page views
• got 1200 email subscribers (although I haven't promoted it very much. In 2020 I have to do a better job)

Here are my Google Analytics stats:

YouTube

• created 11 videos and made 2 live streams
• got 1,779 subscribers
• 13.1k views
• 414 watch hours

Subscribe here if you want to follow my YouTube journey. I'm planning a lot of interesting things for 2020 and you don't want to miss it! ?

Other achievements

• got roughly 400k page views on my articles on Medium, freeCodeCamp and Dev.to combined
• got 11k followers on Twitter - the best community ever! ?
• wrote 8.5k+ tweets - had to put in some work to get people to notice me ?
• created the app-ideas repository which got 8k stars on GitHub
• created and finished the #100Days100Projects Challenge
• won the Top 7 award on dev.to - twice
• Top 100 Contributor for FreeCodeCamp in 2019
• Top 500 Contributor for Dev.to in 2019
• Top 12 most hearted pen on CodePen in 2019
• had 25 1-on-1 meetings
• gifted 11 Udemy Courses as Giveaways (more of these coming in 2020!)

Earnings:

• $491.15 from donations on Patreon (pre-tax, since May/June)

• $359.11 from Ads (since May)

• and $1,046.97 as an affiliate promoting web development courses (since November)

Plans and goals for 2020

My main focus in 2020 will be my YouTube channel.

This is why I started the year with another challenge: #31Days31Videos where I'm planning to post one video every day at 4PM (UTC+2) for the entire month of January. Hopefully this will help me acheive my goals (see below).

YouTube channel goals:

• upload 150 videos
• have at least 30 live streams
• 100,000 Subscribers by the end of the year ? - this is probably the biggest goal that I've ever set!
• 4k watch hours by the end of March - this is needed in order to get monetized on YouTube (it would be great to get some extra money, right?)
• 1M views for the entire year

Blog goals:

• write 100 articles
• get to 100k monthly views by the end of 2020
• or a total of 1M views
• get to make $200 / month from ads by the end of 2020
• 10k email subscribers

Social Media goals:

• 25k Twitter followers
• 10k Instagram followers
• 200 patrons sometime in 2020

Money / earning goals:

• $2k / month average from January to June (or $12k)
• $4k / month average from July to December (or $24k)

• $36k in total

Other goals:

• create 3 digital products
• create an online course
• write an ebook
• build a SAAS (or something with MRR / monthly recurring revenue)
• mentor 4 people directly
• read 26 books

Conclusion

I hope you found this article useful and that it inspires you to start going after your own goals! Make sure you write your goals down (either on a piece of paper or in a word document as I have it). It's important!

Come back later if you want to see my progress.

I wish you an amazing 2020! ?

This article was originally posted on my blog

But they can also backfire, leaving you exhausted and deflated.

In the past, I have used New Year's Resolutions to great effect. But I've also scrubbed out on some resolutions, too.

In this article, I'll show you how to avoid common New Year's Resolution mistakes.

I'll give you some tips for "right sizing" your commitment.

We'll talk about:

1. The 3 things developers who succeed with their New Year's Resolutions have in common
2. Tips for choosing the right resolution for you
3. And I'll even suggest some New Year's Resolutions developers are committing to together.

In short, this article will give you everything you need to kick off your big, triumphant 2020.

Do New Year's Resolutions Actually Work for Developers?

Resolutions are a type of "commitment device." They're a contract with your future self.

Resolutions are a powerful tool for getting results. But they're not magic.

There are 3 things that go into a successful New Year's Resolution:

• Relevance
• Accountability
• Support

Let's take a more detailed look at these three factors, and exercises for each of them that you can use as a "gut check."

Factor #1: Relevance - Do You Really Care?

If your New Year's Resolution is to write your own compiler, you'd better be genuinely interested in compilers.

If your New Year's Resolution is to get better with machine learning, you should already be reading academic papers about neural networks for fun.

Your resolution has to be relevant to you. You have to get something out of it.

If you're not already passionate, you probably won't be able to manufacture enough passion to persist through the crush of distractions. You will struggle to actually sit down to put in the work.

Time for an Exercise.

Close your eyes. (After you finish reading the rest of this exercise, of course. ?)

