From Tiny Experiments - How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World:

• Linear goals were created for controlled environments that lend to readily measurable outcomes with predictable timelines

• The challenges we’re facing and the dreams we’re pursuing are increasingly hard to define, measure, and pin to a set schedule.

• Setting a linear goal entails defining a target state in the future and mapping out the steps to get there. Success is defined as arriving at the target

• Linear goals stimulate fear. Starting something new is daunting, especially when it lies far outside our comfort zone. Because we lack the expertise that comes with experience, we’re not sure where to begin. Sometimes the sheer number of options leads to analysis paralysis. We become so overwhelmed with choices that we are unable to take action. Other times, we feel like we’re not qualified enough, and we succumb to self-doubt.

• Linear goals encourage toxic productivity. Researchers who explored our relationship to idleness found that “many purported goals that people pursue may be merely justifications to keep themselves busy.” Focused

• Linear goals breed competition and isolation. When everyone around us is climbing the same ladder, scrambling over one another, we become competitive for all the wrong reasons. Even when we think of goals as our own individual ladder, we look at others on theirs and race toward the top. Either way, linear goals promote an individualistic mentality that can make us view potential collaborators as competitors, leading to alienation, lack of support, and fewer opportunities.

• Fear of failure causes us to endlessly stop and start, resulting in an uneven path where we keep going back to our comfort zone before trying to progress again. Toxic productivity leads to burnout, creating ups and downs. Working in isolation means we lack the support networks to help smooth the way.

• Linear goals spark anxiety (What if I don’t succeed?), apathy (Why care when the journey ahead is all mapped out already?), and anger (Why am I forced to play this game?).

• As Amelia Earhart once said: “The most difficult thing is the decision to act.” Though we may not have all the information at hand, we can choose movement instead of stagnation, exploration instead of paralysis. And when we do, the sky is just the beginning. This is the promise of an experimental mindset.

• How can you go from rigid linearity to fluid experimentation? Throughout this book, you will build a toolkit to support three profound shifts in how you navigate the world:

  • From Response 1 to Response 2. Response 1 is automatic and rooted in the anxiety of uncertainty. Response 2 is autonomous and based on a strong sense of agency. We all oscillate between the two responses, but the more we flex our curiosity muscles, the more uncertainty transforms from something to escape to somewhere to explore. Switching from Response 1 to Response 2 is switching from defensive to proactive. Instead of being passive passengers along for the ride, we can explore possibilities within the uncertainty. Not knowing the destination sparks our imagination. Freed from the need to control the outcome, we can experiment and play.
  • From fixed ladders to growth loops. Relying on a mental model of traditional goal setting means the focus is on linear progression toward a predefined outcome. Each rung represents a measurable achievement, a predictable step along a planned trajectory, which leaves little room for surprise or serendipity. When we shift to a “loop” mental model, the journey follows iterative cycles of experimentation, with each loop building on the last. Our task becomes to widen each loop by nurturing our creativity and leaning into promising tangents instead of dismissing them as distractions.
  • From outcome to process. When we are operating with an outcomebased definition of success, progress means ticking off big, hairy, audacious goals. When we shift to a process-based definition, progress is driven by incremental experimentation. Success transforms from a fixed target to an unfolding path. Without a fixed definition of success, we welcome change as a source of reinvention. Our direction emerges organically as we systematically examine what captures our attention instead of fixating on an artificial scorecard.