Principle: To make a valuable contribution, you have to get uncomfortable and embrace lifelong growth and skill development.
Growth is about daily, measured, and disciplined action. It’s about embracing purposeful skill development and pursuing new opportunities that stretch you to step beyond your comfort zone, even when it means venturing boldy into the unknown.
Step, Sprint, and Stretch
Growth doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of intentional effort and consistent progress. You must define how you want to grow, then establish a plan to help you get there. There are three kinds of goals that help you grow: Step, Sprint, and Stretch. A step goal is a very short-arc goal (often daily) that helps you maintain forward progress, even if it’s small progress. A sprint goal is a medium-arc goal (a week or two weeks) that causes you to go beyond yourself for a season in order to increase your capacity, and a stretch goal is a long-arc goal that forces you to go far beyond your comfort zone.
Each of these three types of goals nest within one another. Step goals help you accomplish your sprint goals, and sprint goals help you accomplish your stretch goals. They don’t always have to co-exist, but it’s unwise to set the long-arc goals without having accompanying short-arc goals to help you get there. For example, running a marathon is a great example of a stretch goal, but I would be foolish not to set corresponding sprint and step goals to help me work my way up to 26.2 miles. The stretch goal is the objective, but step and sprint goals are the building blocks. We usually reach our end goal, but fail to consider the mechanics, or the day-to-day logistics, of how we will actually get to where we want to be.
Step goal: What will I do today, no matter what?
Accomplishing a stretch goal is less a linear march to the finish line than it is a series of combustive battles. If you don’t define the battles, you will be defined by them. I (Todd Henry) call these daily battles “step goals” because they help you make progress on your mission. They aren’t major milestones, but are small, measured steps that help you maintain forward motion. Sequence enough step goals in a row, and you will eventually make significant progress.
Sprint goal: Waging a campaign
A sprint goal is a series of step goals that extend over a season. You will sprint for a week or two, then take a break, then sprint again, and so forth. A sprint goal is designed to stretch your endurance and generate significant momentum on your stretch goal. As you sit and plan your week, consider an intermediate goal that will help you make progress on your stretch goal, one that can be accomplished in two weeks or less, and determine what you will have to do each day in order to accomplish it. Then turn the daily increments into step goals.
Stretch goal: What’s the change?
A stretch goal is big. It’s a major feat. It’s something that will challenge you to grow. The important factor when choosing a stretch goal is that it’s something you can control and measure. If you can’t control it, you can’t plan for it. While getting a promotion and landing a major client are valuable goals, there are too many factors you can’t control. However, improving your sales skills, writing a book, learning to write code, or developing aptitudes that will increase your chances of landing a promotion are things you can control and measure, and therefore make good categories for stretch goals.
These three kinds of goals–Step, Sprint, Stretch–can be utilized for anything from acquiring a new skill to growing a company. What’s important is that you focus on consistent, measurable progress, and always have each kind of goal in your life at all times. You should have a set of step goals you are accomplishing today, which should be helping you accomplish a set of sprint goals over the next few weeks, which should be leading you toward a set of long-term stretch goals.
* Source: Die Empty by Todd Henry