Hyperbolic discounting and why your goals suck
If you struggle to reach goals you might have a bad case of hyperbolic discounting.What?!?Before I get to what hyperbolic discounting is, let me back up and first talk about goal setting.A typical assumption is that BIG GOALS (think: Jim Collin’s BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) are the best. After all, isn’t that how all great achievements happened?The Egyptians toiled away for 20 years because they wanted to build the Pyramids.Cartographer James Rennell spent 13 years hauling around a perambulator and eating Dal Bhat because India needed a map.And Disney poured all his resources plus years of his life to build the most iconic fantasy park in history (which, BTW was originally named Disneylandia.)Big goals should get us fired up to take on the world. Right?Wrong.It turns out (I know you’ve experienced this), big goals way out in the future lose some of their luster and don’t motivate you as much as you might hope. Sure, you need direction - but there’s something needed between your BHAG and the actions you take today.That brings me to hyperbolic discounting, the phenomenon of giving less value to something because of how distant it is.
Can I give you $120?
“Your ‘present now’ and all ‘future nows’ are undeniably determined by the priority you live in the moment.” -The One Thing, Keller and PapasanImagine I offer you $100 today. You’d take it, thank me, and celebrate with a nice cappuccino, right?But, what if I was to give you the option of $100 today or $120 at the end of the month. Now which would you take? How about $100 today or $200 next year. Would you take the 200?It turns out, you would take the bigger amount if your goal was to make the most money. Strangely, that’s not what most people choose.Economists have long known, that even though we want bigger rewards over smaller ones there is a much stronger preference to the reward I can get today over a future one.Think about where you put your attention. Are you working on your long term goals or pecking away at Facebook updates and unprioritized To-Do lists? Can you honestly say that every week you move your big projects forward?
How to chop down a big tree
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the ax.” -LincolnIf you want to chop down a big tree (your Boulders), you start by reverse engineering all the way from raking up the leaves back to packing up the tools you’ll need for the job. It’s no different with you business or your goals—work backwards from the end result to get to the start.When I joined my partners at Adventure Network our goal was to operate the world’s first airline in Antarctica. First we needed to get fuel to the Antarctic coast.When I started BlogWorks I wanted to be the best social media service for bloggers. First I needed to speak with bloggers. I started there.It sounds simple - even elementary - even frustratingly slow. But, this is how goals work. And this is how the Flight Plan works.
First your Flight Plan
“Start with the end in mind.” -Stephen CoveyI created the Flight Plan tool to help busy people reach their BHAGs and to grapple with the To-Do list monster. The To-Do list monster wants to keep you SO BUSY you don’t have time to think if you’re getting ahead.I did that for years—thinking if I was so busy I MUST be moving forward. Most times, I wasn’t.
Staying busy on today’s goals is a great recipe for never getting to your future goals.
The solution is to start your week with an eye on the goal - completing your Boulders. Your flight plan is the dozen or so tasks that move your Boulders ahead. It might just be a phone call, completing a draft proposal or 3 sales calls. But you are working to keep your Boulders rolling and get closer to you ultimate goal.So, rather than starting your day by checking email, you block your day to work on Boulders. Just like a pilot, you want to land on Friday with your work done, as planned.
3 steps to accomplish anything
The formula for reaching your BHAGs is simple:
Create your big goals and define them using the SMART formula.
Every week build your Flight Plan and always include the chunk of your goals you can get done that week.
Block time in your week to accomplish your Flight Plan.
If you thrive on being a drama queen, chasing after bright shiny objects (“Oh wow! A new appy thingy that does cool edits on videos I never shoot...must have!”) or chasing down rabbit holes (often from email) that get you nowhere this 3 step model will be frustratingly mundane. Sorry.I suppose it’s also mundane to save money, pay down debt, invest for your retirement and get your car’s oil changed.Sometimes mundane is a good thing. Enjoyed this article?
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Photo by Chase Clark on Unsplash