HARD GOALS

The Secret of Getting From Where

You Are to Where You Want To Be
MARK MURPHY

MARK MURPHY is founder and CEO of Leadership IQ, a leadership training services provider. Leadership IQ
has carried out some of the largest and most comprehensive leadership studies ever conducted and the
results have been used by companies like Microsoft, IBM, MasterCard, First Energy and others. Mr. Murphy’s
work has been featured by Fortune, Forbes, BusinessWeek, The Washington Post and many other
publications. He is also an experienced turnaround advisor having taken more than 100 organizations from
weak financial situations to record-setting levels of prosperity. Mr. Murphy is an experienced public speaker
and has lectured at Harvard Business School, Yale University, the University of Rochester and the University
of Florida. He is the author of four books including Hundred Percenters and The Deadly Sins of Employee
Retention.
The Web site for this book is at www.HardGoals.com.

ISBN 978-1-77544-673-6

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 HARD Goals - Page 1

MAIN IDEA
Why is that some people achieve so much while others seem to just spin their wheels and get nowhere? When you analyze the
science of achieving big things, you’ll find superachievers set themselves HARD (heartfelt, animated, required and difficult) goals
and then go out and work towards achieving those goals with passion and intensity. It’s the setting and achieving of those HARD
goals which drives their achievements.

Where you are Where you want

HARD Goals to be in the
right NOW
FUTURE

To achieve more, get into the habit of setting yourself HARD goals – goals which are heartfelt, animated, required and difficult.

H Heartfelt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 2 -3
If you don’t really care about your goals, there’s not going to be much motivation for you to achieve them.
To achieve more, make certain you’re going after what you want more than anything else. HARD goals are
not just nice-to-have if they’re not too much trouble. A HARD goal has to be something which promises you
more value than any other goal imaginable and therefore you’re not going to let anything get in the way of
making it happen.

A Animated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 3 - 4
HARD goals are so vivid and alive in your mind that if you don’t reach them, you’d feel like something’s
missing in your life. You can and should use the same visualization and imagination techniques which
some of the greatest minds in history have used to make your goals come to life in your imagination.
Geniuses use their imaginations to soar and so should you.

R Required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 5 - 6
Procrastination is the killer when it comes to realizing your dreams. HARD goals overcome this by using
cutting-edge techniques from science such as behavioral economics. You have to convince yourself
achieving your goals is a necessity, not an option. If you make the future payoff of your HARD goal so much
more satisfying that what you’re experiencing today, you automatically make your HARD goals look a lot
more attractive – and the more attractive they are, the greater the urgency you will feel to get going on them
right away.

D Difficult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 6 - 7
When it come to difficulty, there’s a definite sweet spot to aim for. You want to set goals which are so hard
they will force you to tap into all the talents you possess so you’ll feel a sense of achievement. On the other
hand, you don’t want your goals to be so difficult you give up without even trying. What you have to do is
assess your past experiences, figure out where your goal-setting sweet spot is and then set goals within
that sweet spot which will propel you forward to the stellar results you want.

Putting everything together – HARD Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8

The generally accepted wisdom in business is execution is more important than vision – it’s better to fully
implement a half-baked idea than it is to get stuck in analysis paralysis and do nothing. That may be true
but if you aspire to accomplish impressive things, set HARD goals which are so powerful implementation
won’t be a problem. Get your goals right and implementation will take care of itself. That’s the power of
HARD goals to move you from where you are now to where you want to be in the future.

