Lifecycle Of A Goal

When starting something new it’s a common desire to have quick results. Usual expectation is jumping into something, quickly passing original learning curve, and then rapidly execute to get an awesome result. Except, more often than not, jump start is not that easy.

Only when person gets educated with a series of failures, then comes a realization that starting curve takes a lot of time and effort. When I start a goal usually I have just a rough understanding of what needs to be done. As I progress on the goal I have clearer and clearer picture and eventually I get to the point when executing is straightforward.

I like the concept of a hill when looking at goals:

  • Everything starts with uphill walk. My journey for goal begins with uphill curve when I learn new things, pick those I believe will help me to achieve the goal, and do most of non-trivial tasks. Uphill curve is about unknowns and problem-solving. During this phase I expect to either prove my original ideas how to achieve the result or find new approach.
  • After some time I’m at the pick. After some experimenting and adjustments I clearly see how to achieve the goal. I understand remaining tasks and the system I need.
  • The remaining part is downhill execution. This phase is all about execution. I already know solution and I’m confident about remaining steps to achieve the result.

Uphill walk is the hardest part. It takes lots of time, focus, and energy. I do most of conceptual steps. I may run a prove of concept for the solution I envision. I may need to reconsider my approach. Like in real life climbing uphill is the challenging phase while downhill phase is much simpler yet important part to arrive another side of the hill.