Tag Archives: goals

How goals can be limiting: or, how I failed myself by achieving a goal

In my last post, I wrote two short stories about two goals that I had in the past that resulted in different outcomes.

The first was on my failure to make the California state track & field meet in high school, and the second was on how I accomplished my goal of getting at least 3-4 top-tier conference papers in grad school.

I should be happy with reaching the second goal. However, in retrospect, I don’t feel very good about it. In fact, I mentally beat myself up about it sometimes.

Why?

Because I failed myself in the process of achieving the goal.

Here is how.

Two problems with goals.

Goals can be highly motivational, but they can also have unintended negative consequences. Here are two that I experienced.

First, the goal may shift your priorities, and cause you to optimize for reaching the goal instead of optimizing for what you should really focus on.

In my case, the focus on paper count negatively changed my priorities. Instead of focusing on finding the big problems, I quickly learned how to spot ideas that were highly publishable. Instead of examining the problems as thoroughly as I could, I did the minimum amount of work necessary to create the data for a paper. In academia, we call these LPUs (Least Publishable Unit). I became very good at creating a LPUs around novel and publishable ideas.

This isn’t good. I would have served myself better by finding big problems and tackling them as thoroughly as I could.

Second, by attaining the goal, you may actually fall short of your potential.

Partway through my PhD, I transferred from the University of Colorado to Northwestern University. My expectation was that I’d graduate in 3 more years at Northwestern. I left Colorado with one top-tier paper under my belt, and hit Northwestern in full stride. In the first year there, I got two more top-tier papers.

Yes, that means I reached the goal!

So what did I proceed to do? I got comfortable. The next year, I published one paper, and the final year, I got a short paper into a top conference. I count all of those as 4.5 top-tier papers.

I blew past the goal of 3-4 top-tier papers, but when I look back on it now, it doesn’t feel good. I know I could have done way better than that if I continued to push.

My goals and their unintended outcomes.

I’m not ashamed of my grad school days. I am pretty proud of the progress, and still like some of the work I did. But I know I was capable of more, and I hate knowing that.

You remember the first goal of making the California state meet? The one where I failed?

The funny thing is that I regret not making the state meet, but I don’t regret anything else about it. I certainly don’t feel bad about the failure. I know that I trained as hard as I could, and I feel confident that I didn’t leave much at the table.

In short, my failure was a success, and my success was a failure.

I’ve learned my lesson.

These days, I don’t focus much on goals anymore.

I focus on execution. I focus on learning. I focus on my craft. I focus on being good. And then being better than that. And then better.. and better..

When I work this way, I’m always proud of myself. I don’t say it in a trite “feel-good” sort of way. I feel genuinely proud because I am trying as hard as I can.

What else can you ask for?

Occasionally, I’ll hit a milepost (which could be considered a goal). I acknowledge it, and then pat myself on the back to celebrate the progress. But then I keep moving forward because moving forward is the right thing to focus on.

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P.S. This is post number #21 in a 100 day blogging challenge. See you tomorrow!

Follow me on Twitter @alexshye.

Check out my current project Soulmix, your daily mix of food for the soul. Request an invite now for free access to the public beta!

The simple secret to achieving your goals

achieve-all-your-goals

I recently wrote a recent post on the simple secret to creating new habits.

For those who missed it, or are too lazy to read it, here is the quick one-line summary: change your wants to wills.

It really is simple. If you have decided that you will create a new habit, then it is decided. In the last post, I decided that a blog post will get published each day. So today, there is no doubt about it. I procrastinated until the end of the day (again!), but now I am writing and it this post will get published.

Today I’m writing about the simple secret to achieving your goals.

Guess what? Same answer. For the same reason 🙂

Now don’t go about setting ridiculous goals. You aren’t going to fly like Superman tomorrow. But in general, the simple trick holds true.

I could just end the post here, but I’ll finish up with two stories.

1. Grad school and the publication bean count.

I entered grad school with the dream of ending up as a professor. I did all my background research and came to the conclusion that most professors at reputable schools had finished their PhD with 2-3 top-tier conference papers. I figured that since I was at the University of Colorado (which wasn’t a Stanford or M.I.T.) it might help to up that count. So, I made it my goal to graduate with 3-4 top-tier conference papers.

I’ll spare you the montage of all of my hard work. But, surprise, surprise.. at the end of my PhD, I accomplished my goal. I came out with 4.5 top-tier papers (one was a short paper), and was in a perfect position to go after faculty jobs!

Why did it happen? Because it was decided and I did everything under my control to make it happen.

(There is much more to the story, and I’ll write about it some day.)

2. The California State track meet.

I high school, I was a track & field junky. I did sprints and jumps, and specialized in the triple jump (I used to have some hops as a kid). My senior year, I decided that I was going to make the California State meet.

Again, I’ll spare the montage, but I was super hardcore with workouts everyday, and 2-4 hours in the weight room after workouts.

Top 3 in each section would go to state and in the sectional semi-finals, I had placed 3rd! In prior invitational meets, I had placed as high as 2nd. That means technically, there was a good chance I would go to state.

Unfortunately, the day of the sectional final, I had a bad day. The bad day, coupled with the flaring up of a prior injury (I got plantar fasciitis during the season), turned into a 5th place result.

FAIL.

Sorry, I lied. You won’t always achieve your goals.

Still, you might get pretty damn far. And I believe that I did. Hey look, I once was one of the top 100 triple jumps ever within the section. I also was MVP. (And now, I’m reminiscing about those good ol days.)

Even though I didn’t reach the goal, I’m proud of all the hard work that I put in. Building a hard work ethic always pays off, as it did when I decided to work hard in graduate school and get those publications.

Anyways, the message is the same.

You may not always achieve your goals, but you’ll put yourself in the best position to achieve them if you change your wants to wills, believe in yourself deep in your core, and then act like it.

Like the classic video below, you got to want it like you want to breath.

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P.S. This is post number #20 in a 100 day blogging challenge. See you tomorrow!

Follow me on Twitter @alexshye.

Check out my current project Soulmix, your daily mix of food for the soul. Request an invite now for free access to the public beta!