Use One Mindset Shift to Achieve Bigger Goals
The great Charlie Munger has taught me to always invert.
So when it comes to the question of, "How can you achieve your big goals?"
Inverting this, I would ask, "What hinders you from achieving your big goals?"
When asking this way, one big roadblock pops up.
In fact, it could be the mother of all success-hindering roadblocks.
Once I name it, you will surely recognize it.
Because it's not only big, it also awaits most of us every time we seek out big success.
Here it is:
We prepare for reaching some big goal but do not account for the adversities that will cross our way.
And then, when we do meet these adversities, which are as unforeseen as they are certain to come, they take all the wind out of our sails.
But without that tailwind, we suddenly feel deflated and defeated.
As a result, we lose motivation, put our tails between our legs, and give up.
Then maybe we lick our wounds for some time, only to try for another goal with the same faulty approach.
The big obstacle, the huge hurdle that nearly guarantees the sharp drop-off of our motivation, is that we do not anticipate the struggle, or the S*** Sandwich, as Elizabeth Gilbert has quoted to call it in her great book "Big Magic".
We rather see a rosy and short path to our goal, maybe with some fourth-graders on the side, throwing rose petals onto it.
Above all, the path we see seems to be straight and clear.
But as described, this path usually does not resemble the one we encounter once we really start striving for our goal.
That one looks more like taken from a horror movie or at least a jungle-crossing epic.
Is it any wonder that we lose all enthusiasm when realizing this contrast?
Not really.
But the real question is:
What can you do about it?
Is there a way to remove this obstacle, now that you see it?
The good news is that there is one.
The sobering news is that it's simple, but not easy to attain.
Nevertheless, of course, I will share it with you here:
Step 1: Understand the obstacle. As always, awareness is the first step towards a solution. You know that already, so let's not elaborate further.
Step 2: Prepare for the "S**** Sandwich": Instead of envisioning a rosy path, envision a harsh one. But reframe the harshness as a positive learning experience. Turn what was an unexpected horror earlier into expected, whole-grain bread. It's a mental trick, and this trick is possible.
Step 3: Remove yourself from the short-term outcome loop. The more your motivation depends on immediate positive feedback, the less you can follow any long-term goal. Because as soon as the inevitable setbacks come, they throw you off a steep motivational cliff. The trick is to shift your mode of operation from needing short-term external wins to enjoying the journey itself. As I said, getting there is not easy. But the trick is simple.
Step 4: Find a deeper level of motivation: The way to do this is by finding more value in the doing, the creating, the learning, than in the immediate results.
Step 5: Keep trying and don’t berate yourself. Once you've set yourself up as described above, the next trick is to "just do it." Work like a quarry worker going into his quarry day in and day out. Do your work and find revelation in the act of creation. If the outside results are sub-par, if you get rejected as an author, or encounter only shut doors as a salesman, just move on. Do your work and look to improve your craft. But above all, don't berate yourself based on the results. Remember that you do this for the act of doing it, not for the results (this goes back to Step 4).
When you take this approach, something magical can happen.
Namely, that you start to show a degree of endurance and relentlessness that you wouldn't have thought was in you.
It comes from having a new furnace within you that drives you.
It comes from having replaced the short-term, external reward-fueled furnace with a much longer-burning, internal-reward one.
And we all have this creative fire burning within us.
With your new furnace, you tap into this vast energy and draw from it.
And THEN, maybe, but only MAYBE, another magical thing happens.
Namely, the external rewards that you had originally aimed for with your old approach arrive all by themselves.
This is nothing less than a paradox.
You refrain from aiming for the external reward, and by that, you increase the chances of getting the formerly desired result.
So let's recap.
One of the biggest roadblocks to your success is the motivational drop when you realize that the path to your goal is much rockier than you'd expected.
The solution is to expect a rocky path from the start and use some heavy mental Jiu-Jitsu to reframe the rocks as roses.
Yes, this is possible.
Yes, this IS the way.
And yes, YOU can also do this.
I hope my little five-step plan has shown you the inklings of that way.
Please, as always, let me know what you think.
Thank you, and have a great day.