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Released: September 12, 2023
Your absolute #1 goal
Many people feel like they’re not living up to their potential. Indeed, according to the author, a shocking 50 percent of people report that fully half of their potential remained untapped. It was as if they could see a pile of unopened gifts, but for some reason felt unable to unwrap them.
Why does it have to be this way? What if each day could feel like a gift, with every year progressively better than the last?
First, we need to get specific. Potential is a poorly defined concept. And it’s hard to take action on something you can’t clearly articulate. So that’s why we start with goals.
Goals provide the concrete finish line that potential lacks. They allow you to orient yourself in the right direction, measure progress, and stay motivated. By distilling the nebulous potential into specific goals, you can trigger a cascade of accomplishments.
One obstacle? We tend to overestimate what we can achieve in the short-term while underestimating our capabilities in the long run. One year feels like forever, so we pile on a mountain of goals and New Year’s resolutions to accomplish right now – only to abandon them in despair when, inevitably, we fall behind schedule.
The problem isn’t with having goals, but with how we set them. Most people’s goals are too vague, too numerous, and too disconnected from their day-to-day realities. We say we want to “lose weight” or “write a book,” but don’t break those aspirations down into bite-sized, executable steps. And we treat goal-setting as a once-a-year event rather than an ongoing process.
To really move the needle, you need a different approach to goal-setting. You need a system – one that is specific and measurable; focused on a few top priorities; reviewed and adjusted regularly; connected to your passions and values; and bolstered by supportive habits and behaviors.
This is the basis for the author’s goal-setting framework. At its core is identifying your number-one goal for the year. Not your top ten goals, or even your top five. Just one, single priority that you commit to above all else.
The beauty of choosing one goal is that it forces you to cut through the noise and focus on what matters most. It prevents you from spreading yourself too thin or chasing someone else’s definition of success. Your number-one goal becomes your North Star – the fixed point you can use to navigate through decisions and align your efforts productively.
Of course, you’ll still have other responsibilities and aspirations. But by getting crystal-clear on your top priority, you create a powerful filtering mechanism. Whenever a new opportunity or obligation arises, you can ask: “Does this align with my number-one goal? Will it move me closer to or farther away from my target?” Anything that’s not a “Hell, yes!” on moving closer becomes a no.
To bring your number-one goal to life, the author recommends breaking it down into 90-day increments. Twelve months is too long to stay focused, but anyone can commit to three months of dedicated effort. Within each 90-day period, you identify the two to three key actions that will produce the greatest results. Then it’s just a matter of relentless execution, followed by a brief period of rest and recalibration, before launching into the next 90-day sprint.
By adopting this approach of targeted goal-setting combined with disciplined follow-through, the author was able to make massive strides in his business, health, relationships, and personal growth. What once felt like untapped potential became a series of tangible wins through the power of clear goals and committed action.
Potential isn’t a finite resource allocated at birth, but an expandable reserve that grows with each milestone you achieve. All it takes is a goal – or, more precisely, the right goal pursued in the right way.
So what’s your number-one goal that will unlock new possibilities and move you closer to your full potential? Define it, commit to it, and get to work. Your future self will thank you.
Harness the power of games
Do you ever struggle with motivation? If so, you’re not alone.
We may understand the benefits of growth perfectly well. The problem is that we all have a “stuck self” – that stubborn part of our psyche that resists change and clings to comfortable routines.
So how can we overcome this internal adversary and tap into our full potential? The author found an answer in an unexpected place: his childhood.
In 2008, he started a new blog on a whim, with no real strategy or expectations. To his surprise, it quickly gained traction, attracting thousands of readers within weeks. As he threw himself into this new passion project, he had a revelation: This is just a game.
Instead of a routine work task, his blog became an exciting challenge with clear rules and rewards. The more he posted, the more traffic and engagement he generated. Suddenly, previously daunting tasks, like waking up early or limiting TV time, felt easy. Why? Because they were in service of a game he loved playing. He had stumbled upon a powerful truth: turning goals into games makes them far more achievable.
Games, it turns out, are an antidote to our natural resistance to change. They provide the structure, motivation, and dopamine hits that make hard work feel fun and rewarding. When we’re absorbed in playing a game we enjoy, distractions lose their power and discipline comes more easily.
The author shares the story of a mom who overcame her kids’ aversion to chores and homework by creating a game with a giant flip chart and post-it notes. By turning mundane tasks into a chance-based challenge, complete with silly rewards, she changed her children’s attitudes and got results – without having to nag or play the bad guy.
What about the corporate world? One woman, tasked with the unenviable job of managing a team of resentful employees, found her saving grace in a metrics-based raffle game. By offering gift card prizes for improvements in key performance indicators, she got her disengaged team invested despite their initial resistance. The result? Doubled efficiency, a promotion – and the biggest raise in company history.
The lesson is clear: if we want to outsmart our stuck selves and follow through on our goals, we need to turn them into games. Not just any game, but one we genuinely enjoy, with clear rules, regular feedback, and juicy rewards. When the joy of playing overpowers the inertia of standing still, our potential is unlocked.
Here are some guiding principles:
The first step is to find what motivates you. Do some reflection and write a “Best Moments List” – a collection of experiences, accomplishments, and rewards that have brought you fulfillment. Then use this list to pinpoint the elements to weave into your games.