Imagine yourself a few months from now. You've accomplished your resolution.

What's different? How do you feel about yourself?

OK - now try it. Close your eyes and do this.

All right. I'm going to assume you did this.

Now - if you didn't feel your cheeks tug upward into a smile during this exercise, I hate to break it to you. This probably isn't a resolution you're sufficiently excited about.

You should keep brainstorming until you find a resolution that does put a smile on your face.

Remember to tune out the hype surrounding different tools and projects. Resolutions are personal. Don't let anyone tell you how to dream.

Factor #2: Accountability - Do You Really Believe You Can Do This?

When you make your resolution public - either by telling your family about it or by proclaiming it on Twitter or LinkedIn - you are putting yourself on the hook. You are telling the world you're going to see this resolution through.

It's OK to back out of public commitments once in a while. I've done it. Most developers have. Failure is not fatal.

But you need to be careful not to develop a reputation for being a "flake." You need to deliver on your commitments most of the time. Otherwise people may just start shrugging off your grand proclamations.

Remember that New Year's Resolutions are completely optional. You don't have to put yourself out there if you don't want to.

But again, there is risk and there is reward. If you can harness the power of a public commitment device, a New Year's Resolution can propel you to the next level.

Time for another exercise.

Think about the commitments you've made in the past.

Do you already have outstanding commitments that you haven't delivered on yet?

Are those commitments still worth pursuing?

If so, you may want to go ahead and tackle those first before adding even more onto your plate with a New Year's Resolution.

Now think about your resolution. Is it a long shot? Or is it something you can already visualize yourself doing?

Remember that developers are notoriously bad at time estimation.

It's better to set a modest goal than trap yourself in a self-imposed death march.

Factor #3: Support - Can You Leverage Positive Peer Pressure?

The final factor is social. Do you have friends who can embark upon the resolution alongside you?

Awesome. This is the way to go. You can help keep one another motivated.

Or do you at least have friends who understand what you're trying to accomplish so they can cheer you on?

This is important. Because if your goal is to - say - create an entire website using only C++, or to reach 1 kyu on Code Wars in less than a year - people may not understand that goal or why it's challenging.

Don't make it any harder for people to care about whether you succeed.

This positive peer pressure can be critical. When you are extremely busy with work, or you're sick, or you've had a major life change - how are you going to stay motivated?

Most often, it's the people in our lives who keep us pushing forward. We don't want to let them down.

So find a peer group - or even curious family member - and get them to earnestly root for you in your quest.

(And note that the 3 challenges I recommend at the end of this article each come with their own peer groups.)

Last exercise. I promise.

Think about the person whom you'd most like to care about your resolution. Once you have someone picked out, read on.

OK - now imagine how you would explain your resolution to this person.

How would you get them to care enough to ask, "How's your resolution going?" from time to time.

Quincy's New Year's Resolution Tips for Developers

Now that you have a good idea of what makes a successful New Year's Resolution, here are a couple tips to make life easier for you.

Tip #1: A year is too long. Timebox your resolution to 3 months instead.

The whole point of a New Year's Resolution is to bring about a positive, sustained change in yourself.

The key word is sustained.

For some people, that change could be getting into shape, or getting out of debt.

For an ambitious developer, that change could be learning a new tool or contributing to a new open source project.

In order for the change to be sustained, it has to be systematic.

And that's where habits come in.

You don't need to do something for an entire year to build a habit. A few months will suffice.

So I recommend setting your New Year's Resolution to end before April. Then you can catch your breath and assess whether this is something you want to continue.

Tip #2: Figure out a way to make your resolution an unavoidable part of your day

Think about your future self - coming home tired at the end of the day, just wanting to watch a show or play some games.

How can you set your future self up for success?

By working your resolution into your daily routine, you no longer have to think about it as much.

If your gym is on the way home from work, you can just pull over and go in and work out. There's no more, "Oops - I forgot to do it."

The same thing works with coding:

• Use daily recurring reminders. And yes - you should ideally be working on this every day at around the same time of day.
• Use tools to block access to distracting websites during the time of day when you're working on your resolution. This can help you stay focused.

