Eyes On The Prize

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

T. S. Eliot

Yesterday I finished To Flourish or Destruct, and with that I’ve completed year one of my meta-resolution: reading 43 books, the same number as my age.

I’ve also successfully written on this blog at least once every month, another of my resolutions. This is my 31st post, so I’ll finish the year no worse than averaging 2.5 posts a month, a pace I’m happy with.

However, I haven’t ended up learning a new programming language this year, my other resolution. And that’s okay. Not because ChatGPT stands to replace coders soon (spoiler: it won’t), but because while goals should be SMART, they needn’t all be actually achieved. The goal of resolutions is not absolute completion, but inspiring yourself to accomplish something. To move the needle positively for your life. To take a step towards become a fully flourishing human person, as Christian Smith would say in the book I just read (echoing Aristotle 2300 years before him).

While each goal in and of itself should be achievable (the A in SMART), in aggregate they should be aspirational. When discussing goal setting with my team, I want them to define enough goals for themselves that it’s likely there’s one or two they won’t complete. Otherwise they’re not thinking big enough.