Simplicity is also essential. The author’s blogging game wasn’t elaborate – it just involved writing, posting, and engaging consistently. Similarly, the chore chart one mom used consisted of just a flip chart, some post-its, and a dash of silly fun. Resist the urge to overcomplicate your games with too many rules or moving parts.
Giving your game a visual and tactile dimension can also enhance its appeal. Being able to see and interact with your progress tracking in a concrete way makes games feel more real and engaging.
Another tip is to incorporate elements of surprise and novelty. The post-it chore system kept its creator’s kids engaged partly because they never knew which task they would uncover next. Even the author’s blogging journey came with unexpected twists and rewards he couldn’t have predicted at the outset. By building some variability and randomness into your games, you keep things fresh and ward off boredom.
Finally, the most motivating games are those that provide frequent feedback and rewards. The manager who turned around her department’s performance didn’t wait until the end of the year to recognize progress – she implemented prize drawings weekly. When designing your own goal games, look for ways to give yourself regular “wins” and dopamine hits along the way, rather than reserving all the celebration for the finish line.
Ultimately, crafting the perfect game is a personal and creative process. What works for one person may not resonate with another. The most important thing is to keep experimenting and iterating until you find an approach that makes growth feel less like a grind and more like an absorbing adventure. By staying attuned to your own quirks and passions, and applying the principles modeled in these success stories, you’ll be on your way to becoming your own favorite opponent – and your own most unstoppable champion.
The power to change, it turns out, doesn’t come from ironclad willpower or superhuman discipline. It comes from the simple, timeless magic of play. When we approach growth with a spirit of curiosity and adventure rather than grim determination, breakthroughs happen. So the next time you’re staring down a daunting goal, don’t just grit your teeth and bear it. Design a game you can’t wait to win, and let your stuck self be your first opponent to beat. On the other side lies a life rich with realized potential – and a lot of fun along the way.
What are your Middle Goals?
Have you ever felt like a rabbit in a world built for turtles? The author certainly has. As a self-proclaimed “goal nerd” with a penchant for ambitious projects, he’s always been more of a sprinter than a marathoner. But in his quest to unlock his full potential, he discovered that the classic fable of the tortoise and the hare holds a powerful truth: consistency beats speed every time.
The problem, the author realized, is that most of us operate in just two gears – the Comfort Zone and the Chaos Zone. We’re either stuck in the familiar, low-expectation rut of the Comfort Zone, or we’re frantically chasing a dozen goals at once in the Chaos Zone, bouncing from one shiny object to the next without ever making real progress. What we’re missing is the middle path – the Potential Zone.
To escape the Comfort Zone, the author recommends starting with what he thinks of as “Easy Goals” – bite-sized challenges that can be accomplished in a week or less, with obvious first steps and minimal cost. These quick wins build momentum and self-awareness, helping us identify the activities that truly light us up.
But there’s a danger here. As we start to taste success, there’s a strong temptation to over-correct and bite off more than we can chew.
That’s where “Middle Goals” come in. Spanning 30 to 90 days, these mid-range objectives are designed to cultivate consistency and avoid burnout. The key is flexibility – having a wide array of actions to choose from so that progress can happen anywhere, anytime. Middle Goals should be challenging enough to keep us engaged, but not so rigid that missing a day derails the whole endeavor. They’re about developing a sustainable rhythm, not achieving perfection.
Of course, even the most well-crafted Middle Goal can’t succeed without one crucial ingredient: time. In a world of endless distractions and competing priorities, carving out space for our goals can be hard. But the author insists that scattered minutes matter more than we realize. Success, it turns out, is often hiding in the seconds we waste waiting for Zoom meetings to start, sitting in the school pickup line, or mindlessly scrolling through social media.
The solution is to “steal back” those in-between moments and invest them in intentional action. By breaking our Middle Goals down into bite-sized steps that can be tackled in 15 minutes or less, we make progress possible no matter how packed our schedules seem. The author himself wrote an entire book in stolen increments, a testament to the power of small, consistent efforts over time.
As we start to value our minutes more highly, an interesting shift happens. We become less willing to give our precious time away to activities and emotions that don’t serve our goals. Worry, stress, and distraction start to lose their grip as we redirect our energy toward the things we really care about. Discipline becomes less about white-knuckling our way through temptation, and more about devotion to our highest priorities.
This is the essence of living in the Potential Zone – not a state of perfect productivity, but a commitment to consistent forward motion aligned with our deepest values. It may feel uncomfortable at first. But as the results start to speak for themselves, the initial awkwardness gives way to a new kind of ease and flow.
The author’s own experience is proof of the transformative power of this approach. By trading his boom-and-bust work style for the steady pursuit of Middle Goals, he turned his once-floundering career around, writing books and running half-marathons with previously unimaginable consistency. The secret, he discovered, wasn’t some superhuman willpower or motivation, but a willingness to honor his time and trust the process.
Final Summary
Unlocking our potential is a journey of clarity, consistency, and engagement. By setting specific goals, turning them into absorbing games, and committing to steady progress through “Middle Goals”, we give ourselves the tools to overcome resistance and achieve extraordinary results.
The ultimate reward isn’t just external success – it’s the deep sense of alignment and joy that comes from becoming our best selves. Embrace the power of goal-setting, gamification, and consistent action to break out of your Comfort Zone.
Honor your time, trust the process, and know that a life of rich meaning and boundless growth is within your reach.
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