(very interesting book, highly recommended) which is all about lifestyle design, and Tim’s blog continues that theme in a lot of interesting ways.
One of these interesting ways was a contest that Tim recently ran in conjunction with TreeHugger and Gizmodo, two very big blogs. Tim issued a challenge to his readers, and TreeHugger and Gizmodo did the same. The challenge was:
Get a committal response from CEOs [of carriers or manufacturers] on why they would or wouldn’t test a [cell phone recycling] solution such as this in 2008/2009. “We’ll take this under review,” “we’re constantly seeking eco-friendly options,” and other vacuous corporate blow-offs don’t cut it. Get the CEO or someone of that level to respond with his or her verdict on the solution and whether or not they’ll test it and when. If there are problems they see, ask them to name them.
It sounds a little daunting, but the prizes were substantial and you would think that between these three big blogs, a lot of people would be willing to compete. Wrong. The person who won didn’t even complete the task, he just failed best by trying the hardest.
So what does this have to do with personal growth?
The title of the post by Tim that explains all this is Why Bigger Goals = Less Competition, a statement which the contest demonstrates very well. Based on the results I think it’s safe to say that almost all of us are content with mediocrity, or at least afraid to take chance.
So why not use that to your advantage? Why not make everyone else’s weakness your strength:
It’s lonely at the top. 99% of the world is convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre middle-ground. The level of competition is thus fiercest for “realistic” goals, paradoxically making them the most time- and energy-consuming. It is easier to raise $10,000,000 than it is $1,000,000. It is easier to pick up the one perfect 10 in the bar than the five 8s.
Still not convinced? Here’s another good reason to have big goals:
Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal. Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point you throw in the towel.
Those are some good reasons to have big goals, but I think the best one is the most obvious one. The winner of the competition did not succeed, did not achieve his goal. He tried to do something very hard and he failed, but his failure was far more impressive than what everyone else accomplished, which was nothing.
So set a big goal, one you don’t even think you have a very good chance of accomplishing. I think you might surprise yourself and achieve your goal in the end, but even if you don’t, the result of your failure will probably be more impressive than most of the mediocore goals that people accomplish every day.
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