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Watch out for confirmation bias. When you go into something with a predetermined thought, you will often only look for that which affirms your existing desires. You will find ways to rationalize what you want – to twist facts to justify your decisions, or to omit data that conflicts with what you want done. Instead of being objective, you’ll be more likely to look at the situation as you want it to be, not how it actually is.

Say someone you care about feels passionately about something that you also feel passionately about, but on the opposite end of the spectrum. What do you do?

Think about what you care more about. Do you care more about this individual (a spouse, a friend, a co-worker) and your relationship with them? Or do you care more about whatever it is that you are having the disagreement?

Choose what is more important to you and let the rest go. Decide when you need to make a stand, but do it only for the biggest issues. If you argue over every little thing, you run the risk of losing what is actually important (your relationship with that person).

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier

To become really good at anything, you must first determine what it looks like to be good at whatever you’re trying to achieve. Recognize what “success” looks like in that area. If possible, talk with those who are already successful. See what they do and how they do it. After that, develop a game plan to emulate their actions. Build habits that will bring you closer to your goals and then repeat those habits everyday.

There are two caveats though…

First, when looking at a successful mentor, understand that the actions that they are taking now probably do not reflect the actions that they took to get where they are now. As they have grown in their life/career, their tasks have more than likely evolved as well. Make sure that you discuss this with them to figure out how to get started.

Second, be sure to revisit your tasks or habits frequently. Just because you thought they were the right initial actions, doesn’t mean that they are still the best actions for you to be taking now.

One final note…Be persistent and resilient. Anything in life that is worth having is going to require effort on your part. It’s up to you to determine if the end result is worth the efforts leading up to it.

I love goals, but be careful to not view them as a checklist of things to do. When you have that viewpoint, many times you’ll be pushing so hard that you forget to celebrate once you accomplish what you’ve set out to do.

Life is about more than hitting goals. It’s about enjoying the journey on the way to reaching your goals, and when you achieve them, take a moment to reflect on all that you accomplished. If you immediately move on to the next one, you’ll soon realize how empty your life can become. You become so focused on the goal that you aren’t even happy working towards it. Then when you do get to it and find out that it’s not enough to make you happy, you push for the next goal, only to discover the same result.

Being goal-driven is great. It’s why we are where we are as a human race. But having it serve as the only purpose in your life is missing the point of life.

Don’t overvalue accomplishments, money, or things. They are worth nothing if you don’t have fulfillment, friendships, and love.

After you’ve achieved your goal, take a (short) moment to celebrate. Be joyful in the success that you’ve had. But don’t stop moving! You’ve just spent all of this time and energy (and potentially money) building the momentum to achieve this goal! Don’t stop doing what you’ve been doing. Set your sights on the next goal!

If you get complacent, you’ll lose all of the momentum that you have in your favor. You will have to restart, and reaching that next goal will become more difficult because of it.

Think of rowing a boat. It takes less effort to keep the boat moving than it does to get it started from a dead stop. The hardest part is the beginning. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by stopping and starting over again.