Where you are Where you want

HARD Goals to be in the
right NOW
FUTURE
 HARD Goals - Page 2

2. Personal motivation – if you have a deep personal

HARD Goals H Heartfelt connection to your goal, you’re going to be far more
motivated. For example, if you take on a HARD goal which
If you don’t really care about your goals, there’s not going to be
delivers very specific benefits to the poor who are unable to
much motivation for you to achieve them. To achieve more,
help themselves, you will get a mental boost which will
make certain you’re going after what you want more than
override any negative thoughts you might otherwise have
anything else. HARD goals are not just nice-to-have if they’re not
had. If you become emotionally connected to the
too much trouble. A HARD goal has to be something which
beneficiaries of your goal, accomplishment becomes easier
promises you more value than any other goal imaginable and
and motivation will swell. To personalize your HARD goals:
therefore you’re not going to let anything get in the way of making
it happen. n Individualize – get to know one person who will derive a
benefit. As Mother Teresa said: “If I look at the mass I will
never act. If I look at the one, I will.” Get to know one
person who will benefit from what you’re trying to do and
you’ll often feel much more motivated than if you’re merely
Why do you care
trying to help a faceless group. Many charities use this
about this goal?
approach effectively to get people to give more. Instead of
suggesting donations will feed the masses, they have
profiles of individuals who will receive help. Donors
Answering this question is Job #1 when it comes to achieving respond differently when they see individuals rather than
more. Your goal won’t be at all helpful if it exists only because anonymous members of a larger group. Studies have
your answer to this question is: even shown donors typically give twice as much when
• My boss feels this is important to achieve. they hear about specific recipients rather than giving
• I’m setting this goal because I have to. money to help a statistic.
• My doctor / spouse / chairman said this is worthwhile. n Personalize – make the person who benefits from
When it comes to setting a goal which has the power to propel achieving the goal yourself. Develop a feeling for what it
you forward, none of these answers will do. You’ve got to set a will mean to achieve your goal which goes beyond merely
goal you feel a heartfelt connection to. In practice, there are only making more money. Make your goal intensely applicable
three ways to build this kind of connection: to you at a personal level rather than being a number
plucked out of thin air which fits nicely on a spreadsheet.
Great companies have always found ways to build
1 Intrinsic personal connections and you need to do the same with
your HARD goals. Companies that tend to do best over
Motivation 2 Personal the long haul do so by delivering value to people they
consider bigger than themselves rather than by sacrificing
3 Extrinsic their customers to boost short-term shareholder value.
3. Extrinsic motivation – find something, anything which will
1. Intrinsic motivation – you’re much more motivated to achieve make you feel more motivated about your HARD goals.
if you’re doing something you really love doing. If the goal Extrinsic rewards certainly have their place. If used
involves something you’d normally do in your free time when effectively, they can get you started on your HARD goals.
nobody’s pressuring you or rewarding you some other way, Financial incentives, for example, really do work when set
then you have genuine intrinsic motivation – which is great. properly and when the rewards fit the activity and offer
Giving a true 100 percent effort is easier if you’re passionate commensurate return for the effort involved. Sometimes,
about what you’re doing. This is a matter of figuring out your even the reward of having a little fun once the challenge
own personal “Shoves” and “Tugs.” passes and everyone has survived will be exceptionally
motivational. The key to making an extrinsic reward work is to
Shoves Tugs ensure the rewards are appropriate. You can’t have fun
rewards for serious activities or vice-versa. For example, to
Everyone has Shoves and Tugs. Shoves are issues which motivate everyone in your organization to fight for the
demotivate you and drain your energy. Tugs motivate you survival of your firm, you wouldn’t offer to throw a company
and make you feel fulfilled and wanting to give 100 percent. picnic. Having a frivolous extrinsic reward on offer won’t be
Shoves and Tugs are not the opposite sides of the same coin terribly helpful or motivational at all. By contrast if you offer a
but to increase your intrinsic motivation, you’ve got to inject 25 percent bonus when the company has completed its
more Tugs into your goals and decrease or mitigate the recapitalization process and its year 1 sales targets are met,
number of Shoves you feel as well. Once you have a clearer many more people will be motivated to put in the hours
picture of what acts as a Shove or a Tug for you individually, required.
you can then look for more Tugs to inject into your daily The whole point is you can mix-and-match rewards to your
routine. Some questions to ponder: heart’s content when it comes to setting a HARD goal. Neither
n Describe a time recently when you’ve felt like giving up on intrinsic, personal or extrinsic goals are inherently “right” or
what you’re attempting. What was the Shove which made “wrong”. All three types of motivations have their pluses and
you feel burned out at that time? minuses. You can and should come up with a mix of all three
n Describe a time when you’ve felt on top of the world and types of rewards that works for you and you’ll immediately get to
exceptionally motivated. What was the Tug behind that ? work on achieving your HARD goal.
 HARD Goals - Page 3

