How to enjoy working on your goals… by ignoring your goals
Why is it so easy to burn out when working on goals? Perhaps it’s not due to “laziness” or lack of commitment, rather it’s because we focus too much on the finish line and not enough on the journey. When you set a big goal for yourself, whether it’s learning a new skill, achieving a fitness milestone, or tackling a personal project, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed or frustrated. Maybe the goal feels too far away, your motivation fizzles out, or you get stuck comparing yourself to where you think you should be. Shifting from outcomes to giving effort, building systems, and enjoying the process can help avoid these pitfalls while increasing enjoyment and fulfillment.
Here’s how you can do it:
Set clear goals and break them down into manageable steps.
Stop thinking about the final goal and focus on the process.
Align your goals with your values to find meaning.
Learn to go with the flow.
Appreciate the effort, not the result.
Let’s break it down and dive a little deeper.
Part 1: The Art of Progression
The first step is to set a clear goal and break it into smaller, actionable milestones. Why? Because vague goals like “get stronger” or “learn to do parkour” don’t give you a clear path forward. They’re too broad to guide your actions.
For example, let’s say you decide to learn how to do a handstand. “Do a handstand” isn’t a specific enough long-term goal to help you figure out what to work on today. Instead, reframe it into something measurable, like: “Hold a freestanding handstand for 10 seconds.”
Then, break that big goal into smaller milestones, like: hold a handstand against a wall for 30 seconds. Kick up to a wall handstand with control. Practice bailing safely when you lose your balance.
Next, break those down into smaller progressions that can lay the foundation for each milestone. For example: if you’re working on holding a handstand against a wall, you might spend a few weeks practicing sets and reps to build strength. Or, if you’re learning how to kick up with control, you might focus on drills to improve your balance and body awareness.
This “scaffolded” approach is used by teachers and coaches when designing long term curricula for their students. The key is to shift your mindset. Instead of staring up at the top of the mountain, focus on the step right in front of you. Each small victory is a milestone worth celebrating.
*Extra tip: if doing this sounds complicated or out of your realm of expertise, seek out a coach or online program!
Part 2: Forget the Final Goal, Love the Process
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “The journey is more important than the destination.” It’s a cliché for a reason - it’s true. Similarly, as J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, ‘Not all who wander are lost.’ But in your journey toward a goal, wandering with purpose is key. By focusing on the journey instead of the destination, you can avoid burnout and find joy in the process.
In the world of movement and physical skill acquisition, there are some actionable steps to make the process itself feel enjoyable without getting hung up on the final goal.
Celebrate Small Wins
Every step forward is progress. Don’t dismiss those early milestones as simply disposable steps on the path. They’re achievements in their own right! More than that, each milestone you achieve is its own skill that can be enjoyed for its own sake.
Let’s go back to the handstand example. If you’ve never done a handstand before, and after a few (or many) sessions you can hold one against a wall for 10 seconds, that’s huge! You’re already doing something you couldn’t do before. Celebrate that!
And the benefits aren’t just about the end goal. Every time you practice, you’re building strength, developing awareness, and improving your mobility. These are skills that will serve you in countless other ways, even if you never master the full handstand, all that effort still makes you stronger and more capable. Those are benefits gained from the journey, regardless of how close they are to the destination.
Focus on Systems, Not Goals
Celebrating milestones is just one part of loving the process. The other part is building systems that make progress inevitable. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, puts it perfectly: “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game.” In other words, goals are good for giving you direction, but it’s the daily systems and habits that actually lead to progress and help you stay motivated. Instead of thinking, “How close am I to my goal?” ask yourself, “Am I showing up and putting in the effort on a regular basis?” The progressions and milestones lay the groundwork for the system, and are where your focus should go.
For example, if you’re a climber working toward tackling a V7 bouldering problem, don’t ignore lower-grade climbs as “just warm-ups.” Instead, use them as opportunities to master every move and position. Find what makes the lower grade problems rewarding, satisfying, and fun. The same goes for flexibility training, don’t obsess over achieving the splits; focus on how stretching makes you feel stronger and more mobile during and after each stretching session. Focus on the benefits you are gaining in the moment, not on how close you are to the end.
