What is the goal of your goal?
What is the goal of your goal?
The first quarter of 2025 is done. Has the year proceeded according to your best-laid plans?
If it has: GREAT! If not, this piece is for you.
Adaptability has been a central topic in several discussions I’ve been involved in over the last few weeks. It surfaces when things don’t go according to plan. When we find ourselves in the middle of a season of smooth sailing, there is no reason to consider a different course of action. But what do we do when we feel up against it and nothing we try seems to work?
I recently started reading Reset: How to Change What’s Not Working by Dan Heath (He and his brother Chip write great books, if you are interested). In the second chapter, he shares a brilliant thought in the form of a question: What’s the goal of the goal?
Most of us probably came into 2025 wanting to achieve specific goals. Maybe you have pursued the same goal for multiple years, but things are not happening. What to do?
According to Heath: “We can get so fixated on a goal that we miss the bigger picture. And when we lock into a particular goal too quickly, we blind ourselves to alternate routes forward that might have been better and easier.”
The importance of adaptability comes into the picture in a way that doesn’t say that we should abandon our goals but that we need to be open to considering different routes to reaching them.
He tells the story of Marisa Lavars, an Australian mother of two, who suffered severe health challenges as a result of COVID and was diagnosed with breast cancer within a short space of time. Double whammy! During this time she set the following goal: “I’d like to get fit, or fitter. To go about my daily activities without being breathless and to lose a bit of weight so I can fit into my pre-COVID clothes.” During this time she participated in a study on sticking to resolutions and achieving goals where the researchers asked her why that goal was important to her. In other words, what was the goal of her goal? She responded: “Absolutely my kids. I want to be the best Mum I can be for them and part of that is being healthy, but it also means modelling for them living my best life.”
Then came what I believe to be the kicker. They asked her: “What are 10 different ways you could achieve or approach that aspiration, other than by following your initial resolution?”
Apart from getting fitter and losing weight, what could you do to be the best Mum for your kids?
This question changed her responses dramatically. This is what she shared:
“Things have been pretty serious for us this past year. I could find some ways to bring back some fun into our lives as fun at times has been in short supply.”
“We used to have some pretty locked-in routines in the evening, where things stopped and we did some reading, writing, and maths and then I would read to them. This has been pretty pared back or hasn’t occurred at all. This would be important to get back to doing.”
“I would like to bring back music into our lives.”
Even while she was sick and receiving cancer treatment, she and her family started building LEGO sets and playing board games together. She bought nice rocking chairs to sit together outside on the stoep, creating memorable moments. As Heath says: “By reconsidering her first goal – and contemplating instead the “goal of the goal” – she was able to ensure that the progress she made amounted to something meaningful for herself and her kids”.
If you feel stuck and frustrated about the lack of progress towards your goal, this could be a valuable approach. Consider what the goal is behind your goal (the thing that is worth doing) and think of a variety of alternatives (that are doable) you can attempt to reach it. Maybe it’s exactly the right time to try something different.
If you are having a difficult time with trying something new or making progress toward your goals, get in touch. You can reach us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
At PurposeWorks we are all about Making You and Your Work Rock. Our focus is on Organisational Health and Design, Employee Centered Culture, Leadership Development and Performance Coaching. For more information on how we can help you create a work environment that rocks, develop a great team, become an inspiring leader or unlock your personal excellence talk to us at info@purposeworks.co.za.