Working for money or greater market share sounds motivational

HARD Goals A Animated
but too many company management teams assume once
they’ve offered employees more money, they’ve connected
HARD goals are so vivid and alive in your mind that if you don’t
people to their goals. Perhaps executives with share options are
reach them, you’d feel like something’s missing in your life. You
motivated by that but the people on the frontlines need
can and should use the same visualization and imagination
something more. Experience has shown companies motivated
techniques which some of the greatest minds in history have
solely by money (for example Enron, Bear Stearns, Lehman
used to make your goals come to life in your imagination.
Brothers) won’t outperform competitors who create more of an
Geniuses use their imaginations to soar and so should you.
emotional attachment to their customers.
A good example of a company which gets it right when it comes
to setting heartfelt goals which have nothing to do with money is As humans, we respond to visual stimulation. We remember
Google. It has a corporate philosophy which includes a list of pictures far better than we remember words. To make this work
“Ten things we know to be true.” Number one on that list is: for you in the achievement of your goals, you have to take your
HARD goals and convert them into some intensely vivid and
engrossing mental images. You have to make your goals visual.
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
Converting ideas into vivid mental images is the “secret sauce”
While many companies claim to put their customer first, some of history’s greatest minds have used as well so if you get
few are able to resist the temptation to make small into the habit of doing this, you’ll be in exceptionally good
sacrifices to increase shareholder value. From its company.
inception, Google has steadfastly refused to make any
change that does not offer a benefit to the users who “Before I put a sketch on paper, the whole idea is worked out
come to the site: mentally. In my mind I change the construction, make
n The interface is clear and simple. improvements, and even operate the device. Without ever
having drawn a sketch I can give the measurements of all parts to
n Pages load instantly. workmen, and when completed all these parts will fit, just as
n Placement in search results is never sold to anyone. certainly as though I made the actual drawings.”
n Advertising on the site must offer relevant content – Nikola Tesla, inventor
and not be a distraction.
“Tesla came to the idea of the self-starting motor one evening as
he was reciting a poem by Goethe and watching a sunset.
Suddenly he imagined a magnetic field rapidly rotating inside a
To make the first step in moving from where you now are to circle of electromagnets. The energized-circle imagery
where you want to be in the future, make sure your goals are apparently was suggested by the disk of the sun and the pulse of
genuinely heartfelt. The litmus test for this is the goal is rotation by the poem’s rhythm.”
something you want to do rather than something you feel you – John Bess, Tesla’s biographer
need to do. If you embed enough motivators – intrinsic, personal
and extrinsic all work fine – that you make your goal something “I had a scheme, which I still use today, when somebody is
you feel emotional about, you’ll have much more energy and explaining something that I’m trying to understand: I keep
commitment. Build a deep connection because if you don’t really making up examples. For instance, the mathematicians would
care about it, nobody else will either. come in with a terrific theorem, and they’re all excited. As they’re
trying to tell me the conditions of the theorem, I construct
something in my mind which fits all the conditions. You know, you
Intrinsic Personal Extrinsic have a set (one ball), disjoints (two balls). Then the balls turn
motivators motivators motivators colors, grow hairs, or whatever, in my head as they put more
conditions on. Finally they state the theorem, which is some
dumb thing about the ball which isn’t true for my hairy green ball
thing, so I say, ‘False!’ I guessed right most of the time.”
H – Richard Feynman, physicist and Nobel laureate
A heartfelt goal To animate your goal, you’ve got to do a “Martin Luther King” on
it. When he stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he didn’t
say “I envisage a future where race relations in America will
steadily improve year-to-year.” Instead, he created a vivid
“When you’re at the beginning of your goal process, you need to mental image which still resonates today: “I have a dream that
develop feeling. You want an emotional attachment to your goals one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and
that gives you the ceaseless energy to pursue them no matter the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together
how tough it gets.” at the table of brotherhood.” In a similar vein, President John F.
– Mark Murphy Kennedy didn’t say in 1961 that America should concentrate on
winning the space race with the Soviet Union because that would
“Some companies still use a fairly antiquated goal-setting
be nice. Instead, President Kennedy stated: “I believe that this
process called SMART Goals (which stands for Specific,
nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this
Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-limited). Not only
decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him
do you not see the words feel or heartfelt anywhere in there, but
safely to the earth.” Great politicians are masters of speaking
Specific and Measurable usually get companies all excited about
visually and have used this to create momentum and passion for
turning every goal into a number, killing off any excitement.”
their aims all throughout history.
– Mark Murphy
 HARD Goals - Page 4