Tip #3: When in doubt, use a ready-made peer group and a ready-made challenge

If you've read this far and still aren't sure what your New Year's Resolution should be, no worries. I have 3 great options for you. You can just follow their rules, use their hashtags, and get started immediately.

The #100DaysOfCode Challenge

This is the granddaddy of coding challenges. It wasn't originally designed for New Year's Resolutions. But January has become the most popular start time.

Here's everything you need to know about the #100DaysOfCode challenge - including its history and how to get started.

The #ProjectEuler100 Challenge - The "Dark Souls" of New Year's Resolutions

And for all the developers out there who love a challenge, I've created a brand new challenge for your New Year's Resolution.

This will really force you to expand your math and computer science horizons.

It is totally do-able by a new developer. Thousands of people have completed the first 100 Project Euler problems over the years.

It's just brutally hard.

I love Project Euler and used it extensively when I was first learning to code. I love it so much that we added all 600+ Project Euler challenges to freeCodeCamp's Interview Preparation section.

These 600+ challenges get progressively harder - to the point where even people with math PhD's still struggle with them.

But again, the first 100 are do-able for a lay person with some willingness to go down Wikipedia rabbit holes.

So what do you think. Are you up for working through the first 100 Project Euler problems by the end of 2020?

Here's how the challenge works:

1. Tweet out a photo of yourself giving a thumbs-up and announcing that you are committing to the #ProjectEuler100 challenge.
2. Create a GitHub repository.
3. Each time you complete a challenge, add your solution to your GitHub repository and tweet a link to it using the #ProjectEuler100 hashtag.
4. Then scroll through the #ProjectEuler100 hashtag and give supportive feedback on at least 2 tweets from other developers.
5. Move on to the next Project Euler challenge. You can't skip ahead. You have to complete all 100 problems in order. But you can use any programming language you want to solve these.
6. Once you've finished all 100 of them, tweet out a celebration photo of yourself with your laptop open to your GitHub repo.

You can use the 20-year-old Project Euler website itself. Or you can use the freeCodeCamp.org version - which lets you code right in your browser, and has built-in tests.

Remember: you can look at other people's explanations of these Project Euler challenges, but do not copy other people's code directly. You will be tempted to take shortcuts. Resist the temptation. You'll be glad you did.

UPDATE January 9, 2020: I just published a fun guide to the #ProjectEuler100 challenge. It has lots of tips for successfully completing the challenge, and an in-depth FAQ.

You can read Introducing The #ProjectEuler100 Challenge: the "Dark Souls" of Coding Achievements here (5 minute read).

The #AWSCertified Challenge

AWS offers several cloud certifications, and they're a great addition to your résumé or CV. They can help you steer your career in a more DevOps (or Site Reliability Engineer) direction.

By the end of this challenge, you'll be both an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and a AWS Certified Solutions Architect.

freeCodeCamp has free courses to prepare you for both of these. (Shout-out to Andrew Brown at ExamPro who designed these courses and has graciously made them free to the public through our YouTube channel).

The rules:

1. Tweet out a photo of yourself giving a thumbs-up and announcing that you are committing to the #AWSCertified challenge.
2. Each day tweet at least one time about your progress and what you've learned or done, using the #AWSCertified hashtag
3. Each day, reply with encouragement to at least 2 other people who are also using the #AWSCertified hashtag.
4. Each time you earn a certification, print it out and pose with it.

That's it. Unlike #100DaysOfCode, there is no set end date to this. It's over when it's over. Which should only be a few months if you're working each day toward this.

Note that unlike the other two challenges I mention here, this challenge does cost money. Even though all the learning resources are free, once you're ready to take the exams, you will have to spend a few hundred dollars on examination fees.

UPDATE January 9, 2020: I just published a massive guide to the #AWSCertified challenge. It will give you an in-depth understanding of cloud services and the different cloud-focused careers you can pursue. And of course, it has a ton of free learning resources for you.

You can read The #AWSCertified Challenge: A Path to Your First AWS Certifications here (21 minute read).

Whatever New Year's Resolution you make, stick with it.

The power of New Year's Resolutions lies in their binding commitment. But if you can leverage this power, you can accomplish so much in 2020.

Happy New Year. And Happy Coding.

