Page 122 - Hard Goals

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If I were to describe the costs of my current diet, I could make
a very concrete list a mile long: I can’t eat three slices of pizza
or a bucket of wings, gotta give up molten chocolate cake, no
more dinners out at Ray’s, can’t eat fried green tomatoes with
the horseradish cream sauce, I’ll get hunger pangs in the eve-
ning, and on and on. Notice how specifi c, concrete, and long
that list is.
Now, if I were to forget all I know about HARD Goals and

describe the benefits of my diet, the list might sound something
like this: I’ll be skinny, I’ll feel better about myself, I’ll live lon-

ger and be healthier. Notice how that benefits list is shorter and
way more abstract than the costs list? If you remember back to
the “Animated” chapter where I shared with you how poor our
recall is for abstract words, it’s no wonder the benefi ts appear
meager in comparison to the costs.
By using some of the techniques we learned in the “Ani-

mated” chapter, we can go through our future benefits and make
them a lot more concrete. Instead of saying, “I’ll be skinny” we
could say, “I’ll wear those dark blue jeans that I haven’t worn
in eight years, and I’ll pair them with that slim-fi tting shirt I
ordered online in a size too small and thus haven’t yet been able
to wear.” If you’re CEO of a hospital, instead of saying, “We’re
going to a create a culture that values patient safety,” you could
say, “We’re going to report every single mistake that could have
potentially harmed a patient, even if it didn’t actually harm the
patient, and within 72 hours we’re going to learn at least two
correctable lessons and implement a solution within 96 hours
after that so that every doctor and nurse knows with certainty
that patient safety is our number one priority.” You’ll want to
literally detail every single benefi t you’ll get from achieving this
goal, and, using the techniques I gave in the “Animated” chap-
ter, make sure it’s concrete, visual, animated, and so forth.