When you reach for the stars you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either. Leo Burnett
Some of you may be familiar with this quote – it has a few variations – but the essence is commendable. However, at this time of year when people’s focus should be on planning goals, pondering development action plans (DAPs) etc I would like to suggest an alternative approach.
There can be a problem with aiming big – what if it is not the right target. Also big requires committing considerable effort and brand collateral as they become engraved into your formal paperwork. Finally, I bet most will not achieve all their big goals, and some may not even start them. But as we all know, not having a list of goals (something to fill up the page), is not acceptable – so why waste this valuable space.
The alternative – what if not all your goals are of the big variety. My proposal for you is to have a few small goals, goals that can be easily achieved and are like appetisers to a more significant action/investment.
Key advantages:
1) They are a quick win and ‘put runs on the board’.
2) They require relatively little investment of time or thought but provide just enough benefit to be meaningful. This means you can do many of them.
3) They may provide enjoyable or more benefit than expected, meaning the goal can be easily enlarged / expanded into something larger.
So what could be examples … say reading a book (see the recommendations on smartengineer or ask a colleague), reading a blog or specific website for a few weeks, inviting a new group of people out for a coffee, spend 15minutes meditating (try Headspace 10 in 10days). The beauty here is you can copy suggestions from others, try new things and you never know where it may lead.
So spend a little time thinking about a few little goals, play in the mud, and give your neck a rest from looking at the stars….
