Tony Robbins says people fail at goals because they obsess over how before they know what they want or why it matters. Start with those two, and the how becomes obvious. Your reasons might be practical, altruistic, or competitive, but they have to be strong enough to move you.
Chapters
People think they have to know how. I call it the tyranny of how you get all excited, I'm going to do this and then your brain goes, I've never done it before, oh my God, what did I say? I don't know how to do this. And they tend to focus on how to do it. And when you start with how, you're screwed if you can figure out what you want and why you want it and you get strong enough reasons, reasons that'll drive you late at night, it'll get you up early in the morning. And the reasons are different. Some people do it for nitty gritty reasons. Some people will do it like we almost all do it for something more than ourselves. Some people do it because they like winning. So my life is really about learn from the best. But I don't start with the how. I start with the what and the why. And I think that's the mistake most people make.