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Secondary Targets

OpEd from the desk of Transporter Editor Reed Hollinshead.

Sometimes the greatest personal growth results when a primary objective is not attained. Hitting a bull's-eye on your secondary target, though, can bring the best long-term and lasting victory.

For instance, let’s say your primary objective is to complete project “A” within a certain timeframe. Now let’s say you do not quite achieve your primary goal, but in trying to attain it you conquer a different goal that had long eluded you. Your initial reaction may well be disappointment that you didn’t reach the primary objective, but don’t spend time wallowing in that defeat, since you achieved more than you ever have before. Besides, you very likely know it is just a matter of time until you win the whole thing.

If you aim really high and barely miss the mark, it is much better than aiming low and hitting the target. No one should be ecstatic with achieving mediocrity.

A month ago, ITD lost in the finals of the Innovative Company of the Year competition. All of us were sad not to have won. But the final takeaway should not be that we lost. We proved once again to be at the top of the list for Idaho state agencies, at the top of the list for DOTs across the country, and still the only public-service state agency to ever make it all the way to the finals and compete head-to-head with those private sector outfits with much deeper pockets for innovation.

Growth comes not from repeatedly doing well the things you know you can do well, but from moving out of your comfort zone and taking a chance on a goal you always thought was a bit out of reach. Don’t despise the struggle — it provides the opportunity for the sweetest victory.

If you aimed for 70% and got it, who among us would say that was better than aiming for 100% and getting 95% - no one would.

One of my favorite stories in the analogy of the stonecutter, who takes 100 swings at his rock without a crack to be seen. But on the 101st hit, the rock breaks. It was not the 101st swing that did it, but the 100 that came before. The primary objective was breaking the rock, which he failed to do 100 times. But the "doing" created the success. Just like you have to get to and go through the 95th percentile to get to 100%, you also need to hit the rock a few times to break it. The secondary target was absolutely necessary.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m certainly not advocating that you settle for less. But if the only time you’re happy is when you reach your ultimate goal and you don’t ever enjoy the little victories along the way, the journey will be very unsatisfying.

Hitting your secondary targets can be quite fulfilling.There's no condemnation for not getting to the ultimate prize yet — but confirmation that you're closing the gap and heading in the right direction. In a few weeks many of us will be making New Year’s Resolutions. Aim high. But if you hit a secondary target, don’t think of it as failure — Just another necessary step on the journey.