Page 152 - Hard Goals

Difficult 143

From this survey we were able to deduce that when people
are given goals that require extra learning and effort (diffi cult
goals), they are more likely to consider themselves high perform-
ers and also to believe that the work they do is important.
What’s the explanation for this? Here are two: fi rst, diffi cult
goals instill confi dence. I mean nobody is going to give diffi cult
goals to a dummy. You’d only give diffi cult goals to somebody
who had a real shot at hitting them. So, by extension, if your
boss gives you a diffi cult goal, he or she must believe you can
achieve that goal. It’s another way of the boss saying, “I believe
in you, I trust you, you’re the right person for this job.”
And, of course, this same lesson applies to parenting every
bit as much as managing. You’ve probably seen plenty of exam-
ples where parents with multiple kids are tough on one kid while
they let the other slide by not doing much (sometimes this coin-
cides with an oldest/youngest split). Of course, the kid who gets
pushed harder is ticked off at the time, but ultimately he or she
grows up to be a much higher achiever and with a deeper sense
of having been respected by the parents. The coddled kid gets
the easier path for a few years, but he or she achieves less in later
life, is less independent, and often wonders, “Why didn’t they
think I could do those things too?”
The second reason diffi cult goals work so well is that they
convey the message that your work is important. Nobody would
spend the time or energy to create diffi cult goals for work that
was dumb or wasteful. For instance, you’re not likely to hear,
“You know that report we produce that nobody ever reads?
The one that only gets produced because 100 years ago the
founder used to like to verify the calculations from his abacus;
you know the report I mean? Well, let’s convene a team with a