In tech, constantly learning (both in and out of work) is an unstated job requirement.

When I was growing up, I would go to the bookstore with my dad every weekend, and every time he would pick up a new book on coding. At the time, I always asked why he was working on the weekends. Now I understand, because I now spend my weekends the same way.

Working in tech requires you to constantly learn new skills. The industry moves so quickly that those who do not continue to learn fall behind. Continuing to succeed at your job is dependent on your ability to learn, but it can be an overwhelming prospect to finish a long day of work only to go home to study.

So how do you do find the motivation to study and ensure that the time you spend learning is productive?

#1: Set a Goal

Set a SMART goal (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time based). It will help you structure your thinking. For example, a general goal would be ‘I want to learn how to code.’ A SMART Goal would be ‘I want to build a website with HTML and CSS in the next 6 months.’

• Specific: Going from ‘learn to code’ (general) to ‘build a website using HTML and CSS’ (specific). This should be something which motivates and focuses you. What do you want to achieve? Why?
• Measurable: How can you track your progress toward your goal? Does writing a script count as ‘learning to code’? Think about how you can measure your progress toward your goal. If it isn’t measurable, it’s a lot easier to get unmotivated. Something like ‘build a website using HTML and CSS’ is much easier to track your progress toward.
• Attainable: Think realistically about your own limitations. If you’re used to coming home and watching TV every day for 3 hours, you’re probably not suddenly going to start coming home from work every day and spending 3 hours studying. That’s okay. Don’t plan for very dramatic change – it’s very hard to make that kind of change sustainable.

Instead, think about small changes. Plan for 30 minutes to spend on a new skill. Think about what you’ve accomplished in the past and if this goal is achievable for you. This is also a good time to think about whether or not you are overcommitting. Are you trying to learn Spanish, play the Oboe, and learn a new framework all in the next month? Pick one thing and stay focused on it. That will make it easier to accomplish one goal, and you can always choose a different goal for your next project.

• Relevant: Is this goal relevant to what I want? For example, if your goal is to become a software developer, what are the top skills you need to develop? Prioritize learning those skills first. Ask yourself if this the best time for this goal.
• Time-based: The first goal doesn’t set any time limit, which can be hard to motivate yourself to pursue. After all, when you have forever it’s much easier to think ‘I’ll start tomorrow.’ The second goal gives you a hard timeline to accomplish it (6 months).

While it’s definitely harder (and takes more time initially) to set SMART goals, it will save you time in the long term.

In Sprint, the authors point out that all of us have limited decision-making capacity each day. It needs to be conserved for the most important tasks. With the first goal (learn to code), you now have to decide what language to program in, what kind of project or projects you want to build, and when you’re going to do it. The second goal (build a website using HTML and CSS) answers all of those questions for you.

#2 Break it Down

Now that you have your goal, break it down into monthly, weekly, daily, or hourly steps (as far down as you need to go). For the example earlier, if your goal is to build a website with HTML and CSS and you don’t know how to code, break it down into manageable steps. For example:

• Find resources to learn HTML and CSS (like freecodecamp.org)
• Spend at least 30 minutes every day working on programming challenges
• Start building a website and dedicate at least 30 minutes every day to working on it

This is a pretty simple example, but the goal looks more manageable already. Build a website? That seems really hard. Spending 30 minutes every day working on learning a new thing? That’s much more manageable. Pretty much everyone has a spare 30 minutes they can work into their day for something that matters to them.

#3 Block out Time

Now that you have your goal, figure out how to spend a solid block of time on it every day (or as often as you can). Small chunks of time (say 5 minutes) here and there are easy to get erased in favor of other things, or may not be long enough for you to focus on the task at hand.

Research shows that regaining focus after an interruption can take (on average) more than 20 minutes. It’s more effective if you can identify an hour (or even 30 minutes) every day and block them out to only focus on this goal.

This is also why time-sensitive goals are so important. It’s much easier to block off time if you can say ‘this is just for 1 month, or two months, etc.’ Blocking off indefinite time is much harder to do.

