I like the way the idea of a goal hierarchy as presented in Grit: one top-level goal which is the unifying theme of your foreseeable life, mid-level goals that

I like the way the idea of a goal hierarchy as presented in Grit: one top-level goal which is the unifying theme of your foreseeable life, mid-level goals that are the different topics to help your reach your top-level goal, and the low-level goals for the day-to-day life. For example to become a successful entrepreneur (top), you need to understand how to run a startup (mid), raise money from investors (mid), understand your users (mid), and that comes from understanding your cash flow (low), cold mailing tens of VCs (low), interview a user (low). Deciding and committing to a top goal is the hard part in my opinion. It means to abandon the other (incompatible) goals you'd like to pursue. But focus is the best way to go forward.