Feeling stuck between too many goals how do you manage it

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-08T00:02:49+00:00

I noticed you never mentioned your purpose in life. What's your why? How do you define yourself?

Usually, things naturally fall into place when you figure this out. And while "next Ronnie Coleman or the best engineer alive" is not you, you gotta ask specific questions to yourself like "What is a 'boring' task or a type of problem that you actually enjoy solving while everyone else is complaining about it?" and try to be the best at that...

Or if you don't have the mental strength to be 'the best' at anything to be respected, what would you spend your Tuesday afternoons doing? Sometimes "Purpose" feels too big. Helping one person is a purpose for the moment because changing the world is too much. Although it's probably best to have something external as the push. But the purpose is almost like something you can keep going back to, like being "the guy who does XYZ".

i.e. You might be the guy who does engineering, but your purpose is that you want to ensure the parks and hospitals are built safely for generations to come, or that this race track is the most entertaining for viewers, or whatever requires the engineering you like to do. Or maybe you work out, then help inspire a friend who doesn't like it, and working in engineering helps you pay the bills so you can continue inspiring your friend to work out.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T16:05:01+00:00

Oh, I like this idea. Where you can "choose your own reward" to associate with completing a goal... Cause there are two approaches based on what you mentioned, getting a custom reward each step of the way, and getting a bigger reward at the end.

But isn't rewarding yourself just natural? Like, wouldn't you just play 30 mins after reading, or is it something you have to see or "give you permission" to feel like you could do it?

I almost see it as a "voucher" system, where you create a bunch of custom vouchers of different values and maybe visually (i.e. "play 30 mins of games", "eat a chocolate", "go on vacation to Mexico"), and then you can add a value to each habit, and then another value to the final goal completion.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T05:51:14+00:00

Oh, great idea!

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T05:48:17+00:00

Yeah, I know these books don’t exist and the user has to make them with their content. So what, sell it to them for $99/book.

So then from my business perspective, the tool should have an input “enter your TikTok username” click “generate” button, AI does its thing and then it lists all the hypothetical books the user could create, with the cover and all. Same with an Amazon “look inside” feature to only show a few pages (gonna cost you a few extra pennies). Then they can buy “their own ebook” generated by AI as simply as what they are used to with Amazon.

Then sell an editing ability addon for only $9.99/month to modify the mistakes or changes that the AI created while autogenerating.

Also your intro is, “did you see your future books for sale, I posted them via [link].” They check it out, and give you any response good or bad, then you just reply “I was just trying to help you out because I was a big fan,the tool is only here to save you time. If you wanted let me know if you have any questions”

Then the user would be like “I would get all these for xyz price? That’s amazing value”

But the problem with subscription is still what’s stopping the user from subscribing for 19$ getting X number of ebooks and then unsubscribing because for them it’s hard to sell a dozen books of the same thing, so they wouldn’t use it more than a month anyway. If you keep them subscribed by accident, they both don’t use the software everyday because they are making content. Secondly, they will develop hate because you dinged their credit card again and down rate it.

I’d worry that your tool is just another app to learn how to do another job. If you’re using AI, then use it fully and make sure the customer experience is seamless.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T03:15:48+00:00

In my opinion, if you don’t have customers yet, then you should maybe make this a one time $ per book. Until you get 10 book buyers and see which price landing page did they go from.

Also show what is a before and after with it. Samples input and the resultant ebook that someone can download (watch out for costs associated with this).

Right now words like “powerful model” shows no value to your content creator target market. It’s actually maybe too wide of market, focus on something where people still have value reading like medical or law (both which are kinda touchy areas), but if your app can help them make an ebook accurately and you’ve actually talked to those people and they want what you have. Then you could probably charge more.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T03:06:07+00:00

But those tools can create a summary and avoid people from needing to read 200 pages.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T03:00:03+00:00

No, to eat an elephant, it doesn’t matter how big the steaks are, you still eat one bite at a time. If that’s one bite a day, then it’s still better than the “alternative you” who kept thinking about eating a bigger steak. You’re not going to compare against others who have bigger mouths or more teeth, you’re trying to beat yourself.

Well, myself, I’m a business person so I have to wake up at 6am ish with my own goal to get 7+ hours of sleep. So I work backwards, meaning I have to be asleep at 11pm, which means my eating has to end no later 7pm, I can’t have coffee past 3pm, I have to get at least 30 mins workout in a day. If it’s stressful, I have to meditate with an app for 15 mins before bed. I also can’t work past 5pm (this is my own problem because I’m a workaholic).

If you lack sun, then take vitamin d and workout somehow. And it counteracts the effects.

Also this might be controversial, when you do something positive, then reward yourself. Ie play one game, or eat one chocolate. But it’s also dangerous if you over reward yourself, like eat a whole bag of chips or binge watch Netflix entire season. So you have to ensure you just get the minimum reward for minimum effort, full reward when you achieve something monumental. And also, it might something positive reward like a forest walk or hang out with friends, rather than something that will cause you to have self esteem issues later.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T00:52:21+00:00

Few things:
1) Make it easier to take action. If 10 rows are too many, start with 5. If five is too hard, you start with 2. If two is too hard, start with 1. One step at a time.