Plus, blocking out just a small chunk of time means you can work on your project for the assigned time, then go do something else, knowing you accomplished something. Blocking off specific time to work on a personal project means you can work for 30 minutes, then relax without having to worry, as opposed to working on and off while trying to multitask 6 other things (watching Netflix, checking texts, cooking, etc.) is probably going to end with you even more stressed out and feeling less productive.

Studies show that very, very, very few people can truly multitask (I'm definitely not one of them), and that trying to do so just makes accomplishing tasks much harder. Don't try. Block off time, use it for your project, then do something you enjoy.

#4 Stay Focused

It can be very, very easy in tech to start learning one thing and get side-tracked. There are tons of free resources to learn just about anything and it can be overwhelming, and difficult to know where to start (to the extent that it can be paralyzing and impossible to begin learning everything at all).

Escape some of this paralysis by picking just one goal, and sticking with it. It will be a lot more helpful if you can do one thing well (for example creating a website) than a lot of things just a little (for example, printing 'Hello World' in every possible language). Take time to make sure that what you’re doing is helping you accomplish your goal. Ask yourself ‘Is this helping me accomplish my SMART goal?’ If not, it’s probably time to re-evaluate.

Remember, you’ve already done the hard part when you set your goal. You’ve decided this is important and blocked off time. Now you just need to work on it.

If every time you sit down to study, you have to motivate yourself to do so, you won’t have the energy to study. Making the studying a habit saves your energy for the actual task. Ideally you'll get to the point where you come in, sit down, and just start working, without thinking about it.

Now, go learn something!

Looking for more resources? Check out these really smart people:

• 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person
• So You Want to Work in Security…
• What I learned from Coursera’s Learning How to Learn
• The 30 Hour Method For Learning a New Skill

Thank You

My last article on killing procrastination did much better than I expected. It was reassuring to see others like myself fighting this uphill battle, and heartwarming to hear that you all enjoyed my humble piece! Thank you ❤️

In an effort to keep the momentum going, let’s talk about creating processes.

I’m Going Somewhere!

You’re scrolling through your phone and YouTube recommends yet another motivational video because it knows how much you love them, How I Tripled my Net Worth or whatever. You listen to soundbites of a dude claiming that deep breathing and not eating vegetables transformed him into a CEO.

Man triples his net worth by eschewing broccoli

Like all the others it’s loud and bold enough to stir a familiar feeling within you, and by the time the video ends, a sudden amp and feverish itch make it clear as day–you’ve been bitten by the Inspiration Bug again.

What happens next? Just the usual...

“I will become a web developer!”

“I will start working out tomorrow!”

“I will get a promotion!”

Your battle cries may vary, but your mileage won’t. You are still going nowhere.

Care to Be More Specific?

What does “I will become a web developer” even mean? How can we track progress on these nebulous phrases that you shout whenever inspiration strikes?

I'm not saying don't have lofty goals. Be inspired. Get energized! But please use that energy to be more specific. Talking feels good, we’ve gone over this, but when you inevitably come back down from that inspirational high, what are your concrete actions going to be?

Don’t just say, “I am going to learn web development” Do you know how gargantuan of a task that is?!

• HTML, CSS, JavaScript
• Frameworks/Libraries
• Testing
• Accessibility
• Build tools
• HTTP
• SEO
• Animations
• REST APIs
• Templating engines
• State management
• Command line
• Fatigued yet?

This is the JS ecosystem from 2016...three years ago!

I was suffering from this around 2013, before JavaScript really detonated a few years later. If we’re going by that definition then even with nearly 5 years experience, I still haven’t “learned” web development and I never will.

Every endeavor has a ton of paths, and most of us waste precious time considering all possible paths instead of just committing to one and flourishing.

You're going to end up unmotivated again, because a specific target wasn't set.

Tell Me What You Want

You want to become a web developer, ok great.

What kind? Why?

Do you want a job? What kind of job? Do you want a business? What kind of business? Tell me exactly what you want! Once we identify your target, we can prepare for the hunt.

Here's an example of Batman guiding Joker through it.

Joker: Fine! I flipped a coin and think UIs are cool, let’s focus on Front-End development (for now). I want to become a Front-End web developer.

Batman: Good, where?

Joker: I have kids, so no more than 1 hour from the house. A remote position would be ideal.

