I consider myself a creative person. And like most humans, I like to see results fast.
But that is exactly where my problem lies.
As I’ve mentioned before, all my past projects—of every type—have failed. And when I say “every type,” I mean it. My list includes a patented invention in the US, 3D photos, a weekly calendar, an Amazon store, a craft shop, a course website, a mobile app for task management, illuminated photos, a Miami tourism website, an online radio, another app for creating tables, and etc., etc.
So, I’ve put a self-imposed label on myself: “I am good at launching projects” (because that’s when I see fast results), “but I am not good at selling and promoting them” (because those results are slow).
However, now that I am studying more about personal growth, I’m starting to think my problem isn’t just that I don’t like to sell (as I mentioned in my post “The Comfort Zone Trap“, where I equated selling with “asking”).
I think the root cause is that I never defined properly the initial goal when I launched those projects.
The Problem with "Normal" Goals
This leads me to two questions:
- How do we define goals that actually work?
- How do we stay motivated during the journey so we don’t quit halfway through?
When I say “goals” here, I don’t mean small discipline habits like “keep my desk tidy” or “make the bed every day.” I am referring to the big goals—the ones with the potential to change our lives. Let’s call them “Super Goals.”
I am also not referring to goals like: “I’m going to write my first book” or “I’m going to launch a website.”
Wait a minute. Can’t those goals change your life? Yes, but no.
As they are written, those are not Super Goals. Why? Because executing them exactly as written would be doing the exact same thing I did with all my failed projects.
- If I write a book and no one reads it, my life stays the same.
- If I launch a website and no one visits it, my situation doesn’t change.
According to personal growth authors, a Super Goal is a goal that requires you to become a person superior to who you are now. It requires you to become 10X.
My 6 Rules of a Super Goal Definition
With more experience and study, I believe that to define a Super Goal correctly, it must meet the criteria I analyzed in my post “Creating My Daily Affirmation”:
- It must feel “improbable” but not “impossible.”
- Because it feels improbable, it must be ambitious enough to force me to grow.
- It must indicate specifically what I want to achieve.
- It must have a numerical value to identify success.
- It must have a deadline (a date when the numbers must be met).
- I must work and do “whatever it takes” to accomplish it.
My Realization and Fear
When I look at this list, I feel a mix of realization and fear.
Why realization? Because now I realize that in all my past projects, the goal was simply “I’m going to launch Product X.” That only meets point #3, and barely.
Why did I do that? Because I arrogantly thought, “I’ll launch Product X, and it will be so successful from the start that the moment the first person discovers it, word will spread, and I’ll become a millionaire.”
But like a stubborn person who thinks he knows it all, I didn’t trip over the same stone once or twice. I did it 20 times. I kept thinking, “Well, the market for this product wasn’t viral, but surely this other product will be.” And so, I kept making the same errors constantly.
Why fear? Because now the goal is different and much more complex. It’s no longer “I will launch Product X.” Now the goal is: “I will launch Product X, and I will sell YY units (numerical value) by Date ZZ (deadline).”
As I said in “The Comfort Zone Trap”, if my goal is to become a millionaire, I need goals that are 10X my initial goal. If the Super Goal is met, I will be a new person—10X my initial self. Why? Because to achieve those specific numbers, I must learn marketing, sales, and things I didn’t know before. I will become a more complete person.
But here is the catch: with my track record of 100% failure, adding a deadline and a numerical value makes any goal feel infinitely improbable.
So, if these new goals feel infinitely improbable… how do I stop myself from getting demotivated? Why start a project if I feel from the beginning that it’s almost impossible?
Here are two strategies I think will help.
Strategy 1 to stay motivated: Shift Your Perspective on the Goal
We must not look at achieving the Super Goal as the final objective. Instead, we must view the Super Goal simply as the means to transform ourselves into a 10X person, regardless of the final result.
If I set a goal to “Sell YY units by Date ZZ,” it might feel impossible. To avoid feeling like I’m wasting my time every day, I have to change my view:
Thanks to this Super Goal, I am becoming a 10X person. If I truly start doing whatever it takes, day by day I will have more knowledge of marketing, better habits, better time management, and I will become braver. I am acquiring the resources to make the goal a reality.
The Apparent Contradiction
You might say: “Wait, there is a contradiction because you just said the goal doesn’t matter, but then you said the transformation helps you reach the goal.”