So how do you go about animating your own HARD goals? 3. Shape – identify the various shapes which you can see in
your vision. Visualize yourself picking up items and feeling
1 2 3 them. Are they rough or smooth? Are the items heavy or
light? If your vision is to develop some kind of new device,
Create your Animate your Write down what visualize picking up the item at the shop counter when it goes
vision vision in fine detail you imagine on sale. If your goal is to get more organized, imagine
running your hand over your uncluttered desk.
4. Distinct parts – think about how different parts will work
n First, create a vision in your mind of what it would feel like to
together to realize your goal. Say your goal is to get a raise.
achieve your goal. This has to be crystal clear and so realistic
Imagine changing your work schedule so you do more hours
it will feel like you’ve already achieved your goal.
on some key project on a weekend. Then visualize sales
n Then animate your vision. If your goal is to finish a marathon, climbing as your project comes to fruition. There will be a
create a mental picture of sweat pouring down your back as meeting with the boss to discuss your accomplishments
you cross the finish line and hug your kids. If your goal is to win followed by the arrival of a bonus check. Then visualize how
a promotion, see yourself secretly jumping for joy in the you’ll celebrate with your family and so on.
stairwell after being told of your success. Animate achieving
5. Settings – where are you when your HARD goal finally comes
your goal right down to fine detail using a first-person
together? How does it feel – relaxed, celebratory, scary?
perspective. Make your goal come to life in your mind.
Who else will be in on it? Visualize where you’ll be and what
n Once you’ve got a mental picture clearly set in your mind, you you’ll be doing.
then have to write it down. Committing everything to paper
6. Background – describe what’s happening behind the scenes
allows you to store that mental image for future use and at the
as your goal comes together. Perhaps your achievement
same time encodes what you’re writing into your mind. As you
won’t feel like it’s real until you have a cheering audience who
go through your mental image and place objects on paper,
acknowledge what you’ve done. Build that into your vision
scale them and define the spatial relationships between
because it will help you see what needs to happen first more
things, you’re doing some intensive cognitive processing at
clearly.
the same time. In practical terms, you’re reinforcing the
mental image you’ve created by writing it down. 7. Lighting – describe the lighting involved in achieving your
goal. Lighting can affect your mood and energy level. Not
Admittedly, animating your vision will be difficult for most
everything needs to happen in a well-lit room to be helpful. If
business goals but it can be done. Some of the best examples of
your goal is to night-ski in Monte Carlo, there’s no use
people who succeeded in this area would include:
visualizing a speedboat in bright sunlight.
n Steve Jobs – who launched Apple’s iPod as being like having
8. Emotions – describe what you’ll feel like when you realize
“1,000 songs in your pocket.” Similarly, when Apple launched
your dream. Who else will be there and how will they react?
its MacBook Air, Jobs stated it was “The world’s thinnest
Visualize the facial expressions, the body language and
notebook.”
everything else which will follow.
n Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page – who walked
9. Movement – are you doing something when you realize your
into venture capital firm Sequoia Capital to get funding for
dream? Describe it clearly. If your goal is to plan better for
their start-up. They stated the goal of Google was “to provide
your retirement, you can visualize yourself being able to get
access to the world’s information in one click.”
more sleep because you feel good about things.
n Starbucks founder Howard Schultz – who described the goal
Not all of these dimensions will be applicable to every business
of Starbucks as being “Starbucks creates a third place
goal you have in mind so this is not an exhaustive list to work
between work and home.”
through. Rather, the nine dimensions are reminders of the ways
It’s tempting to say these guys had an advantage in that they you can inject some helpful mental imagery into what would
were launching something big and therefore it was easy for them otherwise be sterile business goals. The undeniable fact is we
to come up with visual images for their goals but the reality is any humans are wired to respond to mental images much more than
business goal can be matched with vivid imagery if you follow a the written word. Do everything you can to inject vivid imagery
system. There are nine dimensions you can use to bring a into your business goals and they will not only become more real
business goal to life by adding detail which will make it vivid in but you will also improve your chances of achieving them.
your mind. The nine dimensions are:
1. Size – Think about how big or small the things you see in your “The biggest impediment to any goal is lack of visual stimulation.
vision are. Is your “better than the iPad” invention bigger or We’re human, and so we’re visual, and our brains remember
smaller than a Kindle? Have you come up with a cutting edge pictures better than they do words. So why not make it work for
electric car which is the size of a Lumina or an Explorer? Is you and not against you? Start with a first-person perspective
the beach house you’re going to buy with your bonus check and draw a picture or make a collage or vision board of your goal
small and cosy or big and luxurious? that captures specific elements like size, color, shape, distinct
parts, setting, background, lighting, emotions, and movement.
2. Color – look closely at your mental image for color clues. If Then write your goal down using concrete words that will sear it
you’re trying to lose weight, visualize yourself with a great tan into your brain. I’m not saying every one of your HARD Goals will
after you’ve lost all that weight because you now spend so make you an Einstein. But if you follow the rules, you’ll certainly
much time in a bathing suit out by the pool. Or visualize just be acting like him. After all, this is the guy who said, ‘I very rarely
how blue the ocean is outside your new beach house. Colors think in words at all.’”
can stir up all kinds of useful moods and thoughts. – Mark Murphy
 HARD Goals - Page 5

Once you understand the concept of a discount rate, it then

HARD Goals R Required
becomes feasible to combat the problem of procrastination by
outflanking your own brain. In practical terms, you have to create
Procrastination is the killer when it comes to realizing your
a strong sense of urgency about your HARD goals. There are six
dreams. HARD goals overcome this by using cutting-edge
ways you can pull this off:
techniques from science such as behavioral economics. You
have to convince yourself achieving your goals is a necessity,
not an option. If you make the future payoff of your HARD goal so Six ways to 1 Put your present costs into the future
much more satisfying that what you’re experiencing today, you create a
automatically make your HARD goals look a lot more attractive – sense of 2 Bring future benefits into the present
and the more attractive they are, the greater the urgency you will urgency
3 Make future benefits sound better
feel to get going on them right away.
4 Minimize your costs

