Clever Geek Handbook
23 December 2025

Factor Five

Recommendation

Recycling garbage, turning off lights, taking shorter showers: All these actions contribute to the reduction of energy consumption. Written as a joint project by Ernst von Weizsäcker, the author of Factor Four, and by four experts from The Natural Edge Project, an environmental research group, this call to action argues for a “whole-system approach” that unites engineers, designers, scientists and builders to create new products, processes, buildings, homes, factories and stores to reduce energy consumption by 80%, diminishing it to one-fifth of current usage, by 2050. A mountain of research, statistics, case studies and examples provide a strong, documented case that achieving “sustainable consumption” without forgoing prosperity not only is possible but necessary. BooksInShort recommends this work to policy makers, executives, engineers, designers and all those who want to know why they should keep separating their plastic from their glass.

Take-Aways

  • Human development finally has matched the Earth’s ability to sustain growth.
  • Ecological stresses must drop 80%, or by a factor of five, by 2050.
  • Eight “Factor Five” practices can balance economic growth with environmental concerns.
  • They are: “energy efficiency, fuel switching, heat and power recovery, renewable energy, feedstock change, product change, material efficiency” and greenhouse gas reduction.
  • The effects of climate change will hit global GDP harder than the 2008 recession did.
  • Green government stimulus efforts return more economic value than other investing.
  • A “whole-system approach” integrates design, engineering and building to answer society’s needs in an energy-efficient way.
  • Whole-system thinking seeks to provide needed goods and services with less environmental impact.
  • These efforts encompass four sectors: “heavy industry, agriculture, transportation” and “building,” the latter of which accounts for almost 40% of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The technology needed to achieve Factor Five exists, but the political will is absent.

Summary

“Factor Five”

The whirlwind pace of human development, accelerated by the past century’s technological progress, finally has matched the Earth’s ability to sustain such growth. “The truth...is that we are damaging our planet to the point that it may not be able to maintain the conditions we have come to take for granted.” Depleting natural resources and handling the detritus of human existence – pollution, waste and greenhouse gas emissions – stresses the environment. In the 21st century, such stresses will exceed the planet’s limits to withstand them. Unless mankind modifies the ways it relates to and uses the Earth’s resources, “the environment will change how it interacts with its inhabitants.” Climate change will grossly alter living conditions for future generations. Mankind’s “ecological footprint” – the land and resources individuals need to support their lifestyles – already has surpassed the Earth’s “biocapacity.” By 2005, “humanity’s demand...exceeded the regenerative capacity of the planet by about 30%.”

“We stand at a crossroads, where the size of the impacts from our global community is now rivaling the size of our home’s ability to cope.”

To address these issues, nations have agreed to work to reduce environmental stresses by 80%, or by a factor of five, by 2050. “Factor Five” means an 80% “reduction of environmental impacts per unit of economic output.” Factor Five isn’t antigrowth or anticapitalist. However, gross domestic product (GDP) should not be the only measure of a society’s advancement. Preserving the Earth’s natural assets and refraining from damaging the environment should factor into every commercial decision. Business should direct capital into profitable activities that safeguard natural resources, and regulation should deter investments that damage the ecology. Allowing free markets to slow ecological degradation doesn’t work; the environment – like law and order, education, and infrastructure – is a “public good” that requires state oversight. “Balancing economic aspirations with ecological imperatives” is what Factor Five is all about.

Go Green

In 2009, the world economy declined by 7%, leading to negative global GDP growth (-1.3%). This downturn had a devastating impact worldwide. However, one economist, Sir Nicholas Stern, estimated that, absent any significant action to lessen the impact of climate change, the world’s GDP will drop between 5% and 20% every year, which would lead to a global economic catastrophe. Yet, according to Stern, a joint international effort to “stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at an acceptable level” would cost just 1% of global GDP per annum.

“We contemplated a future that saw the societies of the world truly harnessing 300 years of industrialization to create a low-impact existence that could sustain life as we know it.”