Batman: Here’s a job description based on countless Indeed.com postings.

Job description

• Strong knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript

• Knowledge of modern mobile/responsive design techniques

• Git/GitHub
• Excellent verbal and written communication
• Bonus points for React, Angular, Vue, Node.js

Joker: What’s the fastest way to succeed?

Batman: Turn yourself into this candidate. We’ll work towards that by creating a process.

Creating a Process

This requires you to critically think about the goal. What steps must we take to progress?

How about a project that incorporates the job description we just found? I always recommend beginners to make a clone of todomvc.com. For best results, conform as close to the job description as possible.

• Use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Make sure the app looks spectacular on all screen sizes
• Put it on GitHub
• Not everyone will agree here, but I say don't use a framework until you’re somewhat proficient in JavaScript. This means you can comfortably write basic apps without needing a framework and you understand how the pieces connect in a more complex app.
• Once you’re more advanced, feel free to redo this in React, Angular, Vue, etc.

Less Shopping, More Googling

The important thing here is to pick a project. Don't buy another course or book until it gets done. You’ll learn everything by Googling the problems you encounter.

After that, pick a different or slightly harder version of the project, rinse and repeat. Do that a few times and you have a portfolio of apps you built from the ground up.

There’s your process–congratulations, you’re now exactly like the candidate in that job description. Maybe even better, depending on the apps you completed.

This Works Everywhere

I’m a huge fan of universal principles, and create a process is one of them.

Whatever you’re doing–programming, speaking, lifting, sports, chess, Chinese, you learn it through following a trusted process. Either pay someone (school, bootcamp, course, mentor) to create that process, or do it yourself.

Bottom line is that process must be created, otherwise you’ll keep getting inspired, making vague declarations of change, and remain the same.

That’s momentum my friends. It’s wrecked me several times, and now I know some of you feel that pain too. It’ll push us right off the cliff unless we slam the brakes and turn the car around.

But just remember next time, before you start going the other direction, use a map.

Until next time!

For more content like this, check out https://yazeedb.com!

A New Year always brings with it a couple of recurring events. There’s the New Year’s Eve where people party hard get wasted. We all know we’ve pulled off a couple of #YOLO and #LiveLikeTheresNoTomorrow here and there on social media. ?

Then there’s New Year’s day which is all about making resolutions and saying how this time around we are going to cross the finish line no matter what.

And then there’s the reality check a couple of days or weeks later where you quit on those resolutions and sit there feeling like garbage.

This is nothing new, I myself have “been there, done that” ?

Truth is, resolutions as a theoretical concept seems like a pretty easy thing to adopt. You make a to-do list of everything you want to do and start crossing it off, one by one, starting day one. But when it comes to executing our resolutions, it’s a whole different story. Most of us including myself, set ourselves to fail. What we set out to achieve as resolution, 9 out of 10 times is an unrealistic target.

Once the rhythm becomes monotonous, it drives away the interest in pursuing it.

This is what had been happening with me ever since I started making resolutions. And I am sure everyone can relate to this experience — starting the year off with a goal, then striving towards it for a couple of weeks and then getting bored to death, to the point that we quit.

A couple of weeks into 2017 the usual pattern started repeating. I was gonna quit on my goal and it was not even February. After well over a decade of failing to execute my goals (surprise surprise), I decided to shake things up a little bit last year.

Here’s a list of things I did to make sure I was not burdening myself with unrealistic targets. I managed to end the year with with a good bunch of things checked off from this list.

This guide is not for a specific group of people, it doesn’t matter if you are a developer, designer or a liberal arts student. It’s a general list of things which will help you come out a more well-rounded person at the end of the year.

Step 1: Quit making resolutions

Accept it, they never work (at least for most of us). And when we fail on executing them consistently for 365 days, it makes us feel terrible.

Instead here’s a better, more “do-able” approach. Instead of setting up one goal for the entire year, set up multiple milestones for a year. They can be weekly monthly or quarterly targets.

Having smaller, isolated and more focused targets tend to work much better, than trying to move one monolithic goal into each month.

Our brain works in weird ways. 10 checked boxes look more rewarding to us at the end of each month than one or two at the end of the year.

