- Quick Summary
- The Goal Model Is Powerful
- But The Goal Model Has Downsides
- Introducing The Stepping Stones To Success Model
- The Curiosity Filter: Apply The Stepping Stones Model
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Quick Summary
The Goal Model Is Powerful
The goal model is so obvious in our culture, it goes without saying. If you want to accomplish anything really big, you should:
- Set the goal and work backwards from long-term goals to medium-term goals to short-term goals to today’s to-do list.
- Then take action, measure your progress and constantly course-correct so you’re always on the most direct path toward your ultimate goal.
Goals give motivation, meaning, and focus when we feel lazy or distracted.
But The Goal Model Has Downsides
Indeed, the goal model is extremely powerful, but like all models, it can be counterproductive when we apply it to the wrong situation.
Recent research from the field of artificial intelligence makes the case that the goal model is effective when the steps between where you are now and where you want to go are clear.
However, when the steps between where you are now and where you want to go are numerous and unclear, the researchers make the case that goals are often OBSTACLES to LARGE feats of innovation rather than enablers.
Introducing The Stepping Stones To Success Model
Cross the river by feeling for stones.—Deng Xiaoping
To accomplish something big, you do NOT set ambitious goals and then work backwards.
Rather, you can follow the stepping stones right in front of you that give you the most novel paths forward, even if you aren’t sure exactly how that stepping stone will pay off in the future. Then, from that new stepping stone, you look for the most novel path forward again. And so on.
Novelty may sound overly simplistic, but it is actually incredibly powerful:
- Novelty is a great shortcut for detecting great stepping stones. As you pursue novelty, it gets harder and harder to find. This difficulty forces you to adopt new and more complex ways of thinking in order to find novelty. This more complex thinking leads to breakthroughs.
- Humans are uniquely good at perceiving novelty. Humans have an almost magical ability to detect interestingness. We don’t need logic and analysis to detect that something is fascinating to us.
- Humans are wired to love and be motivated by curiosity. To be motivated, we do NOT need huge goals. Curiosity is an innate and incredibly powerful drive. And, it can be cultivated.
The Curiosity Filter: Apply The Stepping Stones Model
Many of us, especially the most ambitious, have a goal filter that we take through life. When we come across books, people, and opportunities, we ask ourselves whether it will help us accomplish our goals.
As an experiment, try adding a curiosity filter. When you come across books, people, or opportunities, ask yourself:
Am I so fascinated by this that I’d be willing to spend serious effort learning more?
If the answer is NOT hell yeah, then let it go. If it is hell yeah, then make time for it within your schedule. Use the level of your fascination as a compass.
View Full Mastery Manual
Watch Class
Other Resources
Slides
Navigate Mental Models Related To Success
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Rather than one specific model, the Sculpting Success model is more of a supermodel. It is designed to help you answer the following question about career success and life impact: Given that we all have the same amount of hours in a day, what makes the most successful people in the world create so much more wealth and impact (sometimes a million times more) than others?
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We live in a culture that celebrates abundance. The idea of “more is better” is everywhere around us—in food, clothes, apps, information, possessions, money, and more. Therefore we tend to think of addition as a key to our definition of success. But there’s a paradox at work that we almost never hear about. Sometimes, we get more value, success, and results when we subtract rather than add.
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Recent research from the field of AI makes the case that, to accomplish something big, you do NOT set ambitious goals and then work backwards. Rather, follow the stepping stones right in front of you that give you the most novel paths forward, even if you aren’t sure exactly how that stepping stone will pay off in the future. From that new stepping stone, you look for the most novel path forward again.
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We’ve all heard about goal setting and some of the most common techniques (for instance, SMART goals and BHAGs). In this Mastery Manual, we’re going several layers deeper and we’re also looking at the new research within the field of goal theory, and some of that research overturns previously held conventional wisdom. Read this manual to learn all about it.