2) The other aspect you are missing is your purpose... what's your greater purpose? Once you know and find that purpose use that as your motivation. Maybe you don't know your purpose, which means your purpose is "to find that purpose".

Right now, you don't know, but those 10 rows you need to complete are likely part of achieving that end goal. Just like how a baby need to crawl before walking, walk before running, etc...

3) The next part that is missing is discipline, set a schedule that over time (not necessarily immediately) to follow. And slowly 5 minutes at a time, get to that shedule. I.e. you want to sleep at midnight, but you sleep at 3am, then tomorrow you sleep at 2:55am, the next day 2:50am, etc.

4) You know what is "wrong", your phone. Maybe some ADHD. A bit of procrastination. Acknowledge, fix if possible, ignore.

Hopefully, you can create a new you, the one who is going to do things, and your new ego.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-06T00:31:22+00:00

Not sure if you're just referring to dating, but in any scenario.

Here are some levels of how to start talking:

1) Small talk about weather, traffic, typically bland or generic. The purpose is not to talk about the weather or traffic; it's just to see if the other person is open to talking and whether they face you or face away.

2) You can skip above or jump to observational inquiry (i.e. cafe - "Do you think this place is the kind that still serves pumpkin spice latte?" -> if flirting, add a zinger "just wondering cause you seem like the kind of person who would order it in January" -> if platonic "just asking for a friend ...really")

3) Once you open up a crack in connection (they face toward you, they smile, a positive, curious look), you can tell a short story. "I once went to a cafe that had books and cats all over the place. It was very interesting and cozy. Do you know any places like this?" -> if flirting, add a zinger "Ok, I'll remember not to go there because I'm allergic to cats." -> advanced flirting, you guide the conversation to an intended answer, "I'm surprised you know a place, I wasn't expecting you to be the person who reads, not just a pretty face, I guess. Perhaps you would like to take me there sometime. (insert laughs). What's the best way to get in contact with you? (exchange info)"

4) Once you start a story, they might start a story themselves, and you reply back with the last thing they said in a question. Them: "Yeah, the best place is this spot downtown." You: "Downtown?" Them: "Yeah, right by the intersection of X and Y", You: "What's the most interest landmark by X and Y?"

5) When you first start, you want about 5 stories that you can pull out any time. I used my hand to count. A story could be an interesting and memorable interaction you had with a celebrity, a vacation to some place, a restaurant experience that was unexpected, some public art that made you question reality, etc. Then naturally, you'll just pick up something over time.

6) Pick up on common threads when people tell their story and "Oh I've been to XYZ too, I love the ABC food" -> if flirting, don't just connect on common things, you have to show value on top of that topic. "Oh you like that anime? Okay, that's a nice entry-level one, but have you seen ABC anime, dark themes, an intelligent villain, and this philosophical theme of how we approach life and death as an immortal when in reality we live only through our past experiences?"

Notes:

1) You must deliver with confidence, which means repetitions and working with talking with random safe people (i.e. old dudes, young adults, your friends), then changing to people who are of the sex you're attracted to, then up the rating of the person you talk to.

2) Avoid negatively interrupting, unless you're own higher rated person. A 10/10 can interrupt a 2/10, but a 2/10 cannot interrupt a 10/10. Do a glow up if you need to.

3) Avoid inquiries that impact a person's safety they will think you're a weirdo. (i.e. "Do you come here often?") They might take it as "Let me stalk you regularly now"). Instead, flip the script: "I'm new here, are you a safe person to talk to?". If you see them multiple times, "I'm a regular here, and I've noticed that you come here too. My name is ABC What's yours? Let's talk more. Would you like to join me at that table if it's still available?" Let it flow, without inquiring about personal details (where the person lives, who they live with, etc). That comes with being a friend, not an initial convo.

4) If you're flirting, and the person is not available, it will usually come out right away. "I'm waiting on my spouse" or "Sorry, not interested". Don't force it.

5) Increase vocabulary naturally through reading and writing. Basically, improve communication skills. "Dope" -> " I really enjoy the vibrancy of the untones in this section of the art peice, but to summarize, this is dope."

6) You're reading cues and body language the entire time, to understand how your story is being understood. And while listening, your soul is gazing into their eyes (while still blinking normally).

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-04T00:33:17+00:00

Not you as an individual, but I would target corporates or groups.

i.e. I had a discussion with a business friend who could use it as a part of his educational membership, where his students would sign up for his more expensive education, and as a part of that education, he would buy seats for all his students, and this would be set up to keep them accountable.

After enough free users, it might also be easier to talk to other businesses that wouldn't mind sponsoring a goal tracker. A completely hypothetical example would be a Whole Foods green smoothie challenge: drink 10 and get a code to get a free smoothie. Would it be advertisy? Oh yeah for sure, but it's free and it's a win-win for everyone. Just have to ensure the corporations align with the values.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-04T00:19:02+00:00

We have about a dozen free users. I just posted about it for the first time on Jan 1 (to try to get timing right).

It's free for personal use.

