Achieving worthwhile goals usually involves delayed gratification. But not always.
I was going to start this article by saying, “The coaching clients I work with fall into two camps...”
But that’s not true. Nothing is quite that simple.
However, everyone I work with does fall somewhere between two very different mindsets.
People in the first group are looking for instant gratification. They want to get started right now.
Clients in the other group have a longer-term view. They figure out what they want to achieve, know what it will take to get there and then invest the necessary time in preparation and learning.
By and large, people in the second group do better. They have larger dreams and achieve them by taking the long view and setting out their course, step by step.
There is nothing new or surprising here.
A few hundred self-help and small business gurus will all tell you that you’re better off establishing some clear goals, developing milestones along the way and then deliberately moving forward one step at a time.
And that’s pretty good advice.
But...
Sometimes I am surprised when I am working with someone who really doesn’t have a clear vision of where he wants to get to. But in spite of that, he gets started, moves quickly – sometimes zigzagging along the way – and ends up doing incredibly well.
This is where these conflicting approaches intersect.
If you want a reliable journey forward, do the full plan. Establish your goals and milestones. Fix a schedule. Start work. Delay gratification.
If you want a crazy, unreliable journey, just get started and see what happens next.
This second, unreliable approach sounds both romantic and foolish. But I suspect it’s the route that is more likely to create something remarkable.
The planned approach takes you to a place you already see in your mind right now.
The “jump in and get started” approach can take you to places you have yet to imagine. (If you don’t crash and burn before you get there.)
My own approach is to take the reliable route for those parts of my business I depend on to pay the bills. And I take the instantly gratifying, impulsive approach for those projects I don’t really need to succeed, but would be delighted and excited if they did.
What’s your approach?
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