How To Achieve Unrealistic Goals
Yesterday’s post was about how to divorce yourself from outcome dependence and carry on writing and moving onto bigger and better things. The last point I made on the topic was about having unrealistic goals. I’ll elaborate on this now.
This is about writing and business (and stuff I know about) but I suppose you could apply it to most things.
Without further pause, let’s get to it.
First step: Have an unrealistic goal.
This is the easy bit. You might want to climb a mountain (not something I know the first thing about,) write your first book or start a side-business so that you can afford more books and gadgets (I do know about this.)
The important point is to make your goal somewhat unrealistic. Don’t dream about writing a short story, just do it. If you’re a professional freelance writer already and your goal is to “someday write a novel” then your goal isn’t difficult enough to be inspiring.
It doesn’t matter if you’re ever going to achieve this goal. It’s in your mind… it doesn’t hurt anyone if it’s unrealistic. In some ways, it’s more fun if you fail spectacularly. I tried to write a novel in one day a couple of months back. I could talk about that for hours!
Second step: Commit to the unrealistic goal. Commit to working hard.
If you’re a writer, then the bad news is that anyone can be a writer. There’s a low ceiling to entry, and there are a million wannabe writers born every minute.
The good news is though that most of them will never achieve perfectly achievable goals, let alone reach for the unrealistic ones. Some might pen a novel, but not many are going to go full-pulp writer and try and write one a week.
Every time something vaguely interests me, I see whether I can provide a service or write a book/website about it. This extends to subjects I know absolutely nothing about. I don’t know everything, but I do throw myself in whenever I find a new subject to write about. I’ll read academic books, try everything out and watch documentaries about the subject. Then I write everything I know about it. Then I learn more. You’re going to have to do that with an unrealistic goal… there’s no “4 hour work week” approach.
Third Step: Have a realistic understanding of what you’re not going to do.
Unrealistic goals need realistic expectations. There’s no way that all sub-ten stone of me is going to be an Olympic wrestler in the 2016 Games. Unrealistic and impossible aren’t the same thing.
Plus, I know myself. I haven’t devoted myself to physical supremacy and I’m probably not ever going to. With any project, there’ll be things that you’re not going to do.
For instance, I had an idea this week which was awesome. I even found a gap in the market which is worth a huge amount of money… but it’d require me going back to University and studying for a few years and then getting a few years’ work experience… that’s not going to happen.
Can I still do the project I originally intended to? Yes. So there’s no loss – you just have to be aware of your reality.
Fourth Step: Forget reality.
I walked right into that contradiction.
Most people confuse “reality” with a whole bunch of psychological projections. “Reality” is that voice in your head you really want to forget exists. That’s part of the reason you should choose unrealistic goals as opposed to realistic goals: your critical voice is there whether your goal is realistic or ridiculous, but it has a lot more sway when you’re talking about something rational.
People in the past have said to me, “Do you think you’re smart enough to go to University?”
“What makes you think you can be a writer?”
“What makes you think you can have a business?”
Those questions aren’t real questions. They’re projections and they’re useless. Your brain and other people and society and all those other oppressive matrices are designed to make you heed questions with very simple answers.
“What makes you think you can be a writer?”
Take a pen and write a sentence. There, you’ve done it.
Your unrealistic goal is in your mind. You don’t have to justify it.
Fifth Step: Break said unrealistic goals down.
There are people who’ve literally flown into space. There are people who’ve built multi-billion pound empires. There are people who’ve run marathons without having any legs.
How did all those people do it?
By doing something very realistic until they achieved an unrealistic result.
Every unrealistic goal, dream and vision you have is comprised of smaller actions that are perfectly realistic.
Here’s an example:
If you toss a coin, the probability of getting a heads ten times in a row is 0.0009765625%. That’s completely unrealistic. However, the probability of getting a single head off a single throw is 50%.
Aim for the single toss, not the overall goal.
Sixth Step: Destroy those little pieces one at a time.
Once you’ve broken down your completely unrealistic goal into small pieces, you’ll probably know exactly where to start. If you don’t, just start at the beginning, or start with whatever is easiest. If it’s writing a single line, then write a single line. If you can’t think of a first sentence to your masterpiece essay, then start at the second sentence. You’re going to have to write the whole thing at some point, so you might as well start at the place that allows you to start with the least resistance. You can come back to the sticking points when you’re more motivated and have momentum on your side.
Seventh Step: Constantly Recalibrate
Don’t adjust the unrealistic goal. If you want to climb a mountain, then don’t get halfway up and chicken out. Instead, this recalibration section is about making sure that what you’re doing is leading to your goal.
If you’ve been walking for three days and you’re further from the mountain than you’ve ever been, then stop and turn around. If you’ve written hundreds of pages of “background information” and drawn “eight maps of Middle-Mars” but you haven’t written a word of your epic yet, then change what you’re doing.
This is a constant process. Keep a diary and set specific times for when you’ll assess what’s working and what’s not.
Eighth Step: Keep Going Until It’s 90% Done
Once you’re 90% done with any project, it’s a certainty that you’ll finish it. All your fears and procrastination will melt away, and you won’t have to work all that hard. Achieving your goal switches from something you want into manifest destiny.
At the beginning of every project, you’re going to be running on enthusiasm and everything will seem equally easy. It’s the middle 80% of any goal which is hard. If we had a montage simulator, everyone would use it. I could say something like “take pleasure in the slog” or something, but the reality is you have to do the work. Whether it’s climbing a mountain or starting a business or asking that girl you’ve been crushing on out, you just have to do the hard work and then feel proud of yourself afterwards.
Ninth Step: At 90% Completion, Plan For Your Next Unrealistic Goal
You’re going to feel awesome and deflated when you finish something. This isn’t just related to unrealistic goals; a lot of people suffer when their favourite TV series come to an end. I remember reading a book series that I started reading when I was 12 and finished when I was 26 (hence my periodic digs at fantasy authors) and afterwards I felt really low due to the emptiness of the story being done.
The effect is massive when you’ve been working on a goal and you’ve had to motivate yourself for a long time. Suddenly, something that has consumed your thoughts is done, and you’ll feel low. The answer to dealing with this is two-fold:
- Subtly tell all your detractors that you’ve done what they said you couldn’t. (Optional, but you know you want to.)
- Start your next goal before you finish the next one.
Even if you’re just idly daydreaming, you need something to fill the gap. If it’s another unrealistic goal, then that’s even better. The important thing is to fill the mental space.
Final Thoughts
The above is a blueprint for achieving a lot of goals – both realistic and unrealistic goals. If you’re a writer/entrepreneur, then almost everything you do is going to be self-motivated. More importantly, it has to be self-driven: Motivation only takes you so far.
There will be times when you’re unmotivated, and those are the times which will test whether you’re going to succeed or not. That’s why you have to use the above system to plan out the low points before you encounter them.