Succeed

What Hacker News says

1. alawrenceDec 2016
   The War of Art - Steven Pressfield (unsure how I felt about this one, but it's short so worth a read)

   Deep Work - Cal Newport (recommended)

   Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (recommended)

   Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals - Heidi Grant-Halvorson (lots of great stuff in here, highly recommended)

   The Autobiography of Malcolm X - Alex Haley (I really like biographies and Malcolm X was a pretty interesting person. recommended)

   Making It in Real Estate: Starting Out as a Developer - John McNellis (meh)

   Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (I'm not big on sci-fi, so this book surprised me with how good it was. recommended)

   Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl (I'm not sure how much I got out of it, but worth it just for learning about Frankl's unique experiences and perspectives. recommended)

   Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (meh)

   Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture - David Kushner (One of those books that makes you want to lock yourself in a room and program for hours. Carmack's dedication and intellect is especially awe-inspiring. recommended)

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2. wavegeekOct 2014
   The key point which is quite valid is that daydreaming about success is not very useful. Contrary to "The Secret" and such self-help books.

   People seem to succeed if they a) Have a lot of confidence they will succeed AND b) They are fully aware that there will be setbacks, struggle, difficulties, and moments of doubt.

   Good book on the topic with academic references "Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals" by Heidi Grant Halvorson and Carol S. Dweck.

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3. JacobJansNov 2013
   There are a number of things you can do to stay focused and on task. Some of them you probably already do.

   The first is to simply have a clearly defined goal. While this is obvious, it is also easy to miss. If we don't have a clearly defined task, we don't know whether or not we've completed it.

   But even if you have a clearly defined goal, it can still be easy to get distracted. There are two primary reasons for this. The first: If you don't know what the next step is, it can be difficult to stay focused. The next time you get stuck, ask yourself how clearly you know what your next step is. If you're not sure what to do, then make sure you spend the time figuring that out.

   But what if you have a clear goal, and you know exactly what you need to do, but you're still not staying focused?

   Then you've probably got a motivation problem. The way to deal with this is pretty straight forward. Simply spend time thinking about the reasons it is important to complete the task, or achieve the goal. Don't try to trick yourself here. Be honest. If you can't find any good enough reasons to stay focused, then maybe you should be doing something else.

   In summary: Have a clearly defined goal. Make sure you know exactly what you're next step is. And make sure you have the proper motivation.

   If you're interested in this stuff, I recommend reading about the "mental contrasting" technique, as well as the book "Succeed" by Heidi Grant Halvorson.

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4. lpolovetsDec 2012
   I really liked Succeed by Halvorson, as well as Willpower by Baumeister and Tierney. The former covers research on setting goals, the latter covers research on being more disciplined. Both book are a great blend of interesting studies and practical advice.

   Amazon links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0452297710 and http://www.amazon.com/dp/0143122231

   Thorough book notes: http://www.quora.com/Leo-Polovets/Exceptionally-long-book-no... and http://www.quora.com/Leo-Polovets/Exceptionally-long-book-no...

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5. SatvikBeriMar 2012
   The book Succeed covers the topic of what kinds of optimism and pessimism help you achieve your goals pretty thoroughly (http://www.amazon.com/Succeed-How-Can-Reach-Goals/dp/0452297...). Two big takeaways:

   1. Be optimistic when setting high level, year-long goals. But be pessimistic when drawing out all the implementation details of what you'll actually have to do to achieve those goals.

   2. Be pessimistic about the difficulty of anything you want to achieve, but optimistic about your ability to conquer those difficulties.

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6. kibaSep 2011
   You may benefit from reading a pyschology book on willpower and how to reach goals.

   My recommendation is this book:

   http://www.amazon.com/Succeed-How-Can-Reach-Goals/dp/1594630...

   It cited real world scientific research and gave practical advice on how to set goal and to succeed at one's goal.

   Disclaimer: I am only aware of such knowledge, not actually putting into practice said knowledge. Currently, my only implementation of scientific self improvement is spaced repetition, which simply exploit the fact that we retain more information learned over a long period of time.

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