“I’ll start tomorrow. Three words that are the death knell for goals. 5 Attack your personal discount rate
Because how many times have you said ‘tomorrow’ when what
6 Limit your choices
you really meant was ‘never’? I know, as the words tumble from
your mouth, you believe them: ‘I’ll start a diet tomorrow.’ You feel
strong, relieved, and 100 percent committed to your goal. It
seems as if nothing can come between you and the promise of 1. Put some or all of your present costs into the future – which in
tomorrow. A tomorrow that really will be the first day of the rest of effect lowers your discount rate. An innovative
your life. But then tomorrow actually comes. And once again, we saving-for-retirement program called Save More Tomorrow
face the same decision: start right now or postpone starting for suggests participants commit to progressively increase their
one more day. C’mon, it’s just one day, right? Seriously, how bad savings rate as they get pay raises. People like this approach
is it really going to be to postpone for one more day? The answer, to saving more because they are saving their future pay
of course, is postponing for one day probably isn’t the worst thing raises without impacting on their current take-home pay
ever except that one day is never one day. One day becomes levels. To commit to your HARD goals, try pushing some of
two, two days become three, and three days become years.” the initial costs out into your highly discounted future where
– Mark Murphy they won’t seem all that big at all.
2. Bring some of the future benefits into the present – so that
So what can you do about procrastination when it comes to way your brain doesn’t discount the benefits and your goal
working towards your HARD goals? The solution lies in looks attractive right now. Banks now offer savings plans
something mathematicians term the “discount rate.” All of us where by putting money into a savings account, you go into a
tend to value the present far more than we do the future. The lottery-like draw for prizes of cash every month. Putting some
discount rate measures how much more money you’ll need to of the otherwise future benefits into the here-and-now can
come up with in the future to equal the same value as something increase your motivation appreciably. Try and figure out how
in the present. to bring some of the projected benefits of your HARD goals
To calculate your discount rate, you use the formula: forward.
3. Make those future benefits sound even better – because
Discount One-Year Current people often view costs in concrete terms but benefits in
Rate Increase Value abstract terms. Say you’re the CEO of a hospital and you
want to set a HARD goal: “We’re going to create a culture that
values patient safety.” To enhance the perceived value of
n If you think having $150 one year from today is just as your goal, you might state it this way: “We’re going to report
appealing as being given $100 today, then your discount rate every single mistake which could have potentially harmed a
can be calculated as: patient, even if we didn’t actually harm anyone, and within 72
Discount Rate = $50 / $100 = 50 percent hours we’re going to learn at least two correctable lessons
n If you’d be prepared to forgo receiving $100 today in order to from each incident and within 96 hours we’re going to
receive $120 in a year’s time, then your discount rate is: implement a solution so every nurse and every doctor knows
Discount Rate = $20 / $100 = 20 percent with certainty patient safety is our number one priority.”
n If you need to get $180 in one year’s time before you’d be 4. Minimize your costs – take your costs and mentally recast
prepared to forgo receiving $100 today, then your discount them as benefits instead. There are two questions you can
rate can be calculated as: use to do this consistently well:
Discount Rate = $80 / $100 = 80 percent • What will I learn from doing this?
• How will this demonstrate my commitment to a larger goal?
When it comes to the discount rate which will work for you,
As you work your way through answering those two
there’s no absolute right or wrong answer. It will vary depending
questions, you might find you can reframe your costs as
on your financial situation, what other uses you have for money
projected benefits. You’re gaining new knowledge and new
at present (which economists term your “opportunity cost”), how
skills which will probably be rewarding in their own right but
much risk you think is involved, your expectations for the future
also you’ll be better equipped to do more of everything in the
and so forth. When you take all of those factors into account, you
future. Being willing to incur costs also definitively
will certainly need the future payout to be higher than what
demonstrates your commitment towards achieving your
today’s payout would be. Or put differently, your discount rate will
larger goals. You build momentum.
rarely if ever be zero. It will always be a higher number than that.
 HARD Goals - Page 6

