Welcome to Module 2, Dreaming Up Your Future.

To consistently achieve your goals, you need to focus both on what you want and how you’ll get there. It’s easy to forget one or the other. Let’s distinguish between the two—it’s almost like a superpower.

Before moving on to the next lesson, do the workbook exercise.

Video transcript

[00:00:00] In module one, we got a sense of where you are, of what's going well, of what's not going well, and we spent some time organizing your life. That makes now a great time to move on to the next phase of Big-Picture Productivity, which is setting goals, clarifying your goals, getting really clear on where it is that you want to go. Right. We know where you are now. It's about where you're going to go. And we're going to start here.

[00:00:26] We're going to start with the key distinction between what it is that you want and how it is that you're going to get there. This is such an important distinction. Let's talk about it. Your goals represent what you want. OK, so if you're setting a goal, you're saying this is where I want to go. That sounds really simple, right? That sounds super, super simple. And your action steps represent how you're going to get there. OK, so, so far, I think you're with me, right? We have goals, which is what you want, and we have action steps, which is how you're going to get there.

[00:01:00] However, while this is a really simple concept, it's super, super easy to get stuck focusing too much on one and not enough on the other. So if you're focusing on goals without action, you're just daydreaming. You're saying I want to lose weight, but, you know, you don't do anything about it. And so it doesn't happen. Or you're saying I want to grow, like, double my business’s revenue. Right. Great. That's a nice goal. But if you're going to do anything about it, it's just daydreaming. And a lot of the times people get stuck here, especially around a New Year's time. People are making New Year's resolutions this year and finally going to this this year, finally, it's often goals, it's often dreams. But we get stuck, right? We don't take action on it.

[00:01:41] Conversely, if you're taking action but you don't have a good goal in mind, you're just throwing shit at the wall. By the way, I hope you appreciate my attempt to make an emoji sequence of throwing shit at the wall. I don't know if—this is the best I could do, really. You know, you're—you have no purpose. You have no direction. And this is the case for a lot of folks, too. And I think for a lot of people, it's actually true simultaneously that you have some goals not taken action on. Right. But you are taking a lot of action. You're doing a lot of work and doesn't really contribute to one of your goals. Right. So we want to make sure that neither of those is the case. We want to make sure that, you know, oh, hey, I want to go this way and I know what steps I have to take to actually go this way. Right. Or maybe maybe a better way of saying is I want to go from A to B, and I kind of have a sense of what the path is going to be.

[00:02:28] Now, we talked about the architect versus the archeologist earlier. So you know that you don't necessarily need to see the entire path from here to wherever it is that you want to be. You don't need to see the entire path. You need to have a general sense of the direction in which you're going. If we're thinking about the archeologist, right, you need to have a sense of where you're going to start digging. It's just another way of saying it. So let's do a couple of examples between the what and the how, because this is such a key distinction and I really want to drill this in your head, almost, I want to say, like a drill sergeant, you know, it's so important.

[00:03:03] So let's let's take an example of a what, which is let's say you want to reach a net worth of one million dollars. OK, that's a what. It's like something you want. That's a goal, right? So on the left hand side—we could also call it goals—how might we translate that into a how? Like, what's something you're going to do about that? What is an action step you're going to take on the right hand column? We can call this action steps instead of “how” as well. It might be to learn how to invest in index funds. Right. We could get even more precise on the how, but it's already a lot more precise. It's something that you can do to help you reach a net worth of one million dollars.

[00:03:37] Another example, let's say you want to publish your first book. That's a “what”, that's a goal. Something that you want. How are you going to achieve that? Well, one action step might be to schedule a meeting with a publisher. Obviously, some things need to be in place for a publisher to be willing to meet with you to discuss publishing a book. But you get what I'm saying right. It's an action step. Like I said, “what” might be, oh, I want to lose weight in, let's say, 10 kilos of body weight or something like that. Right. It's a great intention. It's a great goal, but it's not going to happen on its own. So what actions are you going to take to make it happen? Right. So one might be to schedule an intake session with a personal trainer, okay?

[00:04:15] So for a long time, one of my goals was to get stronger, to build muscle. And it really wasn't happening. And at some point, I actually did schedule an intake session with a personal trainer. And that was about—it was August of last year. We're now in May. So I guess we're like nine months or something like that. And now it's happening. You know, I'm getting stronger. I'm building muscle. I'm very happy about it. You know, for many, many years that didn't happen. I mean, maybe like ten years I was claiming that this is something that I wanted to do, that this was a goal of mine. But I got so stuck in that goal phase, you know. Finally hired a personal trainer and guess what? Super nice. You show up, do what the trainer says, you know, build muscle, gain weight, OK. And get stronger. I mean, it also, you know, I have to make some dietary changes. Right. But you get what I'm saying. It's so important, such a crucial distinction. The what and the how, to not get stuck in one with the other and to make sure you've got both. OK.

[00:05:10] So one more example. Let's say, you know, you're working twelve hours a day. You don't like it. You want to stop working that much. Want to stop working twelve hours a day. How are you going to do that? Well, one thing you might do is identify your deep work and delegate all your other work so you can focus on your deep work, which you can't do for twelve hours a day anyway. And in fact, that's one of the things that we're going to do later in this course. OK, so we're going to be figuring out what is your deep work, most important, most valuable work if you're not. Familiar with that concept, don't worry, we're going to talk about it, but that's an action step that you can take. Will it maybe immediately make sure that you're not working 12 hours a day? No, but it's like an action step you can take on the right path. OK, so it's such an important distinction.

[00:05:51] Now, we're going to start with goals. And really, if you take one thing away from Big-Picture Productivity, it's the way that you could be productive in the big picture sense of the word is, like, figure out what it is that you want, right? Then figure out which actions you need to take to get there. Right. Then ruthlessly prioritize those action steps. Like the more you can remember that, the better things will go for you. And that's why we're starting with goals.

[00:06:17] So there's a workbook exercise that goes along with this lesson, okay? So before we actually start listing your goals, I want you to do two things. To reflect on two questions. Maybe in a journal, the same way that we've done it a couple of times already. And so the first question is, which goals do you have that you have not acted on? So that could be like what I had up until August of last year. Where for, I don't know, maybe a decade, but years and years I was claiming I want to build muscle. I want to get bigger, I want to get stronger. I just never really did anything about it. Or maybe I only dabbled and like kind of didn't fully commit to it, you know? So that's one that I might write down. And your list can be a smaller as big as it needs to be, you know, but like, what are meaningful goals to you? Things that you really, really would like, especially goals that you've been wanting to achieve for a long time that you have not acted on. Let's get really clear about that. Just make a list anywhere, OK?

[00:07:07] Question number two, what work do you do? Right. What action steps are you taking that doesn't serve one of your goals? OK, so this can be on a day to day basis or something that you do now and then or but, you know, there may be things that you're spending quite a lot of time on, but, you know, it doesn't really serve one of your goals. Doesn't mean it doesn't serve anyone's goals. Maybe you're working a job that, just like, the work you're doing is great for your employer, but, like, you don't give a crap about it. That could be the case. If that's the case, I want you to write that down.

[00:07:40] OK, so make a list of the things that you're spending time on, that you're spending energy, effort on. But, you know, it really doesn't serve one of your goals. So those are the two things that I'd like you to journal on. Go ahead and do that, and then you can move on to the next lesson.