TO THE MOON W.R. van der Hoop
Big Idea#1 Moonshot goals
Big Idea#2 Make your goal S.M.A.R.T.
Big Idea#3 Create a roadmap
Big Idea#4 The purpose of the goal is NOT it’s achievement
Big Idea#5 Less is more
Big Idea#1 Moonshot Goals
In 1961 President Kennedy announced to the whole world that in 10 years. We would send a man to the moon. He actually didn’t inform NASA. They told President Kennedy it couldn’t be done. President Kennedy asked why? Because of the rocket fuel, design of our capsule, we need to train astronauts. It’s complicated. So what you’re telling me if we solve all those problems we can go to the moon? Yes … Well let’s get started … July 20, 1969 Niel Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon.
The name “Moonshot goal” is inspired by President Kennedy’s plan to land a man on the moon. It’s commonly used in tech corporations to get breakthrough results.
Much like the actual moon once was, these end goals initially seem out of reach. But if you let them, they’ll illuminate your path and help you find your way. Even in the darkness.
And that’s exactly what a goal should be; a guiding light high up in the sky.
Moonshot goals will challenge your limiting beliefs, push you beyond your comfort zone, and encourage personal growth, and envision a better future.
Role: Student
Moonshot goal: Graduate from College
Nobody in your family went to college, none of your friends plan to go to college, you barely graduate from your high school with a C, and your neighborhood is a bad area that has a lot of crime and does a lot of drugs.
Your Moonshot goal is to graduate from college. It’s going to challenge your limiting belief. Can I really do this? Am I good enough? I don’t even know how to get into college. You’re going to be outside of your comfort-zone. You’re going to feel very uncomfortable and have a lot of self-doubt.
Your Moonshot goal is going to push you to grow personally as a person.
For twenty years The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale looked for the key which would determine what would happen to a human being. I wanted to know if there was a key that would make the future a promise that we could foretell to a large extent.
Was there a key that would guarantee a person’s becoming successful if they only knew about it and knew how to use it? Well there is such a key and I have found it.
Have you ever wondered why so many people work so hard and honestly without ever achieving anything particular? And why don’t others seem to work hard, yet seem to get everything? They seem to have the “magic touch”.” You’ve heard people say about someone, “Everything he touches turns to gold.”
Have you ever noticed that a person who becomes successful tends to continue to become more successful? On the other hand, have you noticed how someone who is a failure tends to continue to fail?
The difference is goals. Some of us have goals, some don’t. People with goals succeed because they know where they are going.
Why do those with goals succeed in life, and those without them fail?
Here is the key to success, and , the key to failure.
“We become what we think about.”
Let me say that again.
“We become what we think about”.
Big Idea#2 The purpose of the goal is NOT it’s achievement
The reason for this is simple: achievement almost always brings short-loved satisfaction, never lasting fulfillment. Everyone who achieved something knows this, no matter how meaningful it felt in the moment.
The point of setting personal goals has to be the pursuit of your dreams, not the actual realization of those dreams. Not only does a clear dot on the horizon give direction and meaning to the journey, the challenges you’ll encounter on this journey make you a stronger and better person.
And that is the real point of setting personal goals.
The purpose of the goal is the journey. The purpose of the journey is personal growth.
This means it’s absolutely essential to keep a close eye on how your goals are affecting the person you’re becoming.
If you’re in love with the destination, but you don’t like the person you’re becoming while on the journey, you’re doing it wrong.
This reminds me of T Harv. Eker Secrets of the Millionaire Mind
During the journey we tend to focus on the result but what actually creates the result?
Imagine a tree. Let’s suppose this tree represents the tree of life. On this tree there are fruits. In life, our fruits are called our results. So we look at the fruits (our results) and we don’t like them: there aren’t enough of them, they’re too small, or they don’t taste good.
So what do we tend to do? Most of us put even more attention and focus on the fruits and our results. But what is it that actually creates those particular fruits? It’s the seeds and the roots that create those fruits.
It’s what’s under the ground that creates what’s above the ground. It’s what’s invisible that creates what’s visible. So what does that mean? It means that if you want to change the fruits, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible, you must first change the invisible.
In order to change the results. I need to change internally… our Mindset, Habit, Character, Virtue, and skill set.
Big Idea#3 Make your goal S.M.A.R.T.
Specific: when you formulate your goals, be as clear and detailed as you can be.
Measurable: Make sure you can measure progress objectively. You should be able to know when you’re getting closer to achieving your goal, the same way you should be able to know when you have succeeded in completing your goal.
