Curious Thought - The Goal is not the Goal

Everyone finds progress and achievement inherently motivating. A toddler, for instance, will give themselves a resounding round of applause after successfully stacking blocks to build a tower. While we celebrate these moments, we often avoid changing our thinking, as if it were some sort of unknown slime on the bottom of our shoe. We relish the feeling of discovering a solution no one else has seen, yet at the same time, we cringe at venturing away from what we find comfortable. If you think about it, this is a strange dichotomy.

In my experience working with others to set goals, I have noticed some common errors we all make. We are often too vague about what we want to achieve—for example, saying, "I will research a variety of math strategies." We lack any sort of timeline, such as saying, "I will lose 20 pounds." Sometimes, we don’t even decide on how we might achieve our goal, like saying, "I will master checkers!" While some of this is due to inexperience, I believe we often neglect these steps because we are afraid to challenge our thinking.

The real power of teaching isn’t in the curriculum, the cute behavior posters, engaging demonstrations, or any easily observable action. It lies in the thought process and the judgments we make. Similarly, the real power of goal setting isn’t in the goal itself; it is in developing that thought process.

Let’s rewind to the toddler building a simple block tower. They aren’t afraid to adjust their thinking; they are simply excited to have solved a problem or seen the world in a new way. They aren’t worried about being judged or feeling unskilled or incompetent. If the blocks fall, they just try again in a different way.

As adults, we often shy away from truly challenging our thinking or perceptions. I see this when vague goals are set. We may avoid having others observe our classrooms because we fear looking foolish or confirming insecurities we are trying to hide. We forget the innocent joy in taking small steps and seeing the world in new and exciting ways. Instead, we prefer to hide and go under the radar.

The purpose of goal setting isn’t merely to achieve your goals. The real goal is to develop the thought process itself. When I miserably failed to flip a middle school art class, I was still growing. I tried something, observed whether it worked, and adjusted my approach. These thinking processes have become part of my professional practice because I continue to nurture them. Although it's more complicated than when we were toddlers, the essence is really no different.

At some point, we stopped enjoying the process of discovery and learning. We developed insecurities, and our comfort zones shrank. We traded wonder and curiosity for familiarity and comfort. We worry about looking foolish or being wrong, and as a result, we stagnate. The purpose of goal setting is to continue being a lifelong learner. When I pushed educators to be more specific in their goals and keep better data, they rediscovered the joy of refining their practice. Sometimes, we forget the skills and thinking that came naturally to us as toddlers.

Achieving the goal is not the primary purpose of goal setting. The most valuable lesson you learned as a toddler building a block tower wasn’t the completion of the tower itself. It was the thinking and decisions you made that allowed you to see a solution, to see something new. You didn’t worry about becoming a future engineer or about what other toddlers would think if they saw you struggling. Through that journey, you learned something new about the world around you and what you could do. You found joy in it and celebrated without needing praise or recognition. True lifelong learning requires never losing that childlike curiosity and constantly pushing your thinking to new and unexpected places.

#Leadership #SchoolLeaders #CuriousThought #EdLeaders #GoalSetting