You set one number two years ago and last month you hit am. E feel the way you expect am for like one day, then the day end, and by Friday you don already call bigger number for somebody ear. Nothing spoil for your side. Na wetin target dey do when motion, no be one clear line, dey define am, and e dey happen pass to people wey sabi work, because na dem dey always jump the bar.
Solution dey, and e no get shine. You go decide wetin “e don do” look like ahead of time, for paper, while nothing never enter mouth and the decision still cheap. No be say you go want less. Na so that the thing wey you want go get edge, and so that on ordinary Tuesday you fit tell whether you dey win.
Why the finish line dey always shift?
Because your expectation dey rise with your result, and e dey rise faster than you notice. Researchers don dey measure this thing since 1978, when Brickman, Coates and Janoff-Bulman compare big lottery winners with people wey no win, and dem find say the winners no happy pass the control group, and dem dey enjoy ordinary daily tins less.
Work wey come after sharpen the picture instead of just repeating am. Diener, Lucas and Scollon look the adaptation research and find say people no just dey return to one neutral baseline after everything: set point dey different from person to person, e dey different for different parts of one life, and e fit move under some condition. So this no be rule say nothing wey you achieve go ever count. Na finding wey tight and useful pass that one. The satisfaction wey you get from hitting one particular number dey fade faster than the effort wey you use reach there, and your mind go quietly settle for the new normal.
The practical part na the one wey dey cost people years. If “e don do” na always whatever dey next, then “e don do” na somewhere wey you no dey, and you fit run twenty years career without ever arriving anywhere. To name the line ahead of time no make you less ambitious than the person wey refuse. E make you the one wey go fit tell when dem win.
Wetin the “e don do” line dey look like for paper?
One sentence, for your own handwriting, wey name the figure, the title, or the condition wey this particular thing go finish. Then one date wey you allow yourself to look am again.
Three shapes cover almost everything:
- One figure. Revenue, salary, savings, subscribers. E specific reach say stranger fit tell you whether you hit am.
- One title or position. The role, the credit, the seat inside the room. Write the actual words, no be the feeling wey you expect the words to bring.
- One condition. Na this one plenty people dey skip, and na im dey often be the true answer. E don do when the business fit run one week without me. E don do when I fit take Friday off. E don do when the work wey I dey do most days na the work wey I best for.
Then write three prices wey this want no get permission to cost you, and make one of dem physical: sleep, or exercise. Na those two be the first tins wey person wey get ambition dey spend, and the last two wey dem fit afford to lose.
To write am down dey change the odds, and that na something wey dem measure, no be motivational talk. One meta-analysis of mental contrasting with implementation intentions, wey cover 21 studies and almost 16,000 people, find small-to-medium effect on goal attainment from just naming the outcome and writing the specific plan. Small effects dey compound over ten years.
If I name number, e go cap wetin I fit do?
No, and this objection deserve straight answer, because na the reason plenty people never write the line. “E don do” line no be ceiling on top ambition. Na definition of the win, and definition no dey cap anything. E dey tell you which game you dey play so you fit play am well.
Two tins dey happen once the line dey. First, you go stop to pay panic tax. Person wey no sabi wetin winning look like dey read every quarter like evidence about him own worth, and na exactly that state people dey take bad deal, hire anyhow and agree to tins for phone call. Second, to talk no dey come faster, because you fit now measure any request against something specific. Most of wetin dey slow person wey get ambition no be lack of effort. Na the twenty commitments wey dem never check against the target.
You fit get more than one line, one after the other. Hit this one, take the week rest, then write the next one on purpose instead of drifting inside am. Na that be the difference between ten years of work wey dey build on itself and ten years of starting over on top bigger number.
Everything wey pass the line, e be for wetin?
E be for somebody else, decided for the same sitting and for the same handwriting. The moment wey you name the point wey this thing don finish, you don also name the point wey everything after am na surplus, and surplus wey no get destination go quietly turn to the new baseline, wey go move the target again and put you back where you start.
So write second name for the same page. No be cause and no be percentage. One person, plus one specific thing wey you go do for dem on your way to your own line. Call their name inside room wey dem no dey. Make the introduction wey you for keep for yourself. Give dem one hour of the thing wey dem dey pay you for, no be one hour of general help.
The founder of KEEP CALM dey describe giving back as one of the mechanisms, no be the prize for the end. For him own words, he hustle all him life, find ways to stay calm through am, and reach where he dey go, and all the way up he dey look for chance to coach, advise, lift up, commend and champion the people wey dey him sphere. He talk say wetin come back na ten times wetin he put in. Na him account of him own twenty years, e give am as evidence, no be as law wey you suppose expect for yourself. The reason why e belong for the same page as your number na practical one: goal wey get another person inside am dey survive the year wey the goal wey be purely private no dey survive.
When e dey honest to move the line?
For the date wey you write down, no be for the afternoon wey your body tell you. Na that be the whole work of check date. E turn moving the line from drift to decision, and decision dey leave record.
When the date reach, ask three questions for order. The reason under this goal, e don change, abi na only the number? You for still want the new line if nobody hear say you reach am? And wetin the last twelve months cost you against the three prices wey you talk say you no go pay? If the reason still stand and you no pay the prices, to move the line na correct call, and you go write the new one down the same way you write the first one.
To write am down dey protect you for the other side too. Sheldon and Elliot, wey follow people through three longitudinal studies, find say goals wey match person own growing interest and values dey get effort wey last longer, dey more likely to be reached, and dey give more when dem reach am. Line wey you dey check on date na line wey you fit notice say you don stop to believe am, at the earliest possible moment instead of four years late.
Na while you still hungry you dey decide “e don do”
None of this na brake. The point of naming the line early na so you fit go for the thing without stopping every few months to wonder whether the thing worth am, and that question dey cost pass the work itself.
Do am inside the next hour, on paper: the sentence, the figure or the condition, the three prices, the name of the person wey you dey carry, and the date. Ten minutes. Then go back to work. For two years time you go either don hit am, wey mean say you go feel am well, or you go don change am for date wey you choose, wey no be quitting.
The reason to be precise now na because you plan to dey do this thing for long time. Person wey sabi wetin winning look like fit push harder, because dem dey push at something wey get edge instead of at the horizon.
Sources
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Lottery winners and accident victims: is happiness relative?
- American Psychologist, Beyond the hedonic treadmill: revising the adaptation theory of well-being
- Frontiers in Psychology, A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions on Goal Attainment
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: the self-concordance model