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From Fitness to Boardroom: Lessons in Goal Breakdown
Breaking goals and problems into smaller chunks is always recommended. Any management course would list advantages like easy to manage and track as potential benefits. I am going to share experiences from my fitness training indicating that with the right size chunking one can achieve bigger and higher goals.
The Experiment — the impact of goal breakdown
“L-sit hold with Knee to Chest” is a compound exercise engaging arms, shoulders, and core. I have been struggling to do 100 repetitions in one go. At best was able to reach around 70. I would start counting linearly trying to reach 100. This is symbolic of achieving the goal without any breakdown.
I changed my counting strategy to mimic smaller goals. Two fifties, three thirties, 5 twenties, etc. The figure below shows repetitions achieved against different smaller goals.
Impact of creating smaller goals by smaller counting buckets
Interestingly I reached 100 when I set smaller goals of 25! Nothing changed except the counting strategy. I have started applying this approach for any activity (e.g. 1000 rope skip, pushup hops, crunches…) with large counts — so to say large goals.
Observations — Impact of smaller goals on outcome
Breaking down never gave poor results compared to doing it all in a single go
It felt a bit easier every time the counting re-started.
As the activity progressed, the easy feeling became less when counting re-started
How I felt at the start of the last counting segment played an important part in meeting the goal.
Once I crossed half count for a small block, the likelihood of pushing and completing this small block was very high.
I got no improvements for exercises where I am a beginner
I could not implement a breakdown strategy for Exercises where I am an absolute beginner - doing it for first time.
The bottom line, the perception of ease can make difficult tasks feel a bit easier and help us go a bit farther!!
Key Takeaways for Effective Goal Breakdown
A business goal is very different from an exercise goal. E.g. business goals are not repetitive or involve multiple people. All this makes breakdown much harder as compared to an exercise. Still, this simple experiment has shown how our minds work and that we can trick it to get more. Below are a few points to consider
The size and complexity of the breakdown must be designed based on the capability of the team executing it. This is probably the hardest and most important aspect. I don’t think there is a set-prescribed method for properly breaking goals and tasks — at least I have not experienced it in my career. One must be open, receptive, and creative to get it right!
There might be some tasks/goals too new or complex to be broken down. Accept it.
Keep the focus on the current task. Thinking how close or how far from completing the final task can be counterproductive.
Celebrate the completion of smaller goals without losing the momentum of action. The idea is to keep a perception of ease while continuing to work.
Bring conviction by trying out this experiment during your exercise or other mundane activities to experience the difference. After all, conviction is one of the most important elements for success.
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