Goal-Setting Strategies from a BRAIN EXPERT | Andrew Huberman EP 672

0:03Hey everyone, this is Lewis Howes and I am so excited to invite you to the Summit of Greatness 2024 for happening at the iconic Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. This is more than just an event. It's a powerful experience designed to ignite your passion, boost your growth, and connect you with a community of other inspiring achievers. Join us Friday, September 13th, and Saturday, September 14th for two days packed with inspiration and transformation from some of the most incredible speakers on the planet. Don't miss out on this chance to elevate your life, unlock your potential, and be part of something truly special.

0:38Make sure to get your tickets right now and step into greatness with us at the Summit of Greatness 2024. Head over to lewishouse.com slash tickets and get your tickets today and I will see you there. Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.

1:02A lot of people set goals for the year for themselves, or if they're ending a career, exiting a business, getting out of a relationship, they'll usually set some new type of goal for themselves. So whether it's the beginning of the year or you're just in transition, you want to set new goals. What do you think is based on neuroscience is the best way to set a year-long goal for yourself? Should we have 20 massive goals? Should it just be one big goal? Should we have three key goals? And how do we create the goal to where it drives us to perform at our optimal best and get closest to that goal, if not accomplish it?

1:43And what should we be thinking about throughout the year in order to accomplish the goal? Well, I can give an opinion on this, but it's just my opinion. I mean, I break up my life into these 12 week training cycles. You're like an athlete. It's a season. Yeah. The 12 week training cycles just seems manageable somehow with the understanding that there will be setbacks and things of that sort. I think that certain goals are goals of practices that we've already mastered. So, you know, you're trying to next level what you've already accomplished. And so those goals are going to require a lot less limbic friction, if you will.

2:19and you already know how to access the rewards, you actually can predict the rewards and when they come. You actually know what the rewards are. You've really clearly defined them. Those are goals that I think we're sort of on autopilot with. And I think everyone should probably check in at the end of the year and say, you know, if I'm going to continue along that trajectory, it might make sense for me to set some really concrete goals. Sometimes those are quarterly, financial quarters or academic quarters, if that's what the landscape you're in. That doesn't require a lot of us except more of the same.

2:49Right. But those are nonetheless growth goals. And there's a little bit more friction there because it takes more effort to lean in because when you don't already know how to do something, it's a very different goal pursuit. Right. So if I already have my business and I've been running it for a few years, you know certain practices of how to get to where you've been. That's right. And you're thinking, how do I double my business? That's right. It's different than I'm trying to learn a whole new skill goal. Right. You already know how to forage for water, as opposed to you're some young calf or some animal that needs to learn how to walk.

3:23To survive. Right. You know, one big goal of the sort that, you know, we don't actually have the skill set yet. We're not even aware of what we need in order to accomplish it per year seems like a pretty good goal to me. So learning entirely new language or an entirely new physical skill. But with any long term goal, the problem is. Don't focus on the destination. That's right. So you have to move the horizon in, but you have to remember there's that one little pitfall, that cul-de-sac that I described, where you'll tell people, this year I'm going to do blank. And if they reward you enough, you might not do it.

3:57Remember, if you get enough dopamine. That's amazing. I'm so happy you're doing that. Congratulations. And you say, I know I can do it. And then you sort of lose the incentive to do it. So a lot's been made out of making goals public. Is it better to make them public or not? So this is a question I don't know. I think that in my case it has. For me, telling people, several people, that I'm going to do something. Because I will work very hard to avoid the shame and disappointment. But I tend to do that with things I really want to do anyway. But there's a strong fear element. Like I'm afraid to do this or I'm kind of anxious about doing this.

4:34So I'll tell people. And then I'm like, okay, now I'm committed. I've got to do this. You've got to do it now. And I tell people that I'm certain they're going to give me a hard time. that's just my nature and I'm not trying to prove them wrong I'm just trying to make sure that they don't have any ground to stand on yeah and that's how I do it I think for some people the continuation of what they're already doing if it's feeling like a lot of work it's feeling exceedingly challenging and they're like oh my god another year of this another five years of that I think that's when you have to move the horizon in really close and I think a lot of people right now are feeling back on their heels because 2020 was such a trying year for a lot of people.

5:12So everyone, many people are recalibrating what's possible, although many people are feeling expansion and they're really going to go forward full steam. So I think continuing in pursuits that we already have some degree of mastery over and thinking about where could I notch that up another two or three percent, I think that's incredibly valuable. I think that provides a lot of value to the individual, to their families and to society really, because a two percent improvement of like what you're already doing is going to have an outsized effect on what other people receive right even though for you you've been down that road many times but taking on a new pursuit in parallel to that means really getting excited about the possibility and starting to imagine what that would actually be like to be what would say fluent in spanish and you can just do this reflexively without having to try that's totally within your reach and i think there it makes sense to really think about the end point quite a lot as a way to get over those barriers of fear because when you already know how to do something there's no fear barrier yeah it's just an energy barrier but when you don't know how to do something there's all this sense of clunkiness that is really uncomfortable beginner's mind is a painful place

6:34Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation. And I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description. That will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on The School of Greatness. And if you are loving The Daily Motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcast right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.

7:24Again, have an amazing day, and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.