5. Attack your discount rate directly – make it lower. You might

try bench marking yourself to see whether you’ve set your HARD Goals D Difficult
personal discount rate at an unsustainably high level. Talk to
When it come to difficulty, there’s a definite sweet spot to aim for.
people in a similar position to yourself with regards to goals,
You want to set goals which are so hard they will force you to tap
challenges, behaviors and so forth. Find out what kind of
into all the talents you possess so you’ll feel a sense of
discount rate they use when making judgement calls and
achievement. On the other hand, you don’t want your goals to be
consider whether you need to readjust your discount rate to
so difficult you give up without even trying. What you have to do is
be more realistic and sustainable.
assess your past experiences, figure out where your goal-setting
6. Limit your choices – reduce the number of alternatives which sweet spot is and then set goals within that sweet spot which will
are competing with your goals. While generally the more propel you forward to the stellar results you want.
choices you have the better, too many choices can confuse
the decision making process and make you lose focus.
Sometimes, the best way to move forward is to have less When you look back on your professional and personal life, what
choices so your brain doesn’t feel overwhelmed. Narrow your accomplishments are you personally most proud of? This will
choices and you enhance the likelihood you’ll stick with and vary considerably from person to person and this is a judgement
ultimately achieve your goals. This is especially true if you’re call you alone have to make but as you do this exercise, pause
working to a deadline – take away choices so things are less and ask a few key questions:
confusing. n Were the accomplishments of which I am most proud easy or
In an interesting social experiment, researchers divided students hard to achieve?
into two groups. One group was offered a basic cheese pizza to n Did they require little or a lot of effort on my part?
which they added toppings like mushrooms, peppers, pepperoni
n Did I already know everything I needed to know when I first
and so forth for 50 cents each. The other group was offered a
started working on those goals or did I need to acquire new
“super” pizza with 12 ingredients and were told the price would
skills and competencies along the way?
be reduced by 50 cents for each topping they subtracted. Those
who added toppings ended up with 2.7 ingredients on average n When I first started out working on this goal, was I nervous or
whereas those who subtracted ended up with 5.3 ingredients confident I would get there?
each. So what does this have to do with setting goals? If you can n Was I completely relaxed throughout the process or did I need
take mental ownership of your goal first, then procrastination is to get amped up to realize my potential?
not going to be such an issue. If you see yourself owning your If you’re like most people, the things you’re most proud of
goal you will respond aggressively against anything or anyone achieving in your personal life or career were difficult, demanded
who attempts to take your goal away from you. a lot of effort, forced you to learn new stuff and were full of
In a similar vein, if you’ve animated your goal intensively and moments of worry when it wasn’t clear whether you’d get there or
brought a vivid picture of your goal together in your mind, your not. And thus, HARD goals have to be difficult if they’re to
brain will take ownership. You’re going to be more willing to work engender any genuine sense of accomplishment within you.
hard to make your goal come together in just the same way as They must make you stretch and tap into the wellspring of
people dislike deducting pizza ingredients. If you make it so you possibilities which already exist in your personality but require an
can almost smell, touch, feel and taste what it will be like to effort to activate. Difficult is an integral and essential component
achieve your goal in your mind first, then your mind is going to of HARD goals.
drive you to stop standing around and get to work. The more Humans have a natural ability to achieve remarkably difficult
animated your goal is, the more required it will be as well. The two goals. History is full of people like Thomas Jefferson, Abraham
go hand in hand. Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma
“Procrastination is the number one killer of HARD goals. But that Gandhi and Mother Teresa who founded a nation, put a man on
doesn’t mean your goals have to be its next victim. You can use the moon, liberated a nation, fed a people and so on. These and
these tricks to alter how you view and value your future payoffs other people pushed past the boundaries of what was logical in
so they become more attractive than what the status quo is order to achieve some exceptionally difficult goals. It’s fair to
offering today. You can intentionally move some of the conclude based on these and other inspirational examples that if
immediate costs of your goal into the future in order to sync up we’re not achieving difficult goals, it’s because of a lack of
the costs and benefits. Or, conversely, you can bring some of motivation rather than a lack of inherent talent.
your goal’s future benefits into the present. Both will make your It’s easy to assume those high performers had better
goal look a whole lot more attractive and amp up your urgency to intelligence, more talent, better nurturing experiences, a more
get going on it now. It’s easy to consider all the things you’ll have robust support system but that’s not true – studies have shown
to sacrifice in order to achieve your goal, and that kind of list can high performers are not necessarily more gifted than average
be a real downer. But you can overcome that negativity with people. They’re simply more motivated, harder working and
another kind of list – one that details the specific and concrete more intensively focused than the average person. Attitude
ways in which your goal is going to make your life a much better begets aptitude in every case you care to analyze. The stellar
place to be. And what about directly attacking how you discount performers in every field get there through their ferocious work
the value of the future? With a little bit of bench marking, you can ethic and by putting in enough practice to develop the skills
more accurately recalculate your discount rate and make it required. There are no “right” or “wrong” genetics involved when
easier to get started on that goal of yours today. Also, limit your it comes to any individual reaching expert status in their chosen
choices, make it easier on yourself to choose a goal.” field and then going on to do extraordinary things. Difficult goals
– Mark Murphy are within your reach – just like they are for everyone else.
 HARD Goals - Page 7

