🌚 Shoot for the Moon (1/4)
Setting the right goal is half the battle won.
I’m a big-time advocate of learning by doing. I don’t set a consumption goal; I set a creation goal. Here’s my process:
Calibration
The first step of defining your goals is calibration. What’s the area that you’re looking to improve in? What can you already do? e.g. You might fit into one (or none) of the following:
A) The last time I tried to run, I ran out of breath.
B) I ran a 5k once.
C) I frequently go on 10k runs.
Writing them down makes it real. You get a clear picture of where you stand. For each area that you calibrate, you’ll realize one of the two:
1. I’m right where I want to be.
2. I want to grow.
Continuing the running example, you might come up with the following:
A) The last time I tried to run, I ran out of breath.
1. This is okay. I don’t want to invest time in this.
2. I want to become fit. My current state is unacceptable to me.
B) I ran a 5k once.
1. This is okay. I’ll never have a need to run more than this.
2. I want to run a marathon. It’s still a long way.
C) I frequently go on 10k runs.
1. This is okay. I’ve already pushed my body limits too much.
2. I want to run more!
This step helps you to internalize that you’re competing only with yourself. Your goals might be very different from your friend. And that’s okay!
Setting Goals
Now, there will be some areas that you’re already content with. Congratulations!
For the other areas, define a moonshot and a corresponding MVG.
Moonshot
As the name implies, moonshots are your long-term goals. It can be as big or as small as you want. I generally go big while setting these goals. If I am shooting, I might as well aim for the moon. It’s helpful to know your aspirations, to serve as the north-star to your life. e.g. You want to run a marathon, or write a book.
MVG
I define a MVG as a minimum viable goal, i.e. the smallest goal that you still haven’t achieved yet. To arrive at it, use the slice-and-dice approach.
Say you want to run a marathon. Can you already run a half-marathon? What about 10k? 5k? For starters, 3k (or even 1k) could be a good MVG.
If you want to write a book, publishing a blog post would be a MVG.
Pushing your Limits
The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.
Use it to your advantage, by steadily increasing the difficulty of your next MVG to lie in that sweet spot of challenging, yet achievable. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you hit your limit. A limit is just a mental barrier that your mind subconsciously restricts you with.
e.g. After running 5k many times, you might put off gunning for 10k. But that’s your moonshot! You can define your MVG to be 6k. Didn’t work? Define your MVG as 5.5k. I promise you that’s achievable. Now go and do wonders.
Think of moonshots as zooming out from your current position and taking a bird’s-eye view of your life. It’s important to look at this compass from time-to-time as this is the foundation of everything. You might be paddling hard, not knowing that your boat is headed in the wrong direction. You don’t want to waste your efforts, do you?
Goals vs Systems
There’s this recent notion (by James Clear) that systems are better than goals. I disagree. You need goals to define a general direction that you want to move in. You need goals to push yourselves out of your comfort zone. You need goals to measure your progress. You need goals to start.
This is part 1 of 4 of my learning process. Next up is Skin in the Game.
Until We Meet Again…
🖖 swap