Big Goals -  The Science of Setting Them, Achieving Them, and Creating Your Best Life

Caroline Adams Miller, MAPP

One Quote

It's hard not to wonder where we might be today if Follett and Gilbreth had had their way 100 years ago, and the workplace had become a place where pursuit of profit was balanced with a positive approach to hiring, retaining, and training workers. What if goals had been more collaboratively set with worker autonomy in mind? What if CEOs had not pushed for bottom-line profits to enrich themselves and their cronies, and had instead used some of that money to invest in workplace learning and research so that they could be prepared for the future? And what if goal setting had had a proven science - not SMART or OKRs - attached to it that included measurement of the softer skills that Follett and Gilbreth had recommended, like curiosity and collaborative decision-making? And what if that science could incorporate the types of useful research on individual differences in character strengths, mindset, willpower, priming, and gender impact that could ensure that current goal strategies are cutting-edge, streamlined, and optimized for the twenty-first century?

The good news is that the science already exists in Locke and Latham's goal setting theory, and it is universally acclaimed, but rarely included, in any of today's popular productivity approaches. Any success strategy must start with an understanding of their seminal theory, which ought to be required learning in every school in the world. It is so foundational that Chapter 3 is devoted to its elegant simplicity and examples of how you can use it, as well as some of the most daunting examples of what has happened when people and companies have reversed its main elements - "goals gone wild."

And the last piece of good news is that I believe my BRIDGE methodology is a comprehensive and structured approach that allows individuals to personalize their own goal pursuit by considering all the relevant factors that can impact outcome, like mindset, well-being, and motivation, and that does justice to the ideals promoted by Follett and Gilbreth. I will take readers through every step of BRIDGE in Part II of this book - Brainstorming, Relationships, Investments, Decision-making, Good Grit, and Excellence - complete with questions and relatable examples and supplemented and supported with this book's resources. I think everyone will leave with a blueprint to achieve success for any goal you choose to explore as you read this book.

Summary

This is a book which combines contemporary thinking about goal setting, and science-backed evidence based results. Commonly found in today's workplace, there are terms like SMART goals, and OKRs. While these can be useful models, the author asserts that they can also be holding us back. She also criticizes the Law of Attraction type thinking about big goals, noting they are not grounded in evidence. She argues for a more rigorous and ambitious model that she calls BRIDGE. BRIDGE takes academic research from Locke and Latham's Goal Setting Theory, and adds elements of humanity and relationship-based goal setting proposed by two of her heroes - Mary Parker Follett, and Lillian Moller Gilbreth - from the early 1900's. Combining GST with these relational goal-setting ideas from Follett and Gilbreth, Caroline Adams Miller proposes a unified and proven model for choosing, planning and executing on big goals.

Big Ideas

Set Big Challenging Scary Goals

One of the key arguments Miller makes is that SMART goals are holding us back. While there are different acronyms people use for the letters of SMART, they all include some limiting assumption like "realistic" or "attainable". Miller argues that in GST, one important factor for excellence and satisfaction was that goals should be outside our comfort zones. If they feel realistic and attainable, we won't be challenged enough. In other popular books, you might read about 10x'ing your goals as a thought experiment to encourage you to engage with the problem from a different angle. A similar argument is made by the author, who encourages us to make sure our goas are hard and high. They should feel a little bit unattainable. This will push us and open our eyes to different possibilities.

Goal Type: Learning vs. Performance

One important distinction that Locke and Latham make about goals is the distinction between a learning goal and a performance goal. A learning goal involves doing something you've never done before. In contrast, a performance goal is one that you fully understand because you've completed the task before. An example of a performance task is to attempt 100 burpees in 20 minutes. You know how. The author likes to call these "checklist goals" because you could make a checklist and complete the steps systematically. Conversely, a learning goal cannot have a checklist. You need to explore, ponder, expand your horizons, test, fail, try again, and learn. An example of this is completing a Spartan race when you've never tried it before. Or writing your first computer program. For these tasks, you shouldn't put a time limit on them.

Time limits, or the 'T' in SMART for time-bound, are incompatible with learning goals. The author gives examples that she calls "goals gone wild", when a learning goal was abused - either by rushing or by feigning confidence ignorantly. She points to the deep-sea capsule that imploded as one example. TODO FILL THIS OUT.

When you're considering a big goal, make sure you understand what you're getting yourself into. If you need to learn a new skill, technology, or tool, consider it a learning goal. If you're not yet sure how to accomplish the goal, consider it a learning goal. And if your goal is a learning goal, consider removing any time restrictions. Instead, keep an open mind, and create backup plans for re-calibrating your expectations when you gain new info or skills.

BRIDGE

Caroline's proposed model for setting and achieving goals is BRIDGE. (B)rainstorm (R)elationships (I)nvest (D)ecisions (G)rit (E)xcellence. To get the full effect, you can read her book, but I'll try to distill what I learned here. Brainstorm and think deeply about the goal, aligning it with your overall objectives and strategy. What relationships will you need to cultivate or form to succeed? Who needs to be on-board? Who will you depend on for support? Consider what investment you will have to provide to complete the goal. How much effort or time will it take? How much money? How much social capital? What decisions will need to be made, and who will make them? Will it be you? If so, how will you make the decisions? Consider that you'll need what Miller calls "Good Grit" - the kind that combines passion and perseverance and helps you endure the ups and downs with calm. Finally, be explicit about what will be deemed an excellent result. Be specific about the outcome and what you hope to achieve.