How do you set meaningful goals and actually achieve them?

25 Mar

Begin with the end: A backward approach to practical, impactful goal-setting

A lot of people go through life feeling lost, unsure of their direction, and uncertain about what they truly want in the long run. Without a clear sense of purpose, it is easy to drift through life and make choices based on external pressures rather than personal fulfilment.

In her book Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work, Deborah Liu provides a backward approach to goal setting that encourages you to envision the legacy you want to leave behind and work backwards from then to now. By starting with the end in mind, you can create a strategic, purpose-driven, and well-lived path that brings meaning and motivation to your daily life. She outlines three key components for making a significant impact: 1) Draft your obituary: Write the last chapter first; 2) Craft your vision: Your legacy as your north star; 3) Create annual milestones: Use markers to progress.

Step 1. Draft your obituary: Write the last chapter first

An obituary is a report, often found in a newspaper, that gives the news of someone’s death and details about their life. Writing your life story from the perspective of your obituary may seem pointless, especially if it means reflecting on something that could be several decades away. However, this exercise clarifies your values, goals and priorities, helping you make decisions that align with your ultimate visions and ensuring that each step you take adds to the bigger picture of your story. For example, a student aspiring to be remembered as a leading environmental activist realises the need to develop deep expertise in sustainability.

Step 2. Craft your vision: Your legacy as your North Star

A personal vision statement is like a road map that represents your legacy, encompasses your purpose, and explains why you choose to do what you do. A well-defined vision helps guide your decisions, enabling you to confidently say “yes” to opportunities that support your purpose and “no” to distractions that hinder your long-term objectives. For example, an ambitious environmental activist’s vision statement could be “to educate and inspire global communities to adopt sustainable practices”.

Step 3. Create annual milestones: Use markers to progress

After deciding how you want your story to end and defining your desired vision, you need to be willing to change your life by establishing clear annual goals and milestones to work towards making your mark. Extensive and long-term pursuits can be overwhelming, so breaking them down into smaller and shorter-term goals makes them easier to manage and track. You can adjust and refine your approach by assessing your progress each year to ensure you stay on course and move closer to the legacy you want to leave behind. For example, the environmental activist sets yearly goals, such as completing sustainability internships, publishing research, and launching a local ecological awareness campaign.

Schedule deep work to achieve meaningful goals, ultimately

In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport asserts that impactful success arises from the ability to produce your absolute best work – an endeavour that requires intense depth. In an age of constant distractions, he underscores the transformative power of focused, undistracted efforts in achieving significant accomplishments. It is critical to prioritise deep work, eliminate distractions and dedicate concentrated time to high-impact tasks instead of engaging in shallow, fragmented work.

To develop deep work habits, moving beyond good intentions and creating routines and rituals that minimise the willpower necessary to enter and maintain uninterrupted concentration is essential. Newport presents four approaches for scheduling deep work: monastic, bimodal, rhythmic, and journalistic, allowing individuals in different professions to choose the philosophy that best suits their specific circumstances.

Four approaches to deep work scheduling

1. The monastic approach

The monastic approach maximises deep work by eliminating or significantly reducing all other types of work, i.e., shallow obligations. Practitioners of this method have clearly defined and highly valued professional goals they want to pursue without distractions. They dedicate their lives almost entirely to deep work, and their remarkable success stems from an unwavering commitment to mastering a singular pursuit. This method is most suited for individuals who can completely isolate themselves for extended periods, such as novelists, scientists, or monks.

2. The bimodal approach

The bimodal philosophy of deep work divides your time by setting specific, uninterrupted periods for high-impact activities while allowing time for other low-impact responsibilities. For instance, on a weekly scale, you might devote a four-day weekend to depth and the rest three days to open time. Similarly, on a yearly scale, you might devote one season to containing most of your deep pursuits (like many academics do during the summer or on sabbatical). The minimum time for deep work in this philosophy is at least one full day to produce productivity.

3. The rhythmic approach

The rhythmic philosophy of deep work scheduling (chain method) consistently starts deep work sessions to make them into a simple regular habit. The idea is to establish a rhythm (e.g., three to four hours of deep work daily, five days a week) for this task, eliminating the need to spend energy deciding if and when you will go deep. This chain method is particularly popular amongst writers and fitness enthusiasts who thrive on the ability to do hard things consistently. It is also suitable for some occupations, such as office workers, where you cannot disappear for days at a time. This strategy aligns better with the realities of human nature. The rhythmic scheduler will often log more deep hours per year if they support deep work with rock-solid routines that ensure a little bit gets done regularly.

4. The journalistic approach

The journalistic approach entails fitting deep work into your schedule whenever possible. Nonetheless, this method is not for the deep work novice as the ability to quickly shift your mind from shallow to deep mode is not easy and not natural. Without practice, such transitions can seriously drain your limited willpower. This constant switching habit also necessitates confidence in your talents, believing that your actions are essential and will lead to success. If you are confident in the value of what you are attempting to produce and have honed the skill of going deep, it can be a surprisingly effective way to squeeze out large amounts of depth from an otherwise rigorous schedule. This method is especially beneficial for those with unpredictable schedules, such as journalists whose work is fast-paced and deadline-driven, enabling them to adapt their focus as needed.

Conclusion

To set meaningful goals, people can use a backward goal-setting method to draft their obituaries, craft their visions, and finally create annual milestones. However, achieving these aspirations and milestones demands focus, where four deep work scheduling approaches come in. The monastic approach eliminates distractions entirely, the bimodal approach balances deep and shallow work, the rhythmic approach builds daily focus habits, and the journalistic approach fits deep work into unpredictable schedules. Individuals can choose their own philosophy for integrating deep work into their professional lives.

What will you do to get closer to what you hope to leave behind by the end of this year? How will you approach each day to ensure you live your life purposefully? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. We create some productivity calendars to be downloaded if you are interested: 12 Week Year Plan 2025, 2026, 2027 (Excel), Year At A Glance Calendar 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030, 2031 (Excel). If you are a higher education student feeling overwhelmed, consider scheduling An Hour Consultation or joining our Mentorship Programme to help clarify your thoughts.