High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 505: Why You Need a Stretch Goal

Episode Date: August 14, 2022

A stretch goal helps you move beyond your current capabilities and performance. It requires sacrifice, dreaming big, and grit, and it should push you toward new possibilities, feeding the fire in your belly. A stretch goal may even be a little uncomfortable to pursue. It might include a new approach or a brand-new path. What hard, gritty goals do you want to pursue?  Quote of the Week: “The key to stretch is to reach for more than you think is possible. Don’t sell yourself short by thinking that you’ll fail.” Jack Welch, Former Chairman of General Electric    Power Phrase this Week: “I stretch myself to keep dreaming big.”

Hi friends, my name is Dr. Sindra Kampoff, a national leader in the field of sport and performance psychology. Every week I'm on the local radio sharing my top tips on exactly how to develop the mindset of the world's best so you can accomplish all your dreams. Get ready for a jammed packed episode focused on practical tips to help you get after your goals and step out of your comfort zone. Let's go. Time to check in with Cinder Kampoff on the phone today. And Cinder, today we talk about why you're needing a stretch goal. What is the quote you start us off with? I like this quote by Jack Welch, and he said, the key to stretch is to reach for more than

you think is possible. Don't sell yourself short by thinking you'll fail. All right. So what exactly are we talking about today? Well, one of the most replicable findings within the literature within performance psychology is that we need goals and goals direct our focus. They fuel our desire. They keep us persistent in the face of adversity. And a goal is really something that we're seeking. And we know that the world's best are goal-oriented. So today we're going to talk about stretch goals and why we need a stretch goal to keep us, you know, fueled with this kind of life-changing passion. So, Cinder, how does this relate to us?

Well, how it relates to us is, you know, we all lead ourselves. We might lead ourselves in our career or we might lead our business, for example. And if we're not sure really the outcomes we want, how do we lead other people? So we need to make sure that our goals really are connected. We have long-term goals and we have short-term goals and they're connected with each other. And setting goals should really get you fired up and inspired.

And so I'm going to encourage people as they're listening to think about what their stretch goal is. And then we want to write your goal down to help you, you know, ink it, not just think it. We want to write it down so that it's not forgotten or ignored. So what do we need to consider when we're talking about setting our goals? Well, our goals should actually be a little out of our reach, and they should be difficult to accomplish. So on episode 418 of the High Performance Mindset podcast, I spoke with Caroline Adams Miller, who is the author of Get Gritty. And we had a great conversation about hard goals. And I love what she said. She said this. She said, the happiest people wake up every day to really hard goals, not easy goals.

So the good kind of great is going after hard goals, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks, and doing it for an extended period of time. And so I'm just going to encourage people as they're listening, you know, what is a hard goal or what are hard goals, you know, that you're going after? So what do you mean by stretch goal? What's the difference there? Well, a stretch goal is really a difficult goal that we're going after. It's a hard goal. And a stretch goal really moves us beyond what we're currently doing, our current capabilities, and it requires sacrifice. It requires dreaming big. It requires grit and pushing towards new possibilities. And a stretch goal likely will be uncomfortable to pursue. So it might be a new approach or a brand new path you're pursuing.

Well, then I'm going to use something back on you. How do we get rid of our automatic negative thinking about those goals when we have that self-doubt that creeps in? Oh, that's a great question. I would say the doubt is going to creep in because your brain, you know, its purpose really is to keep you safe, not to keep you dreaming big and stepping into your potential. And so even as I say, you know, stretch goal, the tendency is for people to dream pretty small. And so I'm going to encourage people to really fight your inclination to dream small and to choose courage instead. And I think the key is to remember that we all need hard goals to go after.

And so I'd encourage people to think about, you know, how can you dream just as you might encourage a friend to dream? Or how can you dream, you know, like you would encourage a child to dream? Or how could you dream knowing that you deserve to dream? And when your brain starts thinking about, you know, how will you actually achieve that stretch goal, just redirect it back to, you know, not the how, but the why and the what, and have fun exploring that. What is our power phrase this week?

I stretch myself to keep dreaming big. I like it. And that's why you need a stretch goal. Cindra, this is part of your new book. We should talk about the new book coming out. Yeah. So my first book is called Beyond Grit. And this one coming out on August 10th is called Beyond Grit for Business. And it's about using the 10 practices that lead to high performance in business and leadership and sales. So I'd encourage everyone to pick it up. You can head over to beyondgrit.com and get your copy there. show notes and to join my exclusive community for high performers where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can head over to Dr. Sindhra. That's D-R-C-I-N-D-R-A.com. See you next week.