020 - Say ‘Yes, And!’ to Setting Impossible Goals

Yes, And! With Avish Parashar

In this episode, I explore why setting “SMART” goals — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound — might actually be the thing holding you back. While SMART goals are great for achieving incremental progress, they can also make your goals feel like checklists, leading to disengagement and boredom. Instead, I challenge you to set an “impossible goal” — a goal so big and out of reach that it forces you to tap into your creativity and problem-solving skills. By setting a 10x goal, a failure goal, or simply one that feels impossible, you can ignite excitement and engagement in the process, rather than just ticking off boxes. Listen in to find out how to reframe your goals to make them not only achievable but exciting!

Key Takeaways:

• The Weakness of SMART Goals: SMART goals can reduce creativity and engagement by making the process too clear and structured.

• Set an Impossible Goal: Choose a goal that challenges you beyond your current abilities, requiring creativity and problem-solving to achieve.

• Creativity Over Checklists: When setting big, difficult goals, you activate your creativity and maintain engagement with the process.

• Failure Club Concept: Embrace the idea of setting goals with a high probability of failure, which frees you to experiment and learn.

• Relevant Goals Only: Make sure the goals that seem impossible to you are still highly relevant to your life, career, or business.

• Commit to Growth: Focus on figuring out how to achieve the impossible goal over a set period, using failure as a stepping stone for learning and growth.