Contrary to popular conception, they aren't idealists always mentally wandering into fantasyland. Yes, they can see well down the road, but they use that ability to keep their motivation strong. When they arise in the morning, as they brush their teeth, they think of great things to come. When they fall asleep at night, it's to content musings of the enjoyable day ahead. And, when they run into roadblocks, they remind themselves of their potential. That's what effective goal setting is really all about!
In between those brief moments, they actually have no idea what the future will bring. If you interrupted them at work, asking for predictions or odds, you'd likely receive a confused stare, or a retort: "Why are you bothering me with such nonsense? Can't you see I'm busy?" Busy thinking in the present, that is.
Top-level performance happens when you are engrossed in the moment, absorbed in the thrill of what you are doing.
Mozart once described the art of writing music as child's play. An interviewer, assuming him to be conceited, questioned the statement: "In other words, you're just that talented?" "No," explained Mozart, "concertos become art when you lose yourself in the process, like a child stringing cranberries onto a thread, one at a time, not paying attention to anything else going on around them, least of all their mother calling them for dinner."
If you want big accomplishments, unwavering happiness one of them, you need to spend a significant portion of your workday absorbed, moment to moment, in the present. Goal setting takes you out of the present.
OUTCOME ORIENTATION
Let's face it, on any given day, there are an enormous number of distractions to derail our momentum. There's no doubt that sustaining motivation is key to success.
So what is the driving force that keeps us juiced? Intrinsic value, not extrinsic reward. A gold star on your report card, cashing your year-end bonus check, moving into the corner office, a Porsche in the driveway ... they certainly seem incentivizing. But they don't hold up day in and day out; they don't generate sustained motivation. If you place a carrot at the end of your health club's treadmill, it may propel you the first time you go for a jog. Before long, though, you'll say, "Screw this; I'm going to Starbucks."
The lesson is that outcomes — byproducts of our effort — can't hold our attention to nearly the magnitude of internal rewards: the real meaning of what we do, purpose, resonance we feel when executing something the right way or for the right reason.
To that end, it is FAR more effective to focus on the process, not what you might be given if the process goes well.
EXCESS PLANNING
The fifth downside of goal setting is reduction in work altogether. Simply put: Elaborate goal-setting designs, like those espoused in psychology textbooks, take hours to build, and even longer to implement. How often do you hear of sales forces or executive teams flying off for three- and four-day retreats ... to redefine their goals, to complete "productivity" seminars? It tends to be a lot of wasted time.
Instead of pouring yourself into work that you enjoy, work that will translate into results and make a difference, spend your time writing down goals, monitoring them, reorganizing and reprioritizing them, entering them into spreadsheets and Palm Pilots. Where will you end up? No need to answer that question.
Goal setting is, at its essence, planning. The more energy you put into planning, the less energy you put into execution.
As we say in sports, "Champions get after it."
So ask yourself, are you going to transform your work and personal life with perfectionism, impatience, daydreaming, sweating after a dollar, and planning to re-plan? Or are you going to be like Henry and ditch the handcuffs?
REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY FOR SUCCESS
There's No Such Thing as Overconfidence
The best in every business are likely to strike most people as irrationally confident, but that's how they got to the top.
Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Michael Dell — they first believed in themselves, utterly, and let their belief be their guide. Sure they experienced numerous obstacles and setbacks and failures. Confidence allowed them to keep getting up and looking for ways to move forward.
Most importantly, leaders like Branson and Gates prioritized believing in the people around them. Confidence is also not arrogance, and unless your employees think that they're better human beings in general than everyone else, let them believe that they're good enough to do exceptional things.
Legends Never Say They're Sorry
Having a long or frequent memory for mistakes and a short or infrequent memory for successes is a guaranteed way to develop fear of failure. High achievers dwell on what they do well — and spend very little time evaluating themselves and their performances.
Learn from your mistakes? Of course. The road to success is full of adversity from which we can gain significant insight. The key, however, is to set aside specific, deliberate times for evaluation. Process setbacks, errors, and your performance in general only at times when you have planned to.
The alternative is to get caught up in second-guessing, doubt, and worry whenever things look a bit gray. You excel during the tough moments by having a positive blueprint to look at — and to have a positive blueprint, you have to spend a lot of time looking at the image of success.
The Best Need Stress
Classic breathing and relaxation exercises tend to undermine performances, eliminating the possibility of setting records. Think of stress as the high-level performer's PowerBar. By relaxing, you slow down the heart and keep much-needed blood, oxygen, neurotransmitters, and adrenaline from stimulating your senses and cerebral cortex.
The so-called detriment of stress is the psychological interpretation you place on critical situations, not the stress itself. If you want to perform at your best, change the lens through which you view stress. Don't reduce it — in fact, increase the stress more often.
Put All Your Eggs in One Basket
Unlikely accomplishments are born out of single-minded purposefulness. Future superstars don't get there by keeping part of their heart in reserve.
I often tell executives to stop multitasking. Multitasking is merely doing a bunch of things half-heartedly all at once. Isn't the idea to perform at your utmost? If you truly want to find out what your potential is, you've got to pour everything you've got into one thing at a time. If you hold back, you'll never know.
And if you put all your eggs in one basket and drop the basket? Guess what: They'll make more eggs, and there are plenty of baskets to choose from.
Only Wimps Weigh the Risks
For exceptional people, risk equals reward. The challenge of uncertainty is the fun of doing the job in the first place — and where overachievement lies.
High achievers do not look for the safest, most comfortable, or sure solution. That would not push them or their companies to grow. Growth is the key — something stockholders certainly understand. But growing requires going to new places and thinking new things — not succeeding at the new, but learning from the process regardless of outcome.
Michael Jordan , perhaps the most legendary basketball player of all time, based his entire performance philosophy on the notion: "I am a success because I have failed more times than anyone in history."
Perhaps you can find some of Michael in you!?