Attainable: Your goal should be attainable. Find the balance between being ambitious and being
realistic. Don’t try to succeed as a basketball player in the NBA if you’re about the size of a hobbit. It should be challenging to achieve your goal, not impossible.
Relevant: Your goal should align with your personal values. If you have to do things that ‘feel wrong’ in order to achieve your goal, it’s not the right goal for you. Stay true to yourself.
Time-Based: Give yourself a deadline. The deadline makes it possible to plan for your goal backwards. In addition, a deadline decreases the likelihood of procrastination.
Once you write down your S.M.A.R.T. goal.
To make your S.M.A.R.T. goal a reality.
Earl Nightingale mentioned a 30 day challenge.
30 day test I want you to take, keeping in mind that you have nothing to lose by taking this test, and everything you could possibly want to gain. There are two things that may be said about everyone:
- Each of us wants something, and
- Each of us is afraid of something.
For the next 30 days, follow each of these steps every day until you have achieved your goals.
First, write on a card what it is you want more than anything else.
Write down on your card specifically what it is you want. Make sure it’s a single goal and clearly defined. You need not show it to anyone, in fact often it is best not to.
Bring the card with you so that you can look at it several times a day. Think about your goals in a cheerful, relaxed, positive way each morning when you get up, and immediately you have something to work for – something to get out of bed for, something to live for.
Look at the goals written on your card every chance you get during the day and just before going to bed at night. As you look at it, remember that you must become what you think about, and since you’re thinking about your goal, you realize that soon it will be yours.
In fact, it is really yours the moment you write it down and begin to think about it.
Second, Stop thinking about what it is you fear. Each time a fearful or negative thought comes into your conscious mind, replace it with a mental picture of your positive and worthwhile goal. And there will come times when you’ll feel like giving up. It’s easier for human beings to think negatively than positively. That’s why only five percent are successful!
You must begin now to place yourself in that group. For 30 days you must take control of your mind. It will think about only what you permit it to think about. Each day for this 30 day test, do more than you have to do.
If you should fail within your first 30 days, by that I mean finding yourself overwhelmed by negative thoughts – you have to start over again from that point and go 30 more days
Big Idea#3 Create A Roadmap
Now that you have a clear dot on the horizon to pursue, start creating a road map to get there.
If your goal is to go from 17% body fat to 11% body fat within the next 12 months, you know you’ll need to lose 0.5% (6% divided by 12) body fat on average, each month.
Plan accordingly, but make sure to set realistic deadlines. Look at what people have achieved in the past.
Break down your goal
Five-year goal:
Three-year goal:
Two-year goal:
One-year goal:
Three-month goal:
monthly goal:
Weekly goal:
Daily-goal:
To set yourself on the right track, ask yourself those two critical questions:
1) What are the three most important things I need to get done tomorrow?
2) What is the single most important task I must get done?
When you start your day, you know the three most important things you need to get done by the end of the day…Your decision making becomes more efficient and clearer.
Time-Block your single most important task that you must get done. Treat it like a Doctor appointment you can’t afford to miss.
Big Idea#4 Don’t compare yourself with other
The pursuit of long-term goals is a marathon, not a sprint.
Like running a marathon, you’ll need to pace yourself according to your own capability. Don’t be a fool and try to keep up with the pacesetter. You’ll drop dead half way. Run your own race. Seek balance and make sure you stay composed mentally and physically along the way.
Stop comparing yourself to others. You race against you.
Realize the following two things:
- You don’t have a complete picture of someone else’s life.
- Other people have different backgrounds and starting points in life. It’s never going to be a level playing field.
If you want to compare yourself with anyone, compare yourself with who you were yesterday.
Are you more knowledgeable than a year ago? Are you getting stronger? Are you becoming more skilful? Are you actively improving your health? Are your relationships becoming more meaningful?
During the journey, we can be very critical of ourselves…. So be kind to yourself. Talk to yourself how you would talk to your best friend. You wouldn’t tell your best friend that they are not good enough, strong enough, worthy, have the looks, money, or smart enough. Your best friend wouldn’t be around if that’s how we talk to them.
Yet that’s how we talk to ourselves.
We want to talk to ourselves how we would talk to our best friend.
You would just encourage and believe in them.
Every person is an opportunity for kindness, Every situation is an opportunity for kindness, kindness is the key. It’s what moves us forward, never pass up an opportunity to be kind, to care, to be compassionate.
Big Idea#5 Less is more
Trying to achieve too many Moonshot goals at once will dilute your focus and resources.
If the lioness focuses on catching five antelopes simultaneously, she will catch none. A five-star meal is more probable if she focuses on one.
