Measuring success

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Created: February 12, 2020 / Updated: February 17, 2020 / Status: finished / 2 min read (~258 words)

How will you measure your success over the next year?

Over the past few years success for me has been defined less by goals and more by being able to work continuously on a process. For example, I might want to get better at writing. My goal is not something like "write one technical book by the end of 2020" but rather "write technical content daily". This decreases the pressure and the need to perform while allowing me to do what I want.

I feel happier and more successful when I can keep doing the same thing over and over, even though I may have no motivation. It shows me that it's possible to accomplish pretty much anything, as long as you're willing to put in the effort.

Because I evaluate success this way, it is easy for me to track if I'm successful. I use the Loop Habit Tracker (an android app) to track whether I've worked on something I told myself I wanted to improve. My list started small and contained very mundane things such as "Bed is done", "Empty table", "No dirty dishes" and started including more and more habits, such as "Read 1 wikipedia article", "Answer 1 problem" and "Answer 1 question".

Being able to keep a good habit is what defines success to me. With the help of the app I'm able to add more and more habits without forgetting the previous ones since I'm reminded to do them at the desired weekly frequency.