The 2008 economic crisis led governments around the world to issue economic stimulus incentives, some of which addressed environmental concerns. HSBC bank analyzed 17 nations’ stimulus funding and found that an average of 10% went toward green activities – ranging from South Korea’s 80.5%, the EU’s 58.7% and China’s 37.8% to the US’s 9.8%, the UK’s 6.9% and Italy’s 1.3%. The bank found that the greatest “economic multipliers,” or the activities that had the greatest returns, were investments in “energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, low-carbon vehicles, rail transport and...‘smart’ grid and ‘smart’ meters.”

“It would take about five planet Earths if all humanity adopted American lifestyles.”

A “Global Green New Deal” – based on the US’s New Deal recovery programs of the Great Depression – means government spending for investments and jobs in building a green economy. Much like the steam engine, the railroad and the computer, green technologies are ushering in a new wave of economic advancement that is environmentally grounded. This era’s watchwords are “sustainability,” “green sciences” and “renewable energy.” Under the Green New Deal, resource productivity will exceed labor efficiency as a main driver in economic progress.

The Framework

Getting more out of resources and dealing with ecological impacts requires a “whole system approach” that integrates the fields of design, engineering and building to work toward an understanding of how products, processes and industries intersect with society’s needs. That knowledge begins with the question: “What is the required service or product, and how else can this same service or product be provided with less environmental impact?” For example, videoconferencing can replace business travel, natural sunlight can replace electric lighting in offices, and restaurants can employ better-insulated appliances to reduce the amount of heat generated in their kitchens, which they currently combat by using wasteful air conditioning.

“Achieving a Factor Five transition is as much a technical challenge as it is a social one.”

The whole system approach to Factor Five considers eight strategies:

  1. “Energy efficiency” – Techniques for saving energy are the “quickest, easiest and most cost effective” ways to cut greenhouse gases. Driving energy-efficient cars, insulating homes and offices, and opting for energy-saving lighting and appliances all contribute to resource conservation. The US would use 50% more energy today if it hadn’t instituted energy-efficient standards in the 1970s.
  2. “Fuel switching” – Industry traditionally has used the cheapest, most readily available fuels. But efforts to replace fossil fuels with biofuels and waste materials in the steel and paper industries are cutting emissions, and saving energy and money.
  3. “Heat and power recovery” – For every energy unit people use, they waste two, usually through heat loss. Up to three-quarters of the energy that people use to produce electricity dissipates during the generation process, and up to 9% of the energy escapes when electricity travels over long distances. To recover some lost energy, many restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets recycle the “waste process heat” their equipment emits.
  4. “Renewable energy” – Power sources such as solar, wind, wave, tidal, geothermal and hydro are becoming cheaper to implement and exploit. Renewable energy provides 25% of California’s energy capacity, 33% of Sweden’s, 50% of Norway’s and 75% of Iceland’s. The reliability of these natural sources is growing, paving the way for their increased service in generating electricity.
  5. “Feedstock change” – Reusing scrap or waste material in manufacturing delivers energy savings of up to 95% in aluminum production, 88% in plastics and 68% in glass. Recycled aluminum now comprises a third of the global aluminum supply. While Germany and Finland recycle up to 90% of their glass, the US reuses less than 30%.
  6. “Product change” – By 2012, General Electric’s line of energy-efficient “Eco-magination” appliances will boost energy savings by 30%, while doubling appliance revenues for the corporation. Japan mandated product energy efficiency levels for its manufacturers in 1979, and now Japanese companies lead their international competitors in energy innovations. Australia, Canada and the EU have taken the lead in outlawing wasteful incandescent lighting.
  7. “Improving material efficiency” – Raising the productivity of water usage in households, industry and agriculture reduces energy consumption. For example, increasing electrical efficiency in heating and cooling homes and offices cuts the amount of water required. Some dairy farmers remove the water from the milk they produce, which is made of 95% water, instead selling a solid milk product and reusing the water on their farms. Restaurants that switch to serving tap water save energy. Serving tap water uses just one two-thousandth of the energy that bottled water requires.
  8. “Reducing non-CO2 greenhouse gases” – While carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for 75% of greenhouse gas emissions, the other greenhouse gases – methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride – contribute more to climate change and exist longer in the atmosphere than CO2. Of these gases, only CO2, methane and nitrous oxide occur naturally. Refrigerator and flat-screen TV manufacturers are devising substitutes for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in their processes, which potentially can lower global warming and save energy.