Remember that time spent on one goal takes away from time spent on another goal.
Prioritize accordingly and pick no more than 2-3 Moonshot goals.
Less is more in Slow Productivity Cal Newport mentions Jane Austen.
In late October 1811, an advertisement in a London newspaper promoted “ a new novel by a lady” The author’s name was not given, but in a subsequent advertisement, appearing the next month, she was more specifically identified as “Lady A.” The book was Sense and Sensibility, and the pseudonymous author, of course, was Jane Austen, making her publishing debut. Austen had spent more than a decade working on a collection of manuscripts that she was now, seemingly all at once, polishing into impressive final forms. Sense and Sensibility initiated a remarkable five year run of publishing, arguably unmatched in the history of modern literature, that saw Austen soon after also release Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and then finally, in 1815, Emma. Two years later, she died, all of only forty-one years old.
A popular explanation for Austen’s productivity is that she mastered the art of writing secretly, scribbling prose in bursts between the many distracting obligations of her social standing.
How she was able to effect all this is surprising, for she had no separate study to retire to, and most of the work must have been done in the general sitting-room, subject to all kinds of casual interruptions. She was careful that her occupation should not be suspected by servants, or visitors, or any persons beyond her own family party. She wrote upon small sheets of paper which could easily be put away, or covered with a piece of blotting paper. There was, between the front door and the offices, a swing door which creaked when it was opened; but she objected to having this little inconvenience remedied, because it gave her notice when anyone was coming.
Jane Austen grew up in late eighteenth-century England, in the rural Hampshire village of Steventon, on what was essentially a small working farm. There were crows to milk and poultry to tend. Her family baked bread and brewed their own beer. In the summer the kids were given hay rakes and boiled jams and jellies. In the fall, they helped bring in the harvest. While Austen was still a young girl, her father, the rector for their parish, turned the patronage in which they lived into an impromptu boy’s school, adding the demands of the care and feeding of a half dozen stampeding boys to the list of daily chores.
Though Austen was a voracious reader and, encouraged by her father, began dabbling in writing at a young age, she was much too busy with the daily work of running her family’s house, farm, and school to seriously explore the craft.
This all changed in the summer of 1796 when Austen’s father decided to closed the boy’s school run out of their house. “This led to the easing of all the work involved in the planning and preparation of meals, laundry, cleaning and bed making,” writes Tomalin. And with her obligations suddenly dramatically reduced, Austen entered a period of “phenomenal” productivity. Working at an upstairs desk, reading drafts of her work to her family during the evening, she produced early versions of what would eventually become three major novels. As Tomalin emphasizes, it was Austen’s ability to “abstract herself from the daily life going on around her’ that allowed her to find her literary voice.
In 1800, this period of greatly reduced responsibilities abruptly ended when Austen’s parents decided, seemingly out of nowhere, to shut down the house in Steventon and move to the resort town of Bath. For the next decade, Austen found herself constantly on the move, navigating the transition from one new household to another, taking on more duties as she coped with the sickness and eventual death of her father. Robbed of the ability to establish the “rhythm of work,” as Tomalin puts it, Austen stopped writing.
The world would have been denied Austen’s brilliance if not for a fateful decision made in 1809 that swung the conditions for productivity dramatically back in Austen’s factor. Exhausted from the tumultuous past decade, Austen along with her mother, her sister, Cassandra, and their family friend Martha Lloyd settled into a modest cottage, positioned at the crossroads of the sleepy town of Chawton. The house was part of a large estate, owned by Austen’s brother Edward, who had inherited the land from distant relatives of the Austen family who never had kids of their own and had years earlier named Edward their legal heir.
Critically for Austen’s work, her family wrung out from the complications and trials of the preceding years, deciding to largely absent themselves from the social scene in Chawton. This was not a decision made lightly. Austen’s mother, now in her seventies, took to working in the garden of their cottage. Equally important, a tacit agreement was formed that would free the youngest Austen daughter from most of the remaining household labor. She prepared the morning breakfast for the family but, beyond this duty, was free to write. “ In this way she was privileged with a general exemption from domestic chores when Cass and Martha were at home,”.
Hidden from the world at Chawton cottage, suddenly, almost miraculously free of most responsibilities both domestic and social, Austen, for the first time in over a decade, had gained real and meaningful space to think and work creatively.. It’s here, working at a modest writing desk by a window overlooking the road, that she finally finishes the manuscripts for Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice before moving on to compose Mansfield Park and Emma.
This lesson, that doing less can enable better results.
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