Are Your Goals Ambitious or Lazy?

I fervently believe and advocate that to achieve our objectives, both in personal and professional life, we must learn to set goals. I am aware that what I am saying may seem simple; however, many people think that defining a goal is merely writing down what one wants to achieve on a piece of paper, and that's it. They are unaware that it is a more complex process.

For example, in the work environment, when we set a goal for the team to be achieved by a certain period, we need to identify and map out the paths we will use to accomplish it. For this, we must understand the degree of difficulty and whether we—alongside the team—possess the necessary tools to put theory into practice.

However, for me, the problem lies precisely when we achieve goals too easily or too quickly. You might be wondering: but isn't that a positive thing? Not always. In some cases, it may demonstrate the employees' commitment to achieving the expected result, but in others, achieving the goal with such agility may signify that it was a lazy goal relative to the team's potential.

A goal I consider lazy is one that we are almost 90% certain we will achieve, no matter the path or tools, but we insist on defining it so we can check it off at the end of the year and say it was accomplished. This behavior should no longer be adopted by companies, as it gives the false impression of a challenge met when, in reality, there was no challenge at all.

The importance of having clear and ambitious goals is not a new topic. From 1979 to 1989, Harvard University asked its graduates: Have you set clear, written goals for your future? Have you made plans to achieve them? Only 3% of the graduates had clear, written goals with action plans; 13% had goals but not in writing, and they also lacked action plans to achieve them. The other 84% had no specific goals other than finishing the school year and enjoying the summer.

Ten years later, in 1989, the researchers interviewed the same people again. They found that the 3% who had clearly defined, written goals and plans were earning, on average, ten times more than the other 97% combined! This only goes to show the importance of what I am discussing, and that ambitious goals can indeed make a difference in the results we hope to achieve.

This is a concept embedded in management that adopts OKRs—Objectives and Key Results—as it helps you avoid what I consider lazy goals and impose more ambitious ones. Of course, I am not saying to set things that are impossible to achieve, but the moment we raise the bar, we begin to explore different skills.

OKRs will greatly assist in this process because, by working with shorter cycles, usually three months, they make it possible to identify any potential errors in the strategy execution plan. This way, it is feasible to recalculate the route, always remembering to work towards results with focus and clarity to meet the goal within the previously established timeframe.

As Steven Kotler says, some goals are impossible, but others are impossible until someone achieves them. Focus on those!