Studies have shown setting difficult goals always leads to better So how can you tell when you get the degree of difficulty right?
performance because: It’s simple – you’ll feel intimidated by the goal you’re setting and
n Difficult goals force you to pay attention – you have to get your first reaction will be to back off. HARD goals are often
worked up and performing at optimum levels rather than intimidating because you will have a fear of failure, that people
sleepwalking through life on autopilot. will see for themselves that you’re not as good as you claim to be.
This can be pretty embarrassing to say the least.
n Difficult goals force you to learn – they motivate you to get out
and learn how to do different things. Although fear is actually helpful, the way to overcome excessive
fear from holding you back on setting HARD goals is to ask
n Difficult goals instill confidence – because you assume
yourself a simple question:
nobody would give a difficult goal to a dummy.
n Difficult goals convey the message what you’re doing is
important – you’re not just churning out a report noone will What’s the worst thing
read but you’re doing something which will make a difference. that can happen if I fail at
n Difficult goals force you to be at your best – they demand that achieving this goal?
you dig deep and bring you’re A-game to bear on the
challenge at hand.
So while it is abundantly clear difficult goals are good, it’s also
As you answer this truthfully, you’ll come up with a short list of
obvious you can overdo it as well. If you set a goal which is
potential repercussions. When you analyze each of those items
physically impossible, that won’t exactly motivate you. When it
in more detail and look for examples where people actually died
comes to setting goals, there’s something of a sweet spot of
from embarrassment or suffered any of the other dire outcomes
difficulty:
you have envisaged, you’ll find your fears will automatically
dissipate. In fact, if you’re afraid to try something hard because
you assume people might think you’re weak if you don’t pull it off,
Physically impossible you’ll find plenty of examples of people who were highly
respected for attempting very tough goals and coming up short.
As you debunk your fears one by one, rational analysis will come
Sweet
back into your goal setting process and you will feel empowered
Degree of Difficulty

