Is There a Better Way

to Achieve My Goals?

We all have goals that we want to achieve, some small that can be quickly, and easily achieved, and other goals are larger and take time and more energy. As we are all involved in the pursuit of achieving our goals, it makes sense then to have an efficient and effective means of realising our goals.

Have you ever had the experience of setting a goal only to be unfulfilled when you achieved it?

The movie The Secret helped to raise people’s awareness of the law of attraction. The law of attraction simply put is that your thoughts help to attract into your life that which you think about. Sadly, though the movie didn’t cover a critical element that is required for your goal to be completed using the law of attraction. The critical element to get the result of achieving your goal is ACTION.

Imagine you have been holding a constant thought of the house you want, and you receive a lucrative job offer or potential business deal, yet you don’t take any action. The law of attraction has worked to providing you with the opportunity which would have led to the realisation of your goal. But for whatever reason you choose not to recognise it and take the action which would have led to you realising your goal.

In business when it comes to taking the action to complete projects. Those involved in the project management generally use either of two methods Waterfall or Agile.

Waterfall has a fixed project outcome that it is focused on achieving and follows a linear path using the shortest distance between point A and B to complete the project. Completion of the project is achieved by the completion of a series of sequential tasks. Each completed task then enables the preceding task to be completed, which then eventually results in a completed project.

Agile also has as its starting point a project outcome to achieve. But is open to starting the project without a clear picture of what the finished outcome will look like. It is also open to having the outcome changing during the life of the project based on what is learnt during the project. Rather than following a rigid linear path Agile uses a series of short tasks known as Sprints. Sprints are initiated using the best data available and run for a predetermined timeframe. At the end of the Sprint the outcome of the sprint is analysed, and it is also analysed against the project outcome. If required, the project outcome is adjusted, and the next Sprint is created based on the learnings and progress from the previous Sprint. This can mean that the next Sprint can be reworking work completed in the previous task or moving forward on to a new task. Sprints allow both the tasks and the project outcome to adapt and evolve to new data, changes in the environment or thinking.

Contrast Waterfall and Agile with the terms Fixed and Growth Mindsets coined by renowned Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck in her book Mindset. The term Fixed Mindset refers to a mindset in which it is believed that everything is known and is set in stone because no other possibilities exist. A Growth Mindset on the other hand is one that believes that it is possible to grow and evolve and uses feedback and leaning to achieve this.

We can also see evidence of this nature; we can see that overtime those species which have consistently been able to change and adapt to their changing environment have been the species that have stood the test of time.