The Four Crucial Sectors

Four sectors must change their practices to achieve Factor Five:

  1. “The buildings sector” – Residential and commercial buildings are “responsible for close to 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions” and “for 12% of global water use.” In home construction, “Passive Houses” eliminate 90% of the typical energy needs of an average dwelling; they use no “active heating and cooling systems.” They depend on “passive solar design” to capture natural light and heat, superior insulation and windows, and efficient climate systems. More than 12,000 Passive Houses existed by 2008. Walmart’s Burlington, Ontario, store uses geothermal energy for its heating and cooling, energy-saving lighting that senses daylight from skylights and adjusts accordingly, light-reflecting roofing material, and refrigeration machinery that recycles the heat it generates.
  2. “The heavy industry sector” – The steel and cement industries, combined, use close to 50% of the energy expended in industrial production and manufacturing. US steel producer Nucor has adapted its processes so that it now uses 17% less energy per ton of steel, and 80% of its production now comes from recycled scrap steel. Concrete is the second most-utilized commodity in the world (water is first), and concrete produces massive amounts of greenhouse gases. Cement emits 25% of China’s greenhouse gases; in the US, “cement is...the second-largest source of industrial CO2 emissions.” Different aggregates now used in cement can reduce these emissions by up to 80%. Ironically, this new cement is chemically similar to the materials used in Roman constructions such as the Coliseum, which have withstood time and decay.
  3. “The agricultural sector” – Farming is responsible for 70% of global water usage, so conserving water is critical to achieving Factor Five. Agriculture is most at risk from global warming’s effects: Changes in rainfall, climate and water availability will threaten the livelihoods of the rural poor in developing countries. A whole-system approach to farming entails “advanced irrigation management,” crop rotations and rainwater recycling. In California, farmers applying new techniques of irrigation have experienced a 13% drop in water use while enjoying an 8% increase in crop yields.
  4. “The transport sector” – Oil fuels almost all transportation in the developed world, making the global economy vulnerable to recession from petroleum price hikes. Studies show that renewable sources of energy could replace oil as the major energy provider for transportation by 2050. Shifting freight to rail would reduce dependence on fossil fuels, as well as limiting air pollution, lessening traffic congestion and cutting transport costs. China’s BYD (Build Your Dream) and Germany’s Loremo (Low Resistance Mobile) are joining other automakers in designing fuel-efficient passenger vehicles, either through hybrid technology or by using lighter materials and aerodynamic construction. Today’s jets are 70% more energy-efficient than those of four decades ago; the innovative “blended wing body” design augurs even greater fuel savings since these “flying wing” aircraft can carry more passengers.

“Making It Happen”

Financial crises and environmental threats have set the stage for Factor Five to become a reality, today more so than at any other time in history. The technology exists to accomplish Factor Five; what’s missing in many countries is the political will to see it through. Curbed air and water pollution is a good example of how state regulations successfully have turned around potentially devastating ecological conditions, all without negatively affecting economic growth. The “Visible Hand” of government must forcefully direct the adoption of Factor Five standards in everyday life. Under the rubric of “corporate social responsibility,” major corporations are recognizing their roles in contributing to energy efficiency. Fiscal solutions to energy management, in the form of carbon trading and “green taxes,” are gaining acceptance.

“The World has enough to fulfill all our needs but not our greed.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

Yet growing populations, higher demand and increased industrialization in developing countries may generate “the rebound effect” in which an “increase of resource productivity...can even lead to an overall increase in consumption levels.” Whatever the obstacles, the global community must practice “sustainable consumption” to ensure the Earth’s viability for future generations.

About the Authors

Ernst von Weizsäcker, lead author of Factor Four, is co-chairman of the UNEP International Panel on Sustainable Resource Management. Karlson Hargroves, Michael H. Smith, Cheryl Desha and Peter Stasinopoulos are members of The Natural Edge Project (TNEP).

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Factor Five

Book Factor Five

Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity

Earthscan,
 


23 December 2025

Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?

Recommendation

Denny F. Strigl, former CEO and president of Verizon Wireless, is a no-holds-barred type of guy. Writing with performance consultant Frank Swiatek, Strigl offers straight-shooting advice for managers and those who aspire to the role. The authors lay out exactly what’s required of you every day to become a great manager. They present no sweeping concepts or grand theories, and little here will surprise you. Nevertheless, the authors outline the proper activities, behaviors and characteristics of a quality manager. BooksInShort recommends this simple yet savvy book to any manager or manager-in-training.