Reward yourself every time you achieve one small target. Don’t stress on not being able to check off each task — it’s ok to miss a couple of them. But this approach always makes sure you are achieving more than skipping

Also make sure you carry a small notebook with your targets written down. No, DO NOT use an app for that. Carry an actual physical notebook and a pen/pencil. Draft your targets each week/day/month and check them off once done. You won’t get the same satisfaction on an app.

Don’t stress about the things you couldn’t do, reward yourself for the ones you did

Every checked box matters. Let that sweet sweet dopamine flow.

Step 2: Commit to something publicly

This one’s new for me as well. I have noticed that committing to something publicly adds a good amount of pressure to push you to deliver. Being a great developer always means you are aware and up to date on the new things in the community. And there is no better way of doing that than gaining first hand experience.

Writing code a couple of hours each day helps keep your skills sharp. In the little time that I did it last year, I found that I was coming up with better ways of writing what I had already written before. Trimming down the fat from an old project has an extremely satisfying feel to it.

I have committed to 3 rounds of the #100DaysOfCode challenge, for the sheer love of it. It’ll also help me gain muscle memory and the ability to make new things as quickly as possible.

Thanks to Scott Spence and the Isometric Contribution plugin for Chrome for pushing me to take this challenge

Having committed to this publicly (twice now) is definitely gonna make sure that I don’t even think about quitting. Also it really helps if you can find a code buddy who’s committing to something similar. That way, you both can compete and at the same time can make sure you push each other in case you start slacking.

Step 3: Always Be Building (a habit)

The universal truth to learning something and then excelling at it is doing it repeatedly. I have experienced this on many occasions. This is why I suggest having a personal project to work on at all times. It not only serves as a playground to try new things, but also helps you think how can your existing solution be improved. Once you get into the habit of building something all the time, it will soon turn into an addiction. I for once have built stuff, scrapped it off, built it using a better newer stack and scrapped it off again.

So come up with a product/idea you are truly psyched about. Contribute 2% to it everyday and repeat this 365 times. It doesn’t feel like a burden if what you are building excites you.

Side Note: Always make an attempt to visualize your progress using Scrum or something similar. You can use Trello or just a good old sheet of poster paper and some sticky tape with post-it notes. Remember “It’s all about that dopamine.”

Cheap DIY version of a scrum board, costs less than $0.4

Step 4: Read a Book (and then read 10 more!)

The human brain, however marvelous, is limited in its abilities. Every person is unique and everyone approaches life differently. The only way to have a diverse outlook on life and problems is by reading how others went around solving them. Books are really one of the only things that do not expire in value and let you truly expand your imagination and abilities. It’s like tapping into someone else’s brain and just soaking up all the knowledge.

Again, do make sure you grab a physical copy instead of the kindle version. There’s innate satisfaction in turning over the last page. (Sorry trees ? )

I finished reading 2 great books this year and I regret not reading more.
( something I am definitely gonna change this year )

Here are a few of the books that are in the mail as of now and the 2 that I managed to read in 2017:

• The Design Of Everyday Things: Don Norman (read)
• Lateral Thinking: Edward de Bono (read)
• Hooked: Nir Eyal
• Sprint: Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
• Sapiens: Yuval Noah Harari
• The Lost City of the Monkey God: Douglas Preston

If you have read a book which you think changed your outlook, fiction or non-fiction, leave me a note, I will definitely try to grab a copy.

Step 5: Adopt a Sustainable Lifestyle

With the internet in our pockets and services like Amazon available at the tap of a button, compulsive hoarding is a now a problem more than ever. We buy things we most likely do not need and in a very short span of time we regret that purchase. Try cutting that down.

Trust me when I say that it’s liberating to be content in only the bare necessities. I am not suggesting you to adopt a monk lifestyle.

Instead of making senseless purchases, make wise investments.

Don’t be stingy in investing in yourself. You want the latest and greatest computer on the market? Do you have the funds for it? Will it improve your workflow or cut down your time? Is there a significant improvement switching to the newer model?

If you answered yes to all these questions go ahead and make the purchase. Investing in yourself and your tools is never a bad choice unless you’re just randomly buying anything and everything that comes out. You’ll find that instead of making senseless purchases, if you invest in yourself or on your gear, it will start paying for itself in a very short time.

