<ul><li>Middles can feel like they're never going to end.</li><li>Two tricks to help: look back and flip perspectives.</li><li>Use weekly goals instead of monthly goals and stay the heck away from annual goals.</li><li>Perspective shift: think about who you are instead of how the project is going.</li></ul>

Beware The Long Middle

When we spend more time thinking about the future, we make better choices in the present.Think about the total effect of being the kind of person who routinely takes those easy ways out.A study showed that when a behavior is associated with an identity we don't want to hold, we are far less likely to keep engaging in it.

Think About Your Future Self

<ul><li>The sunk cost fallacy is the human tendency to keep working on something simply because we've already invested in it.</li><li>This can be a negative because it can lead us to throw good money after bad.</li><li>With our goals, it can also be a positive.</li><li>By regularly reviewing your progress, you can activate the sunk-cost fallacy and resist the urge to quit.</li></ul>

Monitor Your Progress

<ul><li>Frame goals as an "end", not a "means".</li><li>Keep goals abstract.</li><li>Set "Approach" Goals, not "Avoidance" Goals.</li><li>Make goals intrinsic, not extrinsic.</li><li>Do something because you want to, not because you have to.</li></ul>

Define Goals Properly

<ul><li>Set a number - an exact number allows you to track progress and adjust effort.</li><li>A disproportionate number of runners finish races under the target they set for themselves.</li><li>Another good trick is to set multiple early deadlines.</li><li>Choose a target that's difficult, but doable.</li></ul>

Set A Target

How do we get motivated? The latest research has secrets that can help us get going and get things done even when we don't feel like it...