Part 3: Find Your Why: The Power of Purpose
Sometimes, the hardest part of working toward a goal is staying motivated, especially when progress feels slow. But maybe lack of discipline or laziness aren’t the issue, rather your goal may lack a sense of personal purpose and meaning. Why does this goal matter to you? What’s the point of achieving it?
If you don’t have a clear answer, it’s easy to lose interest or give up when things get tough. That’s why finding your “why” is so important. When a goal connects to something meaningful for you, it stops feeling like a chore and becomes something you want to work toward.
Ask yourself: Why does this goal matter to me? What impact will it have on my life and the lives of others? How does it align with my values? Will this goal help me become the kind of person I want to be? The answers are completely personal to each individual, but if you can find out what purpose or greater meaning is relevant to you, then you can match your goals to that purpose.
Let’s say you’re working toward learning the splits. Doing the splits is a “cool” skill to show off, but that’s probably not going to keep you motivated long-term. Instead, ask yourself: Why do I really want this? Maybe it’s because you value staying mobile and injury-free as you age, or because you love how flexibility training makes your body feel stronger and more resilient. Or if your only goal is to conquer a specific climbing route, you might feel frustrated when progress comes slowly. But if you connect it to something deeper, like the joy of problem-solving, or the sense of accomplishment from overcoming challenges, it becomes easier to stay motivated, even when you fall.
If you can find a personally meaningful goal, you’ll find it much easier to stay dedicated. Psychologist Angela Duckworth calls this combination of passion and perseverance “grit.” According to Duckworth, people with grit aren’t just forcing themselves to do tasks they don’t care about. Rather, they never give up when things get tough because they’re deeply connected to their purpose. When you know your “why,” you’ll have the inner drive to keep showing up, even on the hard days.
Part 4: Build Momentum With Flow
Once you’ve embraced the process and found your purpose, you might find yourself slipping into the flow state. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi defined flow as, “The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”
Flow happens when you’re fully present and immersed in what you’re doing. Time flies, distractions fade, and the work feels effortless (even when it’s hard) and completing the task leads to satisfaction. This satisfaction comes from building towards a more complex human being by building skills and getting closer to greater challenges.
But on days when you just aren't feeling it, don't beat yourself up. If you’re struggling to get started with a task, follow the ‘bare minimum rule’: doing something, anything, is better than doing nothing. Start with five minutes, a single set, or an easier progression. Once you’re moving, you might find yourself slipping into flow (or not, but you still did those 5 minutes).
To help yourself get into flow more often, pick progressions that build towards your milestones that are challenging enough to engage you, but not so hard that it feels impossible. Whenever you feel resistance to the task at hand, follow the bare minimum rule. Consistently doing the bare minimum will always yield more results than being paralyzed by the prospect of the “optimal” amount.
The Effort is the Reward
The truth is, satisfaction doesn’t come from the final result, it comes from the effort you put in every day. Once you learn to do a handstand, climb that V7, or achieve the splits, you might find the emotional high and feeling of achievement fleeting. Initially your inner voice might say, “if I could climb a V7, I’d be so happy.” But after a V7 comes V8, then V9, etc. After the splits comes the splits with an elevated leg. At what climbing grade does true satisfaction finally stay for good? At what amount of flexibility? The truth is, seeking satisfaction through external goals will never be permanently satisfying.
But that’s okay, because by finding goals that are personally meaningful, breaking them down into a system, and giving effort to that system, satisfaction will come instead from within. Every time you put in effort, you’re changing. You’re proving to yourself that you are the kind of person who shows up, embraces challenges, and keeps moving forward. The effort itself is the reward, and the satisfaction it gives will last.
So ask yourself: what’s one small step you can take today? Start there, and let the effort itself be your reward.