How to achieve [big] goals?

by @francispedraza of @everest for #hackforbigchoices

Goals=

things we want to do

Every goal has the same basic structure:

- What you want to do- Why you want to do it- When you want to do it by- What steps you need to take- Your journey to get there

Lack of organization...

We need tools.

Lack of support...

We need a community.

Tools + community = achieve goals!

Then why is it so hard?

A dream to…

“Learn the names of trees and plants”

is:

Small, simple, has been done before.

A dream to…

“Terraform Mars”

is:

Big, complex, has never been done before.

For big goals, organization (tools) and support (community) are necessary,

but not sufficient.

Big goals are inherently contrarian. If it has never been done before, that’s because people tried and failed, and said it was

impossible. But you disagree: it’s just difficult.

Startups, for example, are essentially a vehicle for going after big goals. That’s why

starting a company is contrarian.

All opportunity is created by inefficient markets. If markets were efficient, someone would have already done it. By going for it,

you’re telling the market it is wrong.

Because big goals are big, they require help. But because they are contrarian, other

people don’t want to help. To achieve big goals, you need to turn other people into

contrarians.

There is the way things are, or “reality”. Then, there is the way things could be, or “vision”.

Convince others that your vision is both beautiful and possible, then enlist them in

your rebellion against reality.

People who achieve big goals must have a strong vision that they believe in with all of

their heart and mind.

To have so much conviction, you have to have reasons why. You have to have an argument that reconciles with how you

understand reality, and which stands up to criticism.

Given that...

According to Kant, reality is infinite, multi-layered, and complex. We build models to understand it, but all models can break, because they are

simplifications.

According to Hegel, for every argument there is a counter-argument.

According to Taleb, there is what we know, what we know we don’t know, and what we don’t know we don’t know. The last category is the largest.

According to Kelvin, entropy is in the nature of the universe, so building anything (creating order) is hard.

How can anyone have so much conviction?

Through confusion and doubt, we emerge with faith and hope. In the end, we choose our path.

We comprehend as much as we can, then we ask: how now shall we then live? The choices we make are all the

more significant for their uncertainty. They are more brave.

They say more about us and what we value -- they are statements.

V > C + O

Value must be greater than cost plus opportunity cost.

We live in a world of infinite opportunity cost.

Three questions life asks of us:

What do you value?

How do you express it?

How much are you willing to pay for it?

What do you value?

What is beautiful? What is good? What is desirable?

Remember, goals are just what we want.

So what do you want?

Beauty demands a response.

How do you express your value for something?

Write a poem.

Start a company.

Propose to your true love.

If you value it, then...

How much are you willing to pay for it?

Time. Energy. Effort. Money.

Opportunity cost.

Sacrifice.

Pain and pleasure are yin and yang.

They say that love conquers all.

This might be true if you consider that there are very few things that are worth paying any price. Those things are

the things you truly, deeply love.

If you feel this way about something, there is no surrender. If there is no surrender, then it is more likely that in the long run, you will win, if victory is possible.

We return to the question:

How to achieve [big] goals?

Organization and support are necessary, but not sufficient. It requires conviction and sacrifice.

People only gain this conviction when they confront a complex, uncertain reality, and still emerge defiant.

People only sacrifice when they believe it is worth it. It is a choice. A statement of value.

We choose to go to the moon.

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize

and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to

accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

- John F. Kennedy

Choose to go to the moon.