spot
to tackle some HARD goals.
Experience has shown you will have little or nothing to fear from
attempting HARD goals. The very act of attempting to do
Your something difficult will build and enhance your capacity to do
comfort zone even harder things in the future, whether you succeed the first
time around or not. The trick is not to get paralyzed into inaction
by assuming there is a long list of dire consequences which will
So easy you can do it with your eyes closed result if you don’t make a success of it first time around. That’s
never true. If anything, people will respect the fact you tried
something really tough.
One final point about setting difficult goals. When you’re starting
That sweet spot will be unique to you. Some people habitually out in any field, there’s not much use setting a performance goal
underset their goals or set goals which they can achieve without because you don’t yet know what you don’t know. In that case,
raising a sweat. Others regularly overset their goals – they make you’re better off setting learning goals. Learning goals can still be
their goals so hard they never bother getting started because difficult, but they are more oriented towards putting you in a
obviously they won’t happen, To get good at setting HARD goals, position to tackle big performance goals later on. So, if you’ve
you have to set goals which will make you stretch and dig into never played golf in your life, don’t set a performance goal to:
normally untapped reserves. In other words, you have to set “Break 100 on the next round of golf I play.” You’re better off
goals which are in that sweet spot and which force you to learn setting a difficult learning goal: “I will master my back swing and
new things so you keep your brain alive and well. focus on keeping my head down and my body centered
whenever I take a swing. I’m going to practice each shot 100
Note also a HARD goal which is set in that sweet spot will be
times, while analyzing and correcting what I’m doing wrong, so I
somewhere above your personal comfort zone in terms of
can master the basics of playing golf.”
difficulty. Goals within your comfort zone can be achieved with no
real extra effort on your part. When you hit that sweet spot, you’re “Just doing your best doesn’t cut it in the world of HARD goals.
on pins and needles because you know you’re going to have to But how difficult is difficult enough? Well, if your current HARD
put in a 100 percent effort to achieve it. Goals within your comfort Goal doesn’t measure up to all those things you’ve felt in the past
zone won’t make any difference in your professional or personal when doing something great, increase the difficulty. Shake that
life and you may get bored thinking about them. On the other brain up, make it register the message that you’re a high
hand, if you overshoot your sweet spot and try to set goals which performer, that you can make a difference, that your goal is
are just plain ludicrous, that won’t be terribly motivational either. required. Because the more difficult your goal, the more
The best goals will be HARD goals which are located in that necessary it’s going to feel and the better performance you’re
sweet spot of difficulty which lies just above the level of difficulty going to deliver.”
which is within your own personal comfort zone. – Mark Murphy
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There’s never been a better time to learn how to set and achieve
HARD Goals Putting everything together HARD goals. You can look back in history to see some of the
HARD goals others set and achieved:
The generally accepted wisdom in business is execution is more
important than vision – it’s better to fully implement a half-baked n Abraham Lincoln: “Fight so government of the people, by the
idea than it is to get stuck in analysis paralysis and do nothing. people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
That may be true but if you aspire to accomplish impressive n Ronald Reagan: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
things, set HARD goals which are so powerful implementation n Winston Churchill: “Whatever the cost may be, we shall fight
won’t be a problem. Get your goals right and implementation will on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we
take care of itself. That’s the power of HARD goals to move you shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the
from where you are now to where you want to be in the future. hills; we shall never surrender.”
Maybe your HARD goals aren’t quite so enduring or quite so
far-reaching but the essential fact remains HARD goals are what
Where you are Where you want you want to be setting for yourself and then working to achieve.
HARD Goals to be in the HARD goals push you and your organization to your limits. They
right NOW
FUTURE force you to learn, to grow and to give it everything you’ve got.
They force you to move in new directions which you never could
have imagined.
To get to where you want to be, get into the habit of setting HARD To achieve more and get to where you want to be, don’t look for
goals. Until you have a goal which activates your brain, touches shortcuts. Figure out the HARD goals it will take and get to work.
your heart, forces you to learn and grows to become an absolute
“People spend way too much time trying to figure out how to trick
necessity in your life or career, nothing much will happen. Once
themselves into implementing mediocre goals. What we need
you have a HARD goal in place, you’ll smash through walls and
instead is extraordinary goals – HARD goals. Listen, all the daily
every roadblock imaginable to make it happen.
rituals in the world won’t help us achieve greatness if the very
To get started on implementing your HARD goals, there are a goal we’re trying to habitualize is weak. Do we really think that
few things you can try: Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos or Google’s founders resort to little
Strategy #1 – Cut your HARD goals in half gimmicks to accomplish their goals? (Seriously, do we have the
Project an approximate date by which one of your HARD goals iPad, Kindle, and Google search engine because somebody put
should be finished. Then cut your time frame in half and ask: a sticky note on their fridge?) Or do we think that they’re so
deeply connected to what they’re doing, that their goals are so
What must I have accomplished by this point in time important and meaningful to them, that they’ll swim through a pit
to feel like I’m on track to achieve the full HARD goal? of alligators to fulfill those goals?”
Then get to work on being on track at the halfway point and you – Mark Murphy
will automatically be making good progress towards your goal.
You can also cut that half-way point in half again and come up ” What you need are the ways to make your goals worthy of your
with what you need to have accomplished in the first quarter of natural gifts. Because when your talent meets a HARD Goal,
the time period if that would be helpful. You can keep doing this greatness is sure to follow.”
progressively until you come up with monthly or weekly targets if – Mark Murphy
you prefer. By working backwards in this way, you can break a “One of the most important findings from our research on goals is
large HARD goal down into clearly identifiable steps and figure that people who set HARD goals feel up to 75 percent more
out what to do first. Each of those steps might be challenging in fulfilled than people with weaker goals. With a nod to Burt
and of themselves but this will give you a time frame to work from. Bacharach and Hal David, I’d suggest that the one thing there’s
Strategy #2 – Call a friend just too little of right now is HARD Goals. There is no shortage of
Pair up with someone you respect and share your HARD goals enormous challenges facing us individually and collectively.
with them. Explain to them in detail: We’re dealing with big issues like terrorism, wars, economic
H – Heartfelt: Why you care about your goals. collapse, oil spills, corruption, deficits, unemployment, health
A - Animated: What it will look like when you achieve your goal. care problems, and to top it all off, the bulk of people in the world
R – Required: Why this goal is necessary right now. are either starving or becoming obese. The one thing that has
D – Difficult: What you’re learning because of your goals. kept civilization going as long as it has is every so often we get a
leader that knows how to set HARD goals. Listen, I know it’s an
Then ask them to check in with you periodically and find out how
unsettling world right now. But you and I both know that denial,
your progress in implementing those goals is coming along. Tell
blame, excuses, and anxiety are not going to make it any better.
them you want them to grill you when they speak with you and
We need to harness the energy of this moment, scary though it
ask probing questions like:
might be, and turn it into greatness. Whether we’re going to grow
• What did you accomplish today to advance your goal?
our company, lose weight, run a marathon, or change the whole
• Describe how much progress you’ve made on this goal.
darn world, we’re going to have to saddle up a HARD Goal and
• What have you learned today which will be helpful?
ride that sucker at full gallop.”
The point of this is by enlisting the help of a friend, you keep your – Mark Murphy
HARD goals at the front of your mind. That regular check-up will
motivate you and keep you moving forward.

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