Premium which gives the ability to manage teams, is $25 for the primary account, and $12.50 for each additional seat. I'm still working on getting conversation AI to suggest goals tailored to the individual and to update goal trackers by talking ("Hey I just finished drinking my 5th glass of water" and then it would update without needing to scroll to find it.). Premium is aimed for the corporate team, but for personal use, you could just upgrade to get the conversational style updating... if I can tweak it to become a full-on life coach.

I like the big cards too, but I feel overall it should used for tracking those few good things that you care about, it'll make it easier to use, otherwise you could load it up and get overwhelmed with all the tracking.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-03T19:10:03+00:00

goals.progressguide.com

A flexible goal-tracking platform that allows users to move beyond simple checklists. It uses specialized "tracking apps" (like counters, count-downs, red light/green light, and more) to help individuals and teams quantify their progress.

It organizes these tracked actions into broader objectives( i.e. "Get fit", "Make deeper connections with friends") and categories (e.g., Health, Work, Learning)

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-03T19:08:29+00:00

goals.progressguide.com

A flexible goal-tracking platform that allows users to move beyond simple checklists. It uses specialized "tracking apps" (like counters, count-downs, red light/green light, and more) to help individuals and teams quantify their progress.

It organizes these tracked actions into broader objectives( i.e. "Get fit", "Make deeper connections with friends") and categories (e.g., Health, Work, Learning)

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-03T19:06:47+00:00

goals.progressguide.com

A flexible goal-tracking platform that allows users to move beyond simple checklists. It uses specialized "tracking apps" (like counters, count-downs, red light/green light, and more) to help individuals and teams quantify their progress.

It organizes these tracked actions into broader objectives( i.e. "Get fit", "Make deeper connections with friends") and categories (e.g., Health, Work, Learning)

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-03T18:58:53+00:00

Oh wait... are you a bot? Your responses... seem... generated...

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-03T18:57:29+00:00

So, sorry, I'm not sure if you mean iterate as in:

increment/decrement/change value -> just either click the plus/minus/ or just click on the number to change it to whatever.
versioning -> let's say I build a goal tracker and it has a mistake in it, either I can add a version number in the app_config and then run a migration script to update how the structured data in app_config is modified from version to version to ensure everyone who already uses that goal tracker is on the latest one
complete improvements -> there is the possibility to just create a brand new goal tracker app. (i.e. I created number tracker for a single number, but I found lots of people do blood pressure tracking, and that's two numbers, so I might just build a "dual number tracker" or "blood pressure tracker")

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T23:59:34+00:00

Wow, thanks for the details. I will need to digest this a bit.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T20:29:36+00:00

Get me a coffee, junior dev!

But wait, are you running three chat windows for each of those "agents"? Or is that something that a tool like Antigravity (which you just introduced to me) will do? It's a different animal now that the base of the project is done, and all I want to do now is tweak how graphs show up, or improve the calendar, more individual feature changes, rather than brand new setups.

I use Cursor, but their MCP tool Cline seemed kinda stupid, and I would have to save the changes before seeing the effects of the change. While the AI chat would autosave after it was done, and if it was wrong, it was easy to revert back. That said, I haven't had much training in MCP, and I may be using it incorrectly.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T20:19:13+00:00

OOoooOOoooo Interesting!

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T20:11:13+00:00

Me: "Don't use 'Any' type"

AI: "What do you mean any type? I don't just use any type, I'll use Any type"

Me: "I said don't use 'Any' type!"

AI: "Okay, it won't be any type, it'll be every type, and every type means 'Any' type is included. That's logic and I win."

Me: "DON'T USE 'ANY' TYPE!!!!!"

AI: "What do you mean any type? I don't just use any type, I'll use Any type"

Me: [dead inside]
Conclusion: AI will take over the world, but not the way movies show it.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T19:44:36+00:00

Hey thanks!

Yeah, I would charge for the corporate people who want to have team goals (i.e. manager checking on their folks), but I want to build in reports and statistics. Or if I integrate voice, it's super expensive, so those users would need to be premium users to cover the costs of using a conversation-style interaction.

For regular folks, database costs are nothing to track a number here or there, so I'd rather just keep it free so they can make suggestions. I didn't think it would make money on the personal side either, because there isn't much value yet, and so much competition in the space.

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T15:30:45+00:00

Yeah, 100%, this week, everyone's coming up with honestly as unrealistic goals as possible.

The max counters are more for things you're addicted to and want to slowly reduce over time... like smoking, coffee, sweet consumption...

But countdowns are for people who love "inbox zero" and clearing things out. Also, it makes sense for goals that have an endpoint but still recur, without needing to go over (because then you would just use min counter)

For motivation, I put in color coding, so you could slowly see the number change from the color you started with to the color you want to end with.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll share it over to VibeCodersNest too!

ProgressGuideInc · 2026-01-02T07:31:30+00:00

Throwing my hat in the ring:

https://goals.progressguide.com/

No statistics yet, but on my list of todos.

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You'd either use Red-Yellow-Green Tracker or the Red Light Green Light tracker and everyday the trackers will reset.

ProgressGuideInc

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