Focus on Goals, Not Obstacles: Here’s Why It Works

Okay, real talk, focusing on goals instead of obsessing over every single obstacle literally dragged me out of the darkest year of my adult life, and I’m saying this while sitting in my underwear in a Kansas City Airbnb that smells like burnt popcorn because I forgot the bag in the microwave again. Focus on Goals https://jamesclear.com/goals-systems

Two years ago I was staring down $47 in my checking account, an eviction notice taped to my apartment door in Austin, and a half-finished manuscript that felt like the dumbest idea I’d ever had. My brain? Full-on obstacle mode. Rent, bills, “nobody cares about your stupid book,” the fact that HEB stopped carrying my favorite salsa, literally everything felt like proof I should give up. I’d refresh my bank app seventeen times a day just to watch the number get smaller. Classic. Focus on Goals https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-14892-001

Then one random Thursday I’m doom-scrolling at 3 a.m. (because of course) and I stumble on this random Navy SEAL guy saying, “Don’t run toward the target, run through the target.” Something in my sleep-deprived skull clicked. I grabbed the stickiest, ugliest neon Post-it I owned, wrote “finish the damn book” in Sharpie, slapped it on my laptop, and decided, fine, I’m only allowed to look at the finish line for thirty days straight. No budgeting apps, no rent panic spirals, no “but the economy” excuses. Just the goal.

Why Focusing on Goals Feels Stupid at First (But Isn’t) Focus on Goals

Your brain hates this shift. Mine threw a full tantrum. I’d catch myself mid-cry about late fees and have to literally yell out loud, “EYES ON THE GOAL, IDIOT.” My roommate thought I was possessed. But here’s the weird part: when I stopped giving the obstacles oxygen, they didn’t magically disappear (shocker), but they stopped steering the car. I started writing at 5 a.m. before my barista shift, chugging gas-station coffee that tasted like regret, and somehow the pages piled up. https://torchystacos.com/menu/drinks/

The Dumb Little Hacks I Used to Stay Locked on the Goal Focus on Goals

• One Post-it, one goal. Nothing else allowed on the note. Mine lived on my shoe for a month because I’m extra like that.
• I made my phone wallpaper just the cover mockup of the book I hadn’t finished yet. Every time I opened Instagram to compare my trash life to everyone else’s highlight reel, boom, fake cover in my face. Focus on Goals
• Told exactly zero people the full plan. Zero. Because explaining yourself to people who are also drowning is a recipe for shared misery.
• Reward menu: every 10k words I let myself buy one (1) overpriced iced oat milk latte. I’m basic, sue me.

Yeah, the Obstacles Were Still There (And They Sucked) Focus on Goals

Look, I still got evicted. Still ate so many packets of instant oatmeal I started dreaming in cinnamon flavor. My car got towed once because I forgot to move it for street cleaning (classic me). But because I refused to let my brain live inside those problems 24/7, I finished the manuscript in 83 days. Eighty-three. I cried in a Target parking lot when I was so shocked. Focus on Goals

How to Actually Start Focusing on Goals When Everything’s on Fire Focus on Goals

1. Pick the smallest possible version of the goal that still feels meaningful. Mine was “finish the shitty first draft,” not “become a bestseller.”
2. Make the goal visually louder than the obstacles. Giant sticky notes, phone wallpaper, whatever works.
3. Expect your brain to rebel for like two weeks straight. It will. Push through anyway. Focus on Goals
4. Celebrate tiny wins like a psychopath. I danced in my kitchen to Taylor Swift when I hit 50k words and I have zero shame.

I’m not gonna sit here and tell you focusing on goals fixes everything, because it doesn’t. I still stress-eat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos when bills hit. But it does give you a North Star when the sky feels like it’s falling. And sometimes that’s enough to keep walking. https://torchystacos.com/menu/drinks/

So yeah. Focus on goals, not obstacles be damned. Try it for thirty days and come yell at me (or thank me) later.

What’s the one goal you’re gonna stop letting the garbage in your life drown out? Drop it in the comments, I actually read them while eating cereal at 2 a.m. like a raccoon. Let’s go.