Embrace Exponential Effort

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to." "I don't much care where" "Then it doesn't matter which way you go.” 

Alice and The Cheshire Cat

Not all effort is created equal. This is one of the most important lessons you can learn in your goal setting journey. To put it another way, from a goal achievement perspective, effort - solely by itself - holds no value.

Exponential Effort is effort that is carefully targeted against whatever goal you are trying to achieve, and then hits the mark with consistent force.

Like Alice, if we don’t particularly care we are going, or aren’t very clear about our goals - then there is no true way to measure the success of our efforts. Usually, when our goals aren’t clear, then the amount of busy effort increases proportionately. It is like Alice deciding to run around the track all day, and then complaining that she didn’t get anywhere. Yes, she certainly would get her steps in - but that is only successful effort if getting 10,000 steps is one of her goals! If her actual goal had been to walk all the way home, then going around in circles on the track would equal a great deal of wasted of effort.

ROCKET Goals must always begin with the end in mind by Remembering Your Future Self. No one goes to all the trouble and energy of launching a rocket with no particular destination in mind.

At this point, it is also important to talk about being “directionally accurate” vs. absolutely precise with your ROCKET Goals. When Elon Musk talks about “becoming a Space faring civilization” or “going to Mars” - that is directionally accurate in a very clear sense. That goal sets in motion a whole range of Exponential Effort. Eventually, the team will need to pick the exact spot on Mars where the first SpaceX ship will land - and we can assume they already have several areas identified - but for right now, there are many more pressing tasks that warrant attention and effort. Or to think of it in a different perspective, the Pilgrims set sail to reach the New World and find freedom. Their goal was not to simply become tourists at the place we call Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock only came into view at the end of a very long chain of preceding effort.

This leads to a second important point about Exponential Effort - not only does it need to be Directionally Accurate, but it also has to be done in the Right Sequence. You need to toast the bread before putting the butter on, start the car before putting it in reverse, etc.

A third crucial aspect of Exponential Effort is that it runs on Progress Time, not Clock Time. In other words, your goals run at different rates and with a different cadence than strict clock time. This is not to say that Clock Time is unimportant, but rather - don’t confuse the mere passing of Clock Time with actual Progress Time. Clock Time can pass, and all kinds of changes can happen, but that doesn’t necessarily mean any progress towards your ROCKET Goal has happened!

When Alice visited Wonderland, she was surprised by how different things looked. The same is true when you enter the world of setting ROCKET Goals. First of all, Not All Effort is Created Equal! To experience Exponential Effort, make sure to always stay Directionally Accurate, do things in the Proper Sequence, and set your clock to Progress Time, not clock time. These small and simple steps will help you land in altogether new and exciting places faster than you ever thought possible!