A little under two years ago, I drove 1400 miles, with my wife in the passenger seat of our two-seater car and our cat on her lap, to move from a small town in Nebraska back to my home state of California. We were excited, and eager to get the long drive over with and get to our destination, and so decided that we’d do the trip in one day rather than spending the night somewhere and prolonging the journey. Fast forward 25 long hours and we arrived at our destination, tired, a little delirious, and very glad to be off the road.

This trip was a lot like any goal-oriented endeavor. To get to California was our goal. Driving, filling the car up with gas, calming the cat’s nerves, making good conversation, and staying awake was our process. The same basic structure comprises any goal-and-process combo: a start point, an end point, and the things between (the process). All are necessary pieces, but what you direct your attention towards at any given point is going to determine your success.

I can confidently say that our 25-hour drive would have been a different story had I kept my sights on the goal the whole time. Pulling out of our small town Nebraska home in the early hours of the morning, my thoughts were not “okay, only 1398 miles to go until we get to our destination.” My attention was on what came next: drive, gas, cat, converse, awake.

While a drive halfway across the country is not exactly a remarkable feat, it stands as a prime example of the potential detriment of goal-obsessed thinking. We are all familiar with the classic “are we there yet?” roadtrip trope. It’s funny, but it’s also how we often approach our goals in life: a view on where we eventually want to be, not where we are now or where we need to be next. And this is where the problem lies. The human mind doesn’t thrive and is not driven to act by looking months or years in the future; it thrives with a view of what can be done today and tomorrow.

Here’s the deal: set goals. Write them down, make them specific, create accountability. Then, forget your goals. Put them aside. Set your sights on the steps ahead of you and get to work!

- PS

1/12/18

• Every 3 mins for 18 mins

• 400m run

• Record fastest and slowest