Take-Aways

  • Regardless of your specific management responsibilities, focus on four key goals:
  • First, increase revenue. That is your real job, regardless of your department’s function.
  • Second, think proactively of ways to improve your company’s sales.
  • Third, focus relentlessly on customer service.
  • Fourth, improve efficiency and cut costs at all times.
  • A manager should produce results.
  • Achieve results with positive, upbeat activities and behavior.
  • Many managers get caught up in work that produces nothing of value, such as emails and meetings.
  • To manage people effectively, gain their trust.
  • To earn your employees’ trust, hold yourself accountable to them at all times.

Summary

No One Knows What You Are Supposed to Do – So Be Sure to Do It Well

As a young executive in the telecommunications industry, Denny F. Strigl was excited about his promotion to a managerial support position. He didn’t know much about his new job, so he arrived early on his first day of work. He went to meet his new boss and get his instructions. An assistant told him that the boss had not yet arrived and probably would be behind schedule most of the day. Strigl returned to his own office. Because Strigl didn’t know what his job was or what his duties were, he had nothing to do until his boss appeared two days later.

“Good managers focus constantly on getting basic, simple tasks done the right way over and over again.”

The boss said he had no idea what Strigl’s job entailed, but urged the newcomer to do his “best every day.” He suggested that Strigl meet with the department head to learn his duties. Strigl tried to connect with the department head for several days. Finally, Strigl ran into him in an elevator and asked if they could meet. The executive suggested that Strigl schedule an appointment through his assistant. Strigl explained that he had been trying to do that for days. The department head told Strigl that “he was a busy man.”

“Trust is the glue that binds managers and employees.”

After another week of passive ignorance, Strigl “camped out” next to the department head’s office until they could meet. The department head told Strigl, “Your job is to carve out a niche for yourself and perfect it.”

Strigl soon learned that no one in his department knew their jobs, either. After six months, he was grateful to transfer to another department. He took with him one lesson: Managers must provide “clear goals and direction.” Strigl swore that during his future managerial career he would never cast such a “negative shadow.”

“Accountability is the tool that enables managers to deliver results.”

Strigl rose through the ranks, spending four decades in the communications business and becoming president and CEO of the telecommunications giant Verizon Wireless. During that time, he developed the philosophy that all managers, no matter what their fields, departments or industries, have one job: to deliver the results their organizations expect and require.

The Manager’s Job

Nothing matters except performance. In any company, measure managerial performance against the “four fundamentals”:

  1. “Grow revenue” – Increasing revenue is not only the job of sales and marketing. It is every manager’s responsibility. To illustrate, a human resources (HR) manager might devise a program to increase sales.
  2. “Get new customers” – Every manager can build the company’s client base. For example, an information technology (IT) manager could develop a more efficient ordering system to attract customers.
  3. “Keep the customers you already have” – Every employee in the company can optimize customers’ experiences to keep them loyal and happy.
  4. “Eliminate costs” – Managers must figure out ways to operate more effectively and less expensively.
“Poor performers thrive in an unaccountable work climate.”

If you focus your management efforts on these four fundamental objectives, you’ll prosper. But if you get caught up in the extraneous activities that accompany management – filling out forms, emailing, attending conferences – you’ll suffer. If you are not careful, such distractions can take over your day. Great managers practice results-oriented behavior.

“It is more important to take action, even if it isn’t perfect, than do nothing.”

Avoid nine behavioral hurdles:

  1. “Managers fail to build trust and integrity” – People will not follow you if they don’t trust you. Be honest and dependable, and speak in a straightforward way.
  2. “They have the wrong focus” – Managers who fail to achieve results spend their time in activities that do not contribute to their primary objectives. “Stop doing things that don’t matter!”
  3. “They don’t model or build accountability” – Managers must hold themselves responsible and insist on accountability from all their staff.
  4. “They fail to consistently reinforce what’s important” – Managers must ensure that their employees know where to focus their efforts.
  5. “They overrely on consensus” – Managers need to set direction and goals, not take votes.
  6. “They focus on being popular” – Whether staffers like a manager is immaterial. What counts are the results that the manager achieves through his or her employees.
  7. “They get caught up in their self-importance” – Great managers don’t care about showcasing themselves. They only care about attaining their targets.
  8. “They put their heads in the sand” – Managers who insist on hearing only good news are sure to suffer rude awakenings. Quality managers want to hear bad news as soon as possible so they can do something about it.
  9. “They fix problems, not causes” – If you respond to an issue but ignore its source, another related complication is sure to occur.

