Docs Concepts Keeping your word
Keep your word, at your own edge.
How to size a plan you'll keep, and what keeping it shows you.
Size from your record, and move with it.#
Students guessed when they'd finish their thesis.[26]
Finishing a thesis: the guess, and the truth
From the studyShown how long such tasks had really taken, people predicted better.[27] For tomorrow, that record is your own recent plans.[36] And people raise their goals as they reach them.[34]
Size tomorrow from your last week of plans. After a run of full clears, a little more. After misses, a little less.
Promise what you'll clear, and check it nightly.#
Doing it yourself is the strongest source of belief that you can.[8]
Where belief in yourself comes from
From the study- 1Doing it yourself, and seeing it doneEspecially influential
- 2Watching someone else do it
- 3Being told you can
- 4How your body and mood read the moment
Children given a near goal each session progressed faster and judged their ability more accurately.[38] Asked to do more each time, walkers kept it up less.[29] So the size that builds belief is the most you clear on most nights: your rate.
Plan the most you clear on most nights. That's your rate, and what Solid should mean.
Aim far. Plan at your rate.#
Harder, more specific goals get more done, up to the limit of ability.[34]
How hard the goal, against how much gets done
IllustrationPast that limit, plans are missed, misses wear belief down (ch. 3), and big promises get made, broken and made again.[35] So the aim can be far. The nightly plan sits at your rate.
Aim far. Plan at your rate, and Stretch now and then to find where your edge is.