Goal Posts
This is a post about how we make goals work better for us.
It’s hard to make an argument against the virtues of setting goals. They give us direction and they help us make decisions. They make us feel in control and can give us a sense of purpose.
But are the traditional ways we set goals really all they’re made out to be? Sometimes we don’t even try to set them just because we are afraid of not reaching them, or anticipate what it might feel like if we don’t. It’s better to just wing it, then, right?
Or we envision ourselves crossing the finish line so often that we forget why we started in the first place, only to realize it’s not a realistic outcome. This is demotivating, strips enjoyment out of the work we do, and definitely does not help us do our best.
Of course this isn’t revelatory information. There are countless frameworks that exist to help us improve our goal-setting to address these problems, make sense out of our “why” behind each milestone, hoping to attach some meaning to what we’re doing. But too often, these frameworks still cause us to get stuck on the finish line, and not on the parts that have the potential to change how you work and see the world.
We hear the words ‘process over outcome’ all the time, and there’s evidence that it works - but I suspect there is some fuzziness on what that really could mean. It’s easy to say that in your classroom students are encouraged to de-emphasize the end result and instead, focus on their learning, what it takes to get them there. But is it true?
Our belief is that the reason process over outcome works, if we really commit to it, is that it leads you to set goals based on your attention, rather than a logical framework (or fallacy?).
And it’s that commitment that is the key. Because the most important goal of them all is focus. Instead of working backwards from a large goal, with focus you can progressively work towards it, layering in smaller goals on top of each other as you go. There is a serendipity to this kind of working that allows for discovery and growth - something that traditional goal-setting tends to take away from us. It can be the difference between feeling like something is a requirement to get through, and a challenge to solve.
So, rather than overthinking, let’s start by setting the first goal of focus.
What is your current skill level? With focus, you can observe it. You can understand what it takes to push yourself too far and just enough. You can become a master at assessing when you need help. Or when you’re okay on your own. In short, you can develop the kind of self-awareness that allows you to more easily layer in goals that appropriately stretch you and prime you for flow. Focus, and re-focus as you go.
Because, you see - what if thinking about goals as static - as goal posts - is our real problem? What if the grand, immovable goal stuck in the ground is really to blame for our struggles with motivation? Or for the way enjoyment in learning and the alignment of work and happiness consistently eludes us? What if all we have had to do this whole time is…move the goal posts around early and often?
Here’s an alternative method to consider. Start by accepting time as a working constraint. The easiest way to break yourself out of other methods of goal setting and use focus as your guide is to accept a time constraint. Especially a really short one. Short enough to make it impossible to hold onto your existing outcome-oriented goals. Set new goals based on what you can do in that time alone. When the timer is complete, repeat the process again. Voila! You are now focusing on the process towards the outcome.
Focusing helps you really reflect on what is realistic, and what isn’t, the way you view your own skills, how long different tasks take you to do well, how you think about the work you’re doing, how you could approach it differently, how you might change it - the list goes on. With focus you are progressing towards a meaningful experience. One that might change how you look at work and learning, and your time.
This progression has been the missing piece we’ve now built into Focusable. So we’ve decided to call the entity that enables it the Progression. Creating progressions is the essential act of using Focusable.
We are excited about starting the first beta cohort this week - a ‘goal post’ of its own sort. But one that we think is just another step in the progression towards a new era in attention.
We’d love for you to click here to share what you’re thinking in our Twitter Community, as well as connect with other optimalists. 🐠
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💬 #Optimalist Chat
On Aug 4, we asked the question What Are the Challenges of Traditional Goal-setting in the Classroom? Thank you to Pamela Hall and Keith Piccard for leading us in the discussion, and to the entire #Optimalist community for showing up and lending their ideas. This is how real change starts.
As always, you can just search the tag #Optimalist on Twitter to follow or participate! The next chat is on Aug 21 at 8:30pm ET.
📚 Book Study
For the last three weeks, we have been reading and discussing Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi with educators of the Optimalist community. We’d like to share some of the thinking and writing that has already been inspired by this group and the ideas we are exploring in the book.
How to Achieve Flow & Keep It by Pamela Hall
ResonanceEd Newsletter by Krista Leh
And a peek into the ways some Optimalists are reading…
📰 The Optimalist Recommends…
This month we are doubling-down on our studies of effort, focus, & goals, which is likely obvious by now. We recommend this episode of The Huberman Lab podcast, which helps us understand that to reach the optimal experience (in learning or life!), we have to learn to control our motivation by spiking dopamine from effort itself.
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