Do you really need goals?

Goals. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Sort of.

A little context.

I started reading…err…well…listening to James Clear’s Atomic Habits. (I’ll talk about my Audible obsession another day) . The topic of habits and how they form is not a new one. It’s been studied, the process is relatively well known (Queue, Craving, Response, Reward) and a bunch of books on the subject has sprung up over the years, most recently and notably, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. This isn’t a summary of the book so definitely pick up the book. It’s worth reading/listening to.

What intrigued me the most in Atomic Habits is the singling out of goals. And not necessarily in a positive sense. While he didn’t outright dismiss them I did get the feeling that they shouldn’t be emphasized as much and in the realm of habits, perhaps not at all.

It starts with recognizing change has 3 layers (for those familiar with the golden circle this will definitely seem familiar).

We either change the outcome (what), the process (how), or our identity (why).

Turns out, and to no surprise, we spend a heck of a lot of time focused on the outcome. The end goal. I know I’ve spent too much time trying to dream into existence a more athletic body, a higher paying a job, a new car and it goes on and on. I may have even written it down, planned it out, or pledged a new year resolution. I may have made some incremental improvements here and there but guess how many of these I’ve been able to stick to….close to ZERO. And worse, when that milestone date comes and goes or the weight on the scale hasn’t moved, I’m left with nothing more than a sinking feeling that I couldn’t somehow achieve that goal. Something is wrong with me. It’s depressing. It’s not a great feeling. And admittedly, totally affects my confidence in trying again.

It’s Everywhere

We also see this played out everywhere in society. I’m sure I’m not alone seeing people achieving something great and as the book puts it “over-emphasize the importance of that defining moment.” I think we all get it takes a lot of work for that person to achieve that moment, but we grossly underestimate what it takes for people to achieve it. Take for example bodybuilders. They take years and decades to even step on stage at a competition, but the number one reason why some people (and my wife) don’t do weights is that they don’t want to get “big”. As if picking up a 5 lb dumbbell will cause a massive irreversible muscular expansion. And for those of us who year for said expansion, are met with disappointment when it doesn’t happen immediately after picking up those weights.

We also see it in marketing across pretty much any industry. The over-emphasis of the glamourous outcome. The ease of achieving something if you buy this or that. And dreamers (I’m one of them) fall for it more often than not. Why? because the outcome that is marketed is something we would love to achieve. It aligns with a goal that we have.

An while we over-value the importance of the goal or achievement, we undervalue and some cases “dismiss small changes because they don’t matter in the moment.” There is definitely a growing voice around the importance of process but it really needs to trump the voices around the importance of the goal. Mantras like “massive success require massive action” really should be replaced with the more accurate but perhaps not as sexy “the aggregation of marginal gains”. A concept made famous by David Brailsford, former head of British Cycling. His story is briefly talked about in the book but here is an interview he did with HBR where he provides an overview of the concept.

What am I saying?

Am I saying not to have a goal? No. Its probably a good starting point. You should know where you’re going or what you’d like to achieve. But, it should be an initial thought after which you should spend no more time on it. In fact, after the thought of the goal enters your mind, all your energy should literally be then diverted to the process, the next steps, the next minutes. This is illustrated beautifully in an example that James Clear provides in the book about a plane leaving LA to New York. Shifting the nose of the airplane at takeoff by 3.5 degrees south which represents just 92 inches is barely noticeable. It turns out though, this represents a 225-mile shift which would cause the plane to land in Washington D.C. In other words, thinking about wanting 6 pack abs should probably not be proceeded by a huge slice of chocolate cake. Doh!

It’s not about the goal. It’s definitely more about the slow, steady, and consistent process. The realization that unless you are willing to incorporate some sort of process behind the goal, that goals in of themselves are worthless. In fact, you can have a great routine, enjoy it, and not have any explicitly defined goal. But it doesn’t work the other way. You can’t achieve a goal without an explicitly defined routine or process. What differentiates two people who have a goal to lose weight but only one of them does? What about all the NBA teams who have a goal to win the championship but only one can? What do people who achieve goals actually do differently?

This is only the start.

So the goal should be the least of your worries. It’s really about the process and more than that about who it is you want to be i.e. your identity. I’ll leave you to grab James’ book to read on about the identity layer and the rest of the very useful tips about developing the types of habits that will make the process stick. Until then let’s focus on the process so we don’t completely miss our landing.

K.