Here is the clarification using an example.
Imagine it’s January 1st, 2000, and I want to sell my paintings.
Scenario A: Normal Goal with “normal” execution
- Goal: “I will sell 2 paintings”
- Result: This feels probable. It requires zero transformation. Selling 2 paintings, for example in 10 years shouldn’t be hard.
- Outcome: For sure I will stay being the same person. No changes in my financial situation.
Scenario B: Super Goal with “normal” execution
- Goal: “I will sell 24 paintings for at least $200 each this year (2000).”
- Result: This feels improbable. To make it probable, I must become a 10X person.
- Execution: I try, but not hard enough. I quit in the middle, OR I modify the goal in the middle to an easier one (sell them in 5 years or decrease the price)
- Outcome: I didn’t grow to a 10x person; perhaps now I’m only a 2x person. That is not enough to produce a change in my financial situation.
Scenario C: Super Goal with “correct” execution
- Goal: Same as above (24 paintings): “I will sell 24 paintings for at least $200 each this year (2000).”
- Result: This goal feels improbable. To make it probable, I must become a 10X person.
- Execution:
- I need better time management (to paint 2 per month).
- I need discipline to accomplish the point above.
- Crucial: I don’t modify the goal; if I see it is difficult to accomplish, I increase the effort.
- I need to learn what customers like (market research).
- I need to improve my painting technique.
- I need to improve my marketing strategy.
- And more
- Outcome: I become a 10x person. I’m on my way to producing a change in my financial situation.
The Conclusion: If I set the Super Goal (24 paintings) and don’t make an effort, I fail. I don’t become 10X, therefore there is no transformation in my financial life.
But if I make a massive effort trying to sell 24 paintings at the original price, but suppose I only sell 12 paintings (failing the goal by 50%), I have still succeeded.
Why? Because I transformed into a 10X person and I built the skills. Therefore probably, by the next year (2001), I will easily hit the target of 24.
Then, in 2003, I can decide to stay comfortable, selling 24 paintings a year at $200, or I can set a new goal—for example, to double my earnings selling the same 24 paintings a year, but now at $400 each. This new goal will require a new transformation (becoming 100X the original self).
Strategy 2 to stay motivated: Celebrating Small Victories
Experts say that to stay motivated, you must “celebrate small victories.” This means celebrating the milestones. In my paintings example, this would be:
- Celebrating when I finish my first painting.
- Celebrating when I sell my first painting.
- Celebrating when I sell painting #6.
- Celebrating when I sell painting #12.
The Problem: In my experience, when I achieve a milestone, I’m happy in that moment. But by the next day, the feeling fades. By the next week, I’ve forgotten it. The celebration lasts a lot less time than the motivation I need.
My Personal Solution: I found a personal way to “extend” the celebration.
This is the story: When I was studying for my PMI-ACP certification, I asked Artificial Intelligence to create an image of a person with physical characteristics similar to mine, celebrating the certification. After several attempts, we arrived at the image below.
How does this help? I only fill in the text on the image after the milestone is met. For some reason, when I look at that image later, I feel almost the same sensation of “celebration” I felt the day I achieved it.
Realizing that, at some point in the past, that milestone was important to me and I achieved it… that motivates me.
Applying this to the Blog Creating this blog isn’t my “Super Goal” (it wasn’t created to change my life financially, but for the 3 reasons I mentioned on my home page). My Super Goal is related to a new business I will start, which I’m validating right now.
However, I want to stay motivated with this blog. So, I made a list of milestones. I haven’t generated the celebration images for them yet, because I haven’t achieved them all.
The milestones are:
- Blog is launched to the internet.
- Blog reaches 100 subscribers.
- Blog reaches 100 registered users.
- Blog reaches 1000 subscribers.
For now, only the first milestone is complete. So, below is me celebrating that achievement:
I put a different colored border on each drawing to clearly see they are different milestones.
To achieve the next milestones, I will need to slowly transform into a 10X person.
I don’t know if this method works for everyone, but for me, this image works. It reminds me that I can do difficult things.
Summary
- To create a Super Goal that will transform your life.
- It must feel improbable, but not impossible.
- It forces you to become a 10X version of yourself.
- You only transform if you do “whatever it takes” to reach the goal.
- To stay motivated:
- View the Super Goal as a means to transformation, regardless of the result.
- Celebrate the milestones along the way (I use my AI image technique).
