Problems with rigid long-term "goals" & "planning"
If a goal is a future point we (think we) want to reach — planning is the map, and execution is the climb. If our goals are 100% specific and planning is 100% perfect, execution becomes a simple button press.
So, our Goals and Planning (GAP) are the real determinants here. They stem from 3 factors:
Our Current Knowledge (CK) — Our self-awareness, beliefs, desires, and information about the external world.
Our Present Circumstances (PC) — Our health, workplace/college, relationships, family, residential city, debt, assets, and peer group.
Our Future Certainty (FC) — Our sense of where our life’s going, where it should go, and conviction in it.
Four problems with rigid long-term goals and planning
1. The Dunning Kruger conundrum
The Dunning-Kruger effect states "The less we know, the more we think we know."
The flip side? As Aristotle said, "The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know"
2. The core of our CK Is (mostly) a black box
Higher self-awareness = Clearer beliefs and desires = Better understanding of the external world.But married to our smartphones, hooked to Instagram, and addicted to status signaling, we’re self-unaware.
Our beliefs? What our parents, schools, and pop media have programmed us to believe.
Our desires? What our consumerist society, social media influencers, and million-dollar ad campaigns want us to desire.
"We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like." — Dave Ramsey
3. PCs change (beyond our wildest beliefs)
Present Circumstances (PC) ≠ Future Circumstances (FC).
Life swerves 360 degrees — often when we least expect it to.
Then, our long-term GAPs spin on their heels like ballerinas on Adderall.
4. Our Current Knowledge (CK) is 0.0000000000000001% of Total Knowledge.
Fed by 5 sense organs, the 6-inch fleshy mass in our skull spits out our version of "reality" — an infinitesimally small subset of actual reality.
A flawed subset at that — thanks to our inattentional blindness, sense organ limitations, and mental biases.
How do you know when it's time to pivot?
In a society that worships "stability," and "comfort," — pivoting has a negative connotation. Only if you internalize the necessity and power of pivoting will you (choose to) recognize the pivoting signs and act on them. These signs depend on the 3 factors of Goals And Planning (GAP):
Our Current Knowledge (CK) — Our self-awareness, beliefs, desires, and information about the external world.
Our Present Circumstances (PC) — Our health, workplace/college, relationships, family, residential city, debt, assets, and peer group.
Our Future Certainty (FC) — Our sense of where our life’s going, where it should go, and conviction in it.
With conviction and self-awareness, half the pivoting battle is done — the easier half is recognizing when to pivot.
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