In a recent Farewell podcast episode Brad Stulberg shared a useful mental model for choosing and pursuing goals.
Brad suggests to “think of goals akin to the peaks of mountains.”
Choosing a goal is like climbing a mountain. You will spend most of the time on the climb not on the peak. The view from the peak matters, but so do the various landscapes you’ll see along the way.
So when choosing a goal, ask yourself whether the journey there is one you are willing to embark on.
Will the journey be enriching? Will you grow along the way?
Also, will you have fun? Because if the journey is not fun, then you’re setting yourself up for misery and, potentially, failure.
But here’s the good news. I might be stretching the analogy a bit, but I’d say that like there are various paths one can take to the top of a mountain, there are also various paths one can take to achieve a goal.
For example, an individual contributor who wants to level up her career has various options at hand. She could take the leadership track or double down on a technical part of the job. She might find a new and complementary skill to use in synergy or take on board some freelance work on the side. Each option translates into a different journey; it’s a matter of choosing the one that seems more interesting and fun.
If pursuing a goal is a journey, then the best goals are those whose journey is worth embarking on regardless of whether you’ll ever get to the end.
The goals-as-mountain-peaks is also a good analogy to run a reality check. Are the things you do during the day steps in the path for your peak, or are they leading you in the wrong direction?