Achieving a goal brings immense satisfaction. Everyone has many goal, small or big, throughout their lives. Goals can be academic, career related and even perhaps something to do with lifestyle and romance. It varies person to person.
That dopamine rush surging in the brain when we accomplish our goals is the feeling that helps us feel pleasure, stay motivated and seek out new goals.Ā
I used to assumed that people who achieve the most ambitious goals are usually extremely smart or talented at what they do. After watching this phenomenal speech by Stephen Dunier, I was admittedly wrong (for the most part).
The greatest problem that most people face is that they fail to set their goals the right way or once they do set their goals, their approach is wrong. It has been 2 years since I watched the video and it has helped me reach some of my goals such as getting a great job, getting into my dream university and launching 2 Ā businesses. Hopefully this method can help you achieve your goals for a lifetime to come.
Here are the main tips that may help you to reach your most ambitious goals:
1-Ā Ā Ā Ā Adopt a Growth Mindset
To achieve your most ambitious goals, start adopting a growth mindset. This includes:
a)Ā Ā Ā Ā Taking on new challenges
b)Ā Ā Ā Ā Donāt give up easily and put your maximum effort
c)Ā Ā Ā Ā Viewing failure as an opportunity to learn
For those of you who donāt know, there are actually two types of mindsets, fixed and growth. The fixed mindset deems that a personās ability or skill is fixed. The growth mindset believes the opposite, that skills and abilities can actually grow, often through hard work & effort.
Fixed mindset individuals believe their skills (or lack of) are natural and they are born with it. The growth mindset individuals believe they control their own ability and can cultivate & grow it over time. I recommend reading the book āMindsetā by Dr. Carol S. Dweck to learn more about growth mindsets.
2-Ā Ā Ā Ā The process of breaking down complexity into simplicity
The second tip is to break down complex tasks into more manageable & simple tasks. This was discussed by Stephen Dunier in the video. Basically, you are making a marginal improvement in your everyday life to make a larger improvement for your future.
Breaking down complexity into simplicity has two main benefits to it:
1)Ā Ā Ā Ā It reduces hesitation when faced with a new challenge or a task
2)Ā It helps by adding a marginal improvement to the overall progress of your tasks/goals
People can be overwhelmed by challenges, its complexities and the effort it requires. Imagine you are a student receiving a 5000 word assignment, due in a month. Sounds daunting, right? Now, break both the length and the process down into smaller & more manageable tasks.
First set the goal to aim to write about 250 words a day. This is much more manageable than cramming the entire assignment in a few days. Next, start with the decision to stop procrastinating and start writing. Write 1 word, a few words, a sentence, a few more sentences, a paragraph and then, a few more paragraphs. Do this every day and you will have finished your assignment in 20 days.
There you have it! By breaking down complexity into simplicity and adopting a growth mindset, you can now keep moving closer and completing small tasks to achieve your most ambitious goals in the future.
