Page 15 - Hard Goals

6 HARD Goals

plant. And anyone with kids knows that toddlers who don’t get
their way truly believe the world is ending.
And fi nally, their goals are Diffi cult. There are no small,
achievable, easy goals for these two. Nope, they want to enter
uncharted territory, whether that’s transforming how we get
information or venturing to a spot in the kitchen that’s twice
as high as any place they’ve been before (remember, a toddler
falling off the kitchen counter is like you falling off the roof
of your house). Both situations are a bit scary, and these two
will have to learn all sorts of new skills to make their goals a
reality, but they’re both alive and buzzing with the challenge.
Whether intentionally or intuitively, Steve and the toddler
have harnessed the four essential components of extraordinary
goals: they’re Heartfelt, Animated, Required, and Diffi cult.
And thus we call them HARD Goals. When you’re emotion-
ally connected to your goal, when you can see and feel your
goal, when your goal seems necessary to your survival, and
when your goal tests your limits, your brain will be alive—
neurons literally lighting up with excitement.
This is the characteristic that distinguishes high achievers
from everyone else. It’s not daily habits, or raw intellect, or how
many numbers you can write on a worksheet that decides goal
success; it’s the engagement of your brain. When your brain is
humming with a HARD Goal, everything else you need to take
your goal and run with it falls into place. But when your brain
is ho-hum about your goals, all the daily rituals and discipline
in the world won’t help you succeed.
So why don’t the rest of us achieve our goals like Steve Jobs
and that kid who wants the cookie? The answer is because