The Importance of Trust

A manager who cannot earn employees’ trust will fail. Trust depends on “integrity, openness and respect.” No manager can succeed without integrity. You must be honest in everything that you say and do. It’s the right way to act, and it guarantees effective communications. Your employees will not have to “read between the lines” when you speak. They will know that what you say is what you mean.

“The more managers focus on distractions, the less they focus on results.”

Be direct in your speech. Avoid buzzwords, corporate-speak and weasel words such as, “connect the dots, bubble up, push the envelope” or “low-hanging fruit.” Always watch the basics. For example, if salespeople are not hitting their quotas, find out if they are making the proper number of cold calls, appointments and so on.

“When you have the wrong focus, you create the wrong measurements.”

As a manager, your integrity is on the line. Compromise it in any way, and you will lose the trust of your staff. To be effective and to build trust, create “an ‘open’ work environment,” where your workers feel comfortable about speaking freely without fear of retribution. One of the best ways to create an open work environment is to leave your office and spend time in conversation with your employees. This demonstrates that you value the people who work for you and want to find out what matters to them. Always give your staff members immediate access.

“Bureaucracy is enemy number one of a healthy work culture.”

If your subordinates do not respect you, they will not trust you. The best way to gain respect is to treat others respectfully. Some 30% to 50% of managers fail to advance (and in some cases, lose their jobs) because they treat their employees poorly. When staffers do not measure up, avoid personal attacks. Instead, discuss their performance. For example, you might say, “Robert, your sales are off by 32% for the first half of the month,” rather than disparaging his results.

“At the end of the day, you’re left with one of two pains – the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. Pick one.”

To win the respect of your employees, always hold yourself accountable. Work hard to make your workers the best professionals they can be. Strive to improve yourself as well. Being an effective manager requires having the proper mind-set. You cannot be egotistical or a complainer. Help develop and promote a strong corporate culture within your organization, one that all employees can feel proud of joining.

The Manager’s Workday

Starting fresh at work requires getting the rest you need at night. First thing in the morning, check your emails to get a quick line on what transpired the previous day and overnight. Respond appropriately to messages that require responses, but don’t let email consume your day.

“Managers are often blind to the shadow they cast due to the anxiety experienced during a critical incident.”

Get up from your desk and go see what your employees are doing. Be positive and optimistic in your interactions with them. Afterward, return to your office and deal with the most pressing professional issues. You also may have meetings to lead or attend. When you run a meeting, keep it simple. Always have a plan. Make sure each meeting has “a beginning, a middle and an end.” Start and finish on time. Reduce bureaucracy.

“Company culture...is the attitude that employees display and the actions employees take.”

Now it’s lunchtime. Don’t de-energize yourself with a heavy meal. Instead, go walk around outside. After lunch, check your email again, make any necessary calls and focus on problems you need to correct. Make the rounds of your employees again, visiting staff members who work in other locations if necessary. “The best and easiest tools to use in creating an open work environment are the manager’s own two legs.” At the day’s end, check with your staffers about the status of their activities. This also is a good time for personal coaching. Make a plan for tomorrow. Do your best to get out of the office before 6 pm. Try to avoid business dinners, which sap energy and steal time. If you must, it’s okay to work at home occasionally. Better still, get away from work to refresh yourself and recharge for tomorrow.

