Encouragement:: Realistic Goals = Bad
Thursday, March 22, 2012 How many of you set goals? How many of you set realistic goals?
I'm reading Tim Ferriss', The 4-hour Workweek and it's been so enlightening. I'm about a third through the book and so far I've learned so much.
I've set goals before, but not the way that he has described. I think so many of us take the easy way out and set very realistic goals. We can check them off our ever growing checklist and we feel like we've accomplished something. Does this sound familiar? I personally LOVE seeing the check mark next to completed items.
What I love about Tim's view of goals is how he relates it to your competition. I have to agree with him when he says "The level of compeition is far fiercest for "realistic" goals." He says it's easier to make $1M than $100K. Would you agree?
If you have a huge goal that you have set for yourself...you should be shaking in your boots. If your not - it's not big enough. Have you heard that before? When your goal is huge - does it get your adrenaline going and you think you can conquer just about anything? Well, that's what gigantic unrealistic goals do - they get your adrenaline going...it's builds excitement.
If you have a bunch of realistic goals - that you could accomplish in your sleep, you are No. 1, not going to push yourself to complete them, No. 2, going to get board really easily, and No. 3, they will only fuel you through the first or second task and then you're done.
Think about when you're at work and your boss walks in to talk to you about a new project. You're going to really have to push yourself out of your comfort zone to complete it. You get excited, your motivated, you want to roll up your sleeves and dig in.
If you're looking for business, are you going after all the little fish out there? There is a ton and you know what, that's where everyone is. The new goal should be to go after the more unique or bigger fish - there is way less competition there.
So let's go out there and set some unrealistic goals and see what happens. I think you might surprise yourself. I would love to hear about some of the goals that you have set.
4-hour workweek book, Encouragement, goals, tim ferriss in Encouragement 
Reader Comments (7)
Great thought provoker. I just did some goal setting this week, and apparently, they are too small! Thanks for the kick in the pants :-)
I LOVE IT!! It's totally true ! I I totally proved that many times, and every year my goals are getting bigger despite the fact that some people think I'm a bit too excited about life :) . Thank you so much for putting this together, I'm posting this on my FB - that's the solid prove that I'm not crazy ! Dreams can become reality, especially when we get that fantastic adrenalin rush that makes go 24/7.
Great post Caryl - Thanks!
Vey inspiring post! I feel like i'm ready to take on the world, or at least go after the bigger fish, after reading this!
Nikola
Thanks for the motivation!
So glad you all liked this. I'm working on my super crazy unrealistic goal that is going to get me so fired up too. :)
LOVE this & YES I do have a goal that scares the CRAP out of me but I'm ok with that! =)