Goal paralysis is a real thing. Creating a goal is difficult because we aren’t sure if it’s too much of one thing, too little of another, or just right. And then we have to make sure the goal following the original goal is precise and calculated and just….no.
It’s Goldilocks Syndrome every time we try to plan an extended stretch of goal crushing.
I wholeheartedly believe that a “goal” has its purpose for certain parts of our lives – like making progress with our fitness regime, working to get a promotion at work, launching a business, and what have you. However, I also think that goal-setting can become a crutch and hinder what we’re really trying to accomplish. And damnit, we don’t need one more obstacle do we?!
What we’re generally trying to accomplish is a pivotal points. What’s a pivotal point? It’s something I completely made up; well, the phrase at least. A pivotal point is a specific point in time where we’re ready to level up or make a major change. After that, we’re fully prepared for the next pivotal point which may not follow in linear succession to the previous pivotal point.
Confusing? A little bit.
Let’s loosely take a look at goal setting in the most basic of examples.
Person: Business owner / entrepreneur
Overarching Goal: To create recurring revenue in order to support their lifestyle.
Goal 1: Bring in X in profit monthly.
Goal 2: Bring in Y in profit monthly.
Goal 3: Naturally, at this point, the entrepreneur may assume they would need to hire an extra 3 people for the team. So team expansion/hiring as a goal it is.
The problem with this scenario is that all steps are based on the thought that the previous goal will be completed. This can leave us unprepared, frustrated, or frankly, just lazy. Didn’t hit the first goal? Damn. Guess I need to lower my expectations for the second goal since I didn’t hit the first one. What’s feasible here? Damn didn’t hit that goal either. Well, I don’t need to hire team members anymore. What should the next goal be?
The problem with tying goals to monetary amounts (don’t get me wrong – it’s super helpful) is that sometimes the urgency of hitting those numbers and feeling like we can’t move to the next goal until we do can actually push us to make wrong decisions for our businesses.
And so on. It’s the internal dialogue we have with ourselves when we’re attempting to goal crush.
Here’s an example of preparing for pivotal points.
Person: Business owner / entrepreneur
Overarching Goal: To create recurring revenue in order to support their lifestyle.
Milestone 1: Evaluate current revenue and pain points in revenue streams.
Milestone 2: Assess available time to put into business and adjust for more efficient work.
Milestone 3: Hit an upward trend of average products sold per day.
Pivotal Point 1: Review the past milestones and adjust overall business workflow / culture to reflect realized areas of opportunities and improvement. Shed what’s not working.
Pivotal points require a slight shift in mindset. That’s all anything we ever do is. It’s absorbing one method of doing something, and expelling it in a way that works for us.
The difference in the two examples above, is the first example contains goals that are tied to the success of the prior goals. The second example understands what the pivotal point will be and what needs to happen – ie, a complete business overhaul needs to happen if we want to increase revenue and work for efficiently – and then plans milestones to guide the process.
Once that pivotal point is hit, things will be in a drastically different place and the following set of milestones can be put into place. The main focus here is to not remain stagnant and not tie future goals to things that haven’t happened yet. Assess at each step, and then take the time to overhaul whatever it is you’re inching towards. Then step back, assess, and on to the next.
So next time you want to goal-crush, how about we map out some pivotal points and life-crush?
Do you have a unique way of creating “goals” that break the way we, as a culture, are told to focus on them? Share them below! ??
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