Have you ever felt like you were just treading water? Super busy, doing great things, but at the end of the day, you still feel like you haven’t accomplished anything?
The problem might not be the effort you’re putting in. It could simply be the way you’re starting.
It doesn’t matter what we’re talking about—whether it’s a project at work or something at home—the key is to start with a goal in mind. This isn’t groundbreaking information; I’m sure you’ve heard it before. But here’s my challenge for you (and for myself):
Make sure you have the right goal!
Get into the habit of questioning your goals. It only takes a minute to ask yourself, “What am I really trying to accomplish?”
Now, here’s the tricky part: our brains tend to work out of habit—it’s the easiest way to get through the day. So, your brain might spit out the first, most obvious answer. Let’s look at this from a business perspective and focus on a training project.
My brain might say, “I’m doing this to create an engaging and innovative training experience.” But is that the real goal? No—that’s the easy goal. Let’s dig deeper.
Why do I need to create an engaging and innovative training experience? My brain might answer, “So that people can learn to do their jobs better.”
Keep digging…
And why is that important? “So we can reach our business goals.”
Now we’re getting somewhere—this is the right starting point!
You can create fun, engaging, and interesting training sessions that don’t achieve much beyond a high engagement score. But that’s just spinning your wheels—or worse, wasting company resources.
For every project you tackle at work, whether it’s training or something else, start with a solid, meaningful goal. That way, you’ll know when you’ve achieved your purpose. And that’s how a good day of hard work turns into a great night of sleep.
Enjoy your work!