The optimal challenge
In a healthy organization, challenge is not optional. The universe is conspiring to end you, and it's up to you to prove you deserve to exist.
So it's not optional. But it can be optimal.
An optimal challenge is one that …
… is actually achievable. Setting impossible goals is a great way to train failure.
… is actually difficult. Setting goals that aren't difficult is a good way to train complacency.
Choosing optimal challenges for yourself and your team gives you two great benefits:
You build a track record of success. This raises morale and increases confidence based on lived experience — which of course makes it feel easier to take on the next challenge.
You get actual measurable results that are better than if you'd set no goals at all. This is not just morale-building, it's capacity-building.
The great thing is you don't need permission from anyone start setting optimal goals. You could decide, for example, to:
Pick the most convoluted workflow in your daily work and finally sort it out for good.
Document just one multi+person process so that everyone can understand how it all works.
Schedule an hour with your CRM specialist to understand where all those duplicate contacts are coming from, and make a plan to stem the tide.
Meta: Get better at setting optimal goals, by keeping track of the goals you're setting and how often you meet them.
Meta-meta: Start celebrating when you and others around you meet their goals -- or heck, celebrate when you can even remember to set good goals.
Here's the thing:
The pressure to achieve more and more with less and less is tremendous.
It can feel like you're being asked to achieve everything with nothing by people who wouldn't even notice if you did.
But none of that matters.
What matters is what you want to get out of this work. The reasons you took up the calling in the first place.
The reasons are still there. The cause is still valid.
Picking one optimal challenge at a time, you can strengthen both yourself and the difference you make in the world.
You don't need anyone's permission to do that.
All the best,
A.