[Link]How to Achieve Impossible Career Goals (My manifesto on instrumental rationality)

Hey guys,

Don't normally post from my blog to here, but the latest massive post on goal achievement in 2015 has a ton that would be relevant to people here.

Some things that I think would be of particular interest to LWers:

The section called "Map the Path to Your Goal" has some really great stuff on planning that haven't seen many other places. I know planning gets a bad wrap here, but when combined with the "Contigency Plans" method near the bottom of the post, I've found this stuff to be killer for getting results for students.
At the bottom, there's a section called "Choosing More Habits" that breaks down habits into the only five categories you should ever focus on. If you're planning to systematically take on new habits in 2015, this will help.
The section called "a proactive mindset" has some fun mental reframes to play around with.

Anyways, would love feedback and thoughts. Feel free to comment here or on the bottom of that post.

Thanks!

Matt

Hey guys,

Don't normally post from my blog to here, but the latest massive post on goal achievement in 2015 has a ton that would be relevant to people here.

Some things that I think would be of particular interest to LWers:

The section called "Map the Path to Your Goal" has some really great stuff on planning that haven't seen many other places. I know planning gets a bad wrap here, but when combined with the "Contigency Plans" method near the bottom of the post, I've found this stuff to be killer for getting results for students.
At the bottom, there's a section called "Choosing More Habits" that breaks down habits into the only five categories you should ever focus on. If you're planning to systematically take on new habits in 2015, this will help.
The section called "a proactive mindset" has some fun mental reframes to play around with.

Anyways, would love feedback and thoughts. Feel free to comment here or on the bottom of that post.

Thanks!

Matt

planning gets a bad wrap here

I wasn't aware of that. Examples? Reasons?

I may have generalized from a few instances that I've seen, of the variety of "You shouldn't make long term plans because it's an effort in futility (reality gets in the way)

OTOH, when I enter in planning into the search bar, the very first article I get is this one: http://lesswrong.com/lw/jg/planning_fallacy/ - with the snippet "the planning fallacy is that people think they can plan"

1[anonymous]12y

I was just as surprised at that. Planning is perhaps the most essential skill to applied rationality. It's also one of our most powerful built-in instincts, when we remember to use it. If there's anti-planning sentiment here on LW, please share a link.