“How are your 2020 goals looking?” I asked a client I might take on.
“A complete disaster, “ she said.
Not surprising.
Her business is directly tied to public appearances, which in a world of social distancing is equivalent to leprosy.
“Just the last two weeks our business is 90% off forecast,” she added.
That’s why forecasts are useless…
Now, don’t get me wrong, of course there’s real value in long-term planning…
And all of my methods are built around projecting out your Grandest Reality.
The problem is we fool ourselves into believing we have any clue what the future holds.
The human brain HATES uncertainty, and does anything it can to “create” stability.
Yet as I say in this video, I can’t know if my heart will be beating by the time you’re watching this!
Still, how much time do we spend thinking we can plan our careers, businesses, lives?
“Where are their crystal balls now?”
I asked her.
All the economists and analysts and others she spends time around pontificating about where the world is headed, I was referring to.
Right after the credit crisis.
After nearly EVERY single economist failed to predict the bigger recession in history…
We then asked the same people, “Where do you think it’s headed?”
Of course it’s not any of our fault.
Who could have predicted the world would collapse in weeks due to a biological agent?
Some things are completely unknowable…
Like the future!
That’s why basically all goal setting frameworks are completely useless, especially in times of massive uncertainty.
If you think you need goals to be specific, measurable, clearly defined, and all that jazz, where are your goals now?
“How is an airline to predict capacity this week, let alone 6 months from now?” I asked her.
So what do you do?
In the face of massive uncertainty, how do you keep moving forward?
“My work was built for this sh*t”
As I talk about in this video.
See, coz when I stepped back and started asking, How do you create the career and life you truly want?
I was actually asking a much harder question—
What do you want?
Truth is people like us, we crush goals.
Put a target in front of us and we’ll drive a truck straight through it.
But where nearly all of us can get stuck is driving forward without a clear target.
Not knowing where we are headed.
Not knowing what is valuable action.
Not knowing whether this is the right or wrong move.
We can easily get stuck like that proverbial deer, not fight or flight, just frozen.
This is when goals matter most
But not long range goals or strategic planning crystal ball gazing…
That’s all stupid, especially right now.
What matters most are the goals you, and if it’s your business, your employees, are focused on right now.
Today.
This hour. This minute.
It’s easy to get caught up in all the noise…
Get stuck in the fear of not knowing.
And also just as easy to stop thinking about all those things we can’t know…
Set goals for what matters most right now in your business, career, life…
And get yourself absorbed.