Motivation is highest at the beginning and end of a goal, creating a demotivating "middle problem" where we're most likely to quit. By breaking a year-long project into weekly milestones, you shorten this middle period from months to days, making you less likely to fall off track.

Adopt the mindset that "the top of one mountain is the bottom of the next." This frames success as a continuous journey, not a final destination. Reaching one major goal, like a degree or a bestseller, simply reveals the next, bigger challenge, preventing complacency and fueling sustained ambition.

Setting a specific, achievable goal can inadvertently cap your potential. Once hit, momentum can stall. A better approach is to set directional, almost unachievable goals that act as a persistent motivator, ensuring you're always pushing beyond perceived limits and never feel like you've arrived.

Hormozi suggests that a lack of motivation often stems from goals being too small, not too big. The goal of breaking a world record and hitting $100M was so significant that it excited the team and justified the extreme effort required, whereas a more "realistic" goal might not have inspired the same commitment.

To tackle an overwhelming challenge like El Capitan, Honnold breaks it into manageable pieces. He spent years scouting, rehearsing, and mastering each section with ropes before attempting the whole. This demystifies massive undertakings, turning them into a series of achievable, less intimidating steps.

Big goals are inspiring at first but quickly become overwhelming, leading to inaction. The secret is to ignore the large goal and focus exclusively on executing small, daily or weekly "micro-actions." This builds momentum, which is a more reliable and sustainable driver of progress than fleeting motivation.

Pursuing huge, multi-year goals creates a constant anxiety of not doing "enough." To combat this, break the grand vision into smaller, concrete milestones (e.g., "what does a win look like in 12 months?"). This makes progress measurable and shifts the guiding question from the paralyzing "Am I doing enough?" to the strategic "Is my work aligned with the long-term goal?"

A 200-hour annual volunteer commitment felt daunting. By reframing it as just four hours per week, Crisis Text Line saw an 8% increase in productivity. Smaller, proximal goals create a 'goal gradient effect,' where motivation increases as you get closer to the finish line, making progress feel more immediate.

To achieve a massive, long-term goal like building a company, break it down into a single, specific, weekly metric (e.g., "grow subscribers by 3%"). This radical focus on a micro-goal forces intense daily action, eliminates distractions like side hustles, and makes an audacious goal feel approachable.