I came across an article awhile back and it completely fascinated me. The title, “Why Bigger Goals = Less Competition”, by Tim Ferriss. It’s a great look at human nature and how many of us overestimate the competition and underestimate ourselves.
Here’s the backstory in a nutshell:
Tim had a lecture at Princeton University and knowing most students would not take action on his advice, he decided to bribe them with a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the world. The task: Contact three seemingly impossible to reach people and get at least one of them to respond to three questions. He spoke to about 20 enthusiastic students after class and sent them on their way. Guess how many students followed through with the assignment…zero, not even one person. According to the terms, even if someone sent him an illegible paragraph, he would have been obligated to give them the prize. There are a few things I realized after reading this and I’ll break them down in the sections to follow.
Scarcity and Negativity
This is where many people stop before they even get started. Faced with a seemingly overwhelming challenge, many people react with a scarcity mindset of negativity. You’ll hear all the excuses about why something won’t work. The problem here is, that as soon as you give an excuse, your mind completely shuts down and you go about your daily routine solving nothing. Instead, ask yourself how something is possible, then your mind will go to work to solve the problem for you.
Overestimation Of The Competition
I believe many of us faced with a challenge, will overestimate the competition and underestimate ourselves. It’s easier to tell yourself it’s not worth the effort because someone else will succeed at it much better than you. This is where you undercut yourself and self-sabotage your potential success. Put in your best effort in everything you do and the results will show.
Mediocre Goals = Mediocre Results
Effort in = effort out. If you put in lackluster effort towards your goals, you’ll see lackluster results. Success takes hard work, but if you want to realize your potential, you have to put in the effort. Additionally, mediocre goals won’t motivate you to push forward. If your goals don’t fire you up, then you won’t have the motivation to push through difficult times. Set your goals high to find your motivation and put your best effort in to move forward with success.
Mediocre Goals = High Competition
Why do many people shoot for mediocre goals? Because it’s easier, right? The problem with this is that most people shoot for mediocre goals, creating fierce competition and marginal results. When you set the bar higher and shoot for more unrealistic goals, there’s less competition and better chance that you’ll succeed.
Put In The Effort
Tim states this perfectly in his article and I quote, “The fishing is best where the fewest go, and the collective insecurity of the world makes it easy for people to hit homeruns while everyone else is aiming for base hits”. To see success, I generally believe it comes down to a simple formula:
Big Goals + Big Effort = Better Success
Get out there and shoot for those unrealistic goals. Even if you fail, you’re going to learn a lot and know that you gave it your all so you can move on to your next goal with no regrets. What are your unrealistic goals, share them in the comments below!