Step 6: Give back to the world a little bit

There’s a very good saying which goes something like: “leave the camping ground better than you found it.”

Amidst all the upsetting things that are going on in the world, you as an individual hold the power to spark a positive change and turn things around for the better for someone.

If you are reading this post, it means you have an internet connection and a smartphone/computer. You have a decent life. Giving away a few bucks a month will not really affect your life. There are people in the world right now who would kill for a dollar.

We are living in times where we don’t need much to affect someone’s life positively. Pick a charity or a cause you care about or can relate to and give away a few dollars each month. Most of them don’t have a minimum donation amount. So it really doesn’t matter if it’s $1 or $10. Try it out once — it really helps pacify the conscience.

Step 7: Start reading up on Blockchain

Blockchain is the technology which will shake up everything about our society in a couple of years. It doesn’t matter if you are an engineer, a doctor or a teacher.

It is going to be an essential part of the business sector, the education sector, medicine and just about everything.

Knowing how the technology works and what it’s applications are will really be in one’s best interests, considering the widespread adoption that’s underway.

One misconception I would like to clear right away is that Blockchain is not limited to Cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is just a popular application of the Blockchain technology. The way things are with the crypto ecosystem isn’t what it started out to be. It was a means of solving a problem but instead it’s turned into a quick way of making or loosing some money.

This hype will fade away soon, making way for the real innovation to begin.

Investing in Cryptocurrencies is a different topic altogether and it’s totally your call on doing so or not. But I would highly recommend everyone to learn up about Blockchain and watch the space.

Step 8: Question everything

Let’s face it. I am not perfect neither are you. But you may have expertise in a domain which I barely know about. The only way in which we can progress as a society collectively, is when we throw our ego out of the window and ask questions about what we don’t understand. What’s the worst that would happen? Someone would say that’s a stupid question? Big deal!

Always keep this in mind and this is something I follow religiously —

It’s better to look stupid for 5 minutes than staying ignorant for life

Step 9: Live Dangerously

No don’t get that bungee cord out just yet!

I am talking about challenging yourself and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Try everything, just for the fun of it!

In the past year, I’ve tried and done stuff I wasn’t even sure I would ever do in my entire life. With some of those experience I’ve been able to pick up skills or techniques, that I have now applied to stuff I do on a day to day basis.

Remember, you do not have to be great at everything you take a shot at. Failure is good, it points out gaping holes in your skills for you to fill up. Embrace it instead of fearing it. Eventually you’ll get to a point where things start falling in place in one shot. It would honestly start feeling weird that you did it without failing.

Step 10: Don’t Settle For “Good Enough”

This may sound very cheesy, and for good reason it kinda is. Some of the most successful companies have been built, because the people who started it didn’t settle for the bare minimum or the “good enough”.

Develop a habit of caring about the little things in any job you take up. Let it take a little more than the usual time but give it your best.

Little things matter, and they set apart the great products from the “just fine” ones.

Don’t be afraid of being a junior on the team and taking a call for investing a little more time in the details. It shows you’re passionate about the project. And if you are convincing enough, almost all the time people will agree with you.

Step 11: Live (for real)

Lastly, make sure you live. Not for anyone else but yourself. I’ve learnt this in a painfully hard way. Always remember this,

You are, and will always be, the only person who’s lived with you the longest.

It is absolutely important that you realize that you matter the most to you. It’s nobody else’s job to care about your dreams, your aspirations. So might as well stop trying to impress or please others. You’ve just got a few decades in your hand.

It’s our quirks that makes us unique. If you see that you have to change yourself to be around people, avoid them! There are 7 billion people on this planet. It’s not as difficult as you may think it is to find someone who enjoys your quirks. Always be looking out for them and when you find them never let go!

The steps I’ve mentioned above are more or less the kind of things that most of us set out to achieve. This is the general layout of how I structured my year. And if it worked for a person like me, I’m counting on it working for most of you.

A very happy 2018 to everyone once again. ??

“May The Force Be With You ??”

(I know the quote is from Star Wars and Spock is in Star Trek… Thanks for letting me mess with your head ?)__

Fin!