Accountability

Accountability is an all-important personal characteristic for any manager. Follow the rule: “If you touch it, you own it.” If something falls within your purview, assume responsibility. Don’t pass a problem on to someone else. Use these eight techniques to reinforce accountability within your organization:

  1. “The surprise visit” – This will keep your staff members on their toes.
  2. “The unexpected follow-up phone call” – If an employee says he or she will accomplish an objective by a specific date, phone a day or so after that date to check on the status of the task.
  3. “Coaching” – Help your employees by counseling them in small doses. Even a quick conversation can be an effective coaching session.
  4. “The 5:15 report” – To ensure that your staffers remain directly accountable to you, instruct them to send you routine “5:15 reports”: summaries that take staffers 15 minutes to prepare, take you five minutes to read, and that land on your desk or in your email by 5:15 pm.
  5. “The performance agreement” – This details specifically what an employee agrees to accomplish within a set period of time.
  6. “The operations review” – This is a comprehensive report from the members of your team about their primary operations. Strigl held such reviews four times a year in each of Verizon’s four regions.
  7. “The performance appraisal” – Make sure that your employees understand that these evaluations are as important to you as to them. Never have workers prepare their own performance appraisals. Write them yourself.
  8. “The performance improvement plan” – Use this tactic with staffers who need to upgrade their work. Be positive. Send the message that the whole point of the plan is to help the person perform better. Establish a set time frame for performance improvement, “usually 30, 60 or 90 days.”
“If you personally fall short of your culture, take action to correct it as soon as possible.”

Be aware of the impact your behavior has on your employees. “When managers change their message too often, people become confused about what’s important.” For example, if a “critical incident” occurs, something highly challenging for you as a manager, don’t lose your cool and become emotional. That would set the worst possible example for your team members, who almost certainly will mimic your negative behavior later. Your “symbolic acts” also influence your employees. For example, when Verizon Wireless initially developed its text messaging function, most of its executives had no interest in it. However, Strigl made sure to send text messages to his senior management team and other personnel as often as possible. He insisted that they text message him back. Once they did, they lined up enthusiastically behind the company’s new telecommunication capability.

About the Authors

Denny F. Strigl is the former president and CEO of Verizon Wireless. Performance consultant Frank Swiatek has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Verizon.

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Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?

Book Managers, Can You Hear Me Now?

Hard-Hitting Lessons on How to Get Real Results

McGraw-Hill,
 


23 December 2025

Hard Goals

Recommendation

Are the goals you are struggling to achieve just too difficult? Probably not. Most likely, they’re too easy. Most people set mediocre, unimportant goals and don’t even pay attention to them, take them seriously or remember them. Leadership consultant Mark Murphy suggests a much different approach: Make your goals as difficult as possible, and set objectives that are absolutely essential to your continued well-being. Such ambitious goals actively engage you and focus your mind. BooksInShort recommends Murphy’s well-researched, scientifically documented explanation of his strategy. He includes numerous real-life examples of how “HARD Goals” force people to focus their efforts. As James Boswell, the famous biographer, once said, “Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Murphy’s solution to the problem of focusing on your goals appears at the end of his four main chapters: “Get more examples and tools at hardgoals.com.”

Take-Aways

  • Many people fail to achieve the goals they set for themselves.
  • Often, their objectives are relatively easy goals that do not engage them or challenge them to work hard.
  • Instead, set “HARD Goals” that are “heartfelt, animated, required and difficult.”
  • Heartfelt goals engage the emotions.
  • Animated goals are objectives you can visualize and remember.
  • Required goals outline absolutely essential achievements.
  • Difficult goals force people to work diligently to attain them.
  • When you plan a goal, set a firm target date.
  • Create sequential mileposts listing what you must do to attain your goal.
  • The most important marker is what you will do today to reach your goal.

Summary

Promises You Can Keep

People routinely make resolutions about changing their behavior and accomplishing major goals – quitting smoking, losing weight, getting a big raise – and then fail to fulfill them. However, some people do keep their promises to themselves and achieve their goals. They succeed because they set demanding goals that motivate, challenge and inspire them.

“Most of our goals aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on (or the pixels that display them).”

In one study, only 13% of respondents thought their goals were helping them become the best people they could be. Many people set mediocre goals that don’t require a wholehearted personal investment of time, energy and purpose. If you are lackadaisical about your goals, and if they aren’t essential or inspirational, they won’t inculcate real motivation. You’ll abandon them when the going gets tough. Instead, set “HARD goals” that are:

  • “Heartfelt.”
  • “Animated.”
  • “Required.”
  • “Difficult.”

