Picture a Slinky doing its thing down a flight of stairs. If you start it right and conditions are good, the Slinky will go from the top step to the bottom before stopping. All it required was a strong send-off, the constant pull of gravity (motivation), and an unobstructed path.
And so it is with many of the typical achievement-type goals we set for ourselves. If we make a strong start, have constant motivation, and nothing gets in our way, we can achieve those goals. Easy-peasy.
Growth goals are different. They’re more like a Slinky on an escalator. There isn’t an end to the growing we can do. The more we grow, the more we CAN grow, because our capacity for growth increases. And the more we grow, the more motivated we are to grow. Growth is self-sustaining!
The trick is, instead of a goal to achieve X, we can set a growth goal that increases our capacity to perform in area Y (which X is a part of). We’ll achieve X even while we’re focusing on growing in area Y.
For example, if achievement X is running in a 5km race, growth goal Y might be running competitively.
While we’re focused on growing as a competitive runner, we can run in a 5km race. Unlocking specific achievements are experiences worthy of note (and possibly celebration) during our growth as a competitive runner but they aren’t the end of that growth.
Nor do we want them to be! Our growth motivates us to continue growing…
