I’m really good at taking an abstract goal and breaking it down into concrete tasks. Most of the time, this is super useful.
But if I’m not sure what would accomplish the high level goal, sometimes the concrete goals turn out to be wrong. They don’t actually accomplish the high-level more vague goal. If I don’t notice that, I’ll at best be confused. At worse, I’ll accomplish the concrete goals, fail at the high-level goal, and then not notice that all my effort isn’t accomplishing the outcome I actually care about.
I’m calling the misguided concrete goals as “fabricated goals”. Because I’m falsely believing this goal is an option to get me to my high-level goal.
The alternative feels pretty bad though. If I can’t break the vague goal into concrete steps that I know how to do, I need to be constantly feeling my way through uncertainty. In that situation, sometimes it’s good to pick a small, time-bound concrete goal and do it to see if it helps. But I need to be constantly checking in on whether it’s actually helping.
I’ve been practicing a lot this year with improving feedback loops, and it’s come a long way. Sitting with uncertainty for days and checking in on whether I’m making progress on the scale of minutes, though, that’s hard. I’ve heard early stages of research being called “wandering in the desert” and this feels similar.
It’s so much easier to substitute a fabricated goal – I know what I need to do, I can measure my progress. It’s harder to sit with the uncertainty and hopefully, slowly feel my way toward some insight.
Fabricated goals
I’m really good at taking an abstract goal and breaking it down into concrete tasks. Most of the time, this is super useful.
But if I’m not sure what would accomplish the high level goal, sometimes the concrete goals turn out to be wrong. They don’t actually accomplish the high-level more vague goal. If I don’t notice that, I’ll at best be confused. At worse, I’ll accomplish the concrete goals, fail at the high-level goal, and then not notice that all my effort isn’t accomplishing the outcome I actually care about.
I’m calling the misguided concrete goals as “fabricated goals”. Because I’m falsely believing this goal is an option to get me to my high-level goal.
The alternative feels pretty bad though. If I can’t break the vague goal into concrete steps that I know how to do, I need to be constantly feeling my way through uncertainty. In that situation, sometimes it’s good to pick a small, time-bound concrete goal and do it to see if it helps. But I need to be constantly checking in on whether it’s actually helping.
I’ve been practicing a lot this year with improving feedback loops, and it’s come a long way. Sitting with uncertainty for days and checking in on whether I’m making progress on the scale of minutes, though, that’s hard. I’ve heard early stages of research being called “wandering in the desert” and this feels similar.
It’s so much easier to substitute a fabricated goal – I know what I need to do, I can measure my progress. It’s harder to sit with the uncertainty and hopefully, slowly feel my way toward some insight.