Heartfelt Connections

If your goal is not important to you, if it’s not something you deeply want, you probably won’t achieve it. On the other hand, if your goal means everything to you, you will move heaven and earth to accomplish it. As Apple introduces one technological marvel after another, each new step matters deeply to CEO Steve Jobs. For instance, he called the iPad “the most important work he’s ever done.” Like Jobs, people who care intently about their goals discuss them using such words as “pumped, excited, can’t wait, fired up.” However, people do not tend to work diligently to attain goals that others – their spouses, their managers or their friends – set for them. Motivation comes from emotional excitement and a “heartfelt connection,” which stems from three kinds of attachment:

  1. “Intrinsic connection” – If your goal concerns something you truly care about, you automatically will feel an innate connection to it. Jobs routinely refers to Apple’s products in glowing terms: “This is an awesome computer.” “This is the coolest thing we’ve ever done with video.” “This is an incredible way to have fun.”
  2. “Personal connection” – A sense of personal connection can help you attain any objective. If you struggle to lose weight and never succeed, try reframing that ambition in terms of setting a good example for someone you love, such as your child. When you think about your goal in these terms, your motivation naturally becomes more heartfelt.
  3. “Extrinsic connection” – In some cases, an intrinsic or personal connection isn’t in play or isn’t sufficiently motivating. That’s when an extrinsic connection – for example, a financial reward – can be useful. Companies often use extrinsic motivators (like bonuses) to urge their employees to achieve their professional goals.

Animated Images

To attain your goal, you must be able to visualize vividly how its successful completion will change your life. When Jobs was planning the iPad, he “saw a movie in his head” that showed happy Apple customers watching videos, reading and Web surfing on their iPads.

“The overwhelming majority of human beings have tremendous untapped potential. That’s why HARD Goals work so well; they are designed to help unleash the depth of great possibility that already exists inside of you.”

People are visual creatures. Only when you see something do you truly believe it; hence, “seeing is believing.” When you can envision something in your mind, you have a much better grasp of it. Certainly, a visual depiction is far more real than any written words. When people learn something by hearing it, three days later they can remember only about 10% of the information. Include a picture, however, and total recall climbs to 65%.

“You want an emotional attachment to your goals that gives you the ceaseless energy to pursue them no matter how tough it gets.”

You are a busy person with a busy mind. To make your objectives stand out from all the mental hoopla, the million different concerns and bits of data that jostle and clamor for your attention, vividly picture your goals in your mind. Thus, if your goal is to lose 30 pounds, picture yourself as a much slimmer person. See yourself in the beautiful clothes you cannot wear now because of your excess weight. Carry this animated, idealized vision of yourself around in your mind, and refer to it constantly during the day. This will give you a much better chance to realize your goal.

“If we can imagine something, see it or picture it, we’re a lot more likely to process, understand and embrace it.”

Animating your goals involves “picturing, visualizing, envisioning” and “imagining.” The more you can see in your mind’s eye how your life will change when you achieve your goal, the more likely you are to accomplish it. To “animate” your goals, use as many “pictures, drawings, visualization” and “mnemonics” as possible. Place your visual reminders where they will do you the most good, around your office and throughout your home.

“Humans are evolutionarily wired for visual, not textual, stimuli.”

Your visual image does not have to be dramatic. If you want to quit smoking, envision something as simple as sitting at the breakfast table enjoying a cup of coffee without a cigarette and a messy ashtray. Envision yourself as you want to be after you achieve your goal. Make this image as vivid as possible. Seeing really is believing. And while pictures are far better than words, in addition to vividly picturing your goals, you also will find it helpful to write them down.

Required Achievement

Your goals must seem like almost life-and-death issues to you. Rumor has it that Jobs perfected and finalized the iPad while recovering from liver transplant surgery. Setting distant goals you don’t plan to deal with until much later is easy; you can declare you’ll do anything in the future at no cost to you now. When the time comes to begin working toward your goal, you can push back the date. While you can repeat this process over and over, it eventually becomes a question of procrastination, which will endanger your objectives and undermine your drive. In one research study, 94% of respondents said, “procrastination hurt their happiness.” Of course it does. For example, obese people who postpone losing weight can develop all sorts of medical problems.

“When you bring the future into the present with an incredibly vivid picture of your goal, your brain takes ownership of it; it wants it right here, right now.”

You must feel a sense of urgency about your goals or they will never happen. Unfortunately, current ambitions mean much more to people than future objectives. Thus, those who aren’t truly serious about their goals constantly push the future back. However, heavily discounting the future means that “you’re a lot less likely to be moved by the prospect of achieving great results” later.

“People spend way too much time trying to figure out how to trick themselves into implementing mediocre goals.”

This problem exhibits itself in another way. Say you are on a diet, but you are tempted to eat a piece of chocolate cake in a restaurant. Consider how your mind evaluates whether to eat the cake: “Option A: Enjoy cake now. Option B: Look skinny and feel emotionally great in three months (while feeling some loss or deprivation in the present).” Obviously, with this type of thinking, the benefit of eating the cake now far outweighs the benefit of being slimmer months down the road. To work around this problem, use your imagination to make the future appear much more desirable than the present.

“Steve Jobs has made a career out of doing things others said couldn’t be done...no goal he’s ever set is going to pass the Achievable and Realistic test for a SMART goal.”

Or, perhaps, you think about your diet this way: “I can’t eat three slices of pizza or a bucket of wings, gotta give up molten chocolate cake, no more dinners out at Rae’s, can’t eat fried green tomatoes with the horseradish cream sauce, I'll get hunger pangs in the evening.” This type of thinking floods your mind with negative ideas about the costs of dieting. To beat this mental assault, mount a heroic effort to stay on your diet. That requires thinking about the future benefits of losing weight. Tell yourself, “I'll wear those dark blue jeans that I haven’t worn in eight years, and I’ll pair them with that slim-fitting shirt I ordered online in a size too small and thus haven’t yet been able to wear.” It is all a matter of how you frame the problem.

Difficult Roads to Travel

Tough goals keep you inspired, but most people do not push themselves enough. They are capable of far more than they imagine. The HARD Goals approach is an ideal way to help people realize their full potential. The fact is most people do not achieve even close to what they could accomplish if they had the right motivation. HARD Goals give people truly worthwhile objectives that are inspirational and motivating. When you create a HARD Goal for yourself, you give yourself the best opportunity to achieve your goal.

“Procrastination is the number one killer of HARD Goals.”

How can this be? The answer is simple: The HARD Goals process requires you to put everything you have into pursuing your stated ambitions. And, just as important, it demands that you pay particularly close attention to your objectives. According to biologist John Medina, “The more the brain pays attention to a given stimulus, the more elaborately information will be encoded – and retained.” There you have it. HARD Goals muster all your focus, making you more inclined to strive (mightily) to achieve them. And because you work so diligently, you have the best chance to succeed and accomplish your goals. You understand that your goals are important. This motivates you to attain them. The result is a win-win deal.

“‘I'll start tomorrow.’ Three words that are the death knell for goals. Because how many times have you said ‘tomorrow’ when what you really meant was ‘never’?”

The best way to ensure that a goal truly qualifies as a HARD Goal is to set a parameter outside of your comfort zone – but not so far outside that it seems wildly impossible. Such ambitious goals probably will make you feel fearful at some point. Be prepared to deal with that emotion in a mature way. For example, you may think, “If I fail to achieve my goal, I’ll die from embarrassment.” When you objectively analyze this fear, you will quickly see that it is specious. And once you come to this understanding, you can keep such a fear from affecting your motivation.

“SMART Goals” Are Stupid

Corporations make a big mistake when they use the “goal-setting process called SMART Goals,” that calls for “specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-limited” objectives. A specific, realistic, achievable goal is not daunting or difficult enough to be a genuine energizing challenge. President John F. Kennedy defined a truly inspirational target when he asked the United States to “commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” People push themselves to achieve HARD Goals, but they ignore easy goals as not being worth the effort.

Pursuing Hard Goals

OK, you have set a genuine HARD Goal for yourself, and you are ready to pursue it. What now? Plan an end date, for example, one year from your kickoff, when you will attain your goal.

“If your goal demands you start from scratch and learn a whole host of new skills, well, just create a HARD learning goal to get yourself up and running.”

Once you set a date, slice the time span in half (in this case, six months) and ask yourself: “What must I have accomplished at the six-month mark in order to know that I’m on track to achieve the full HARD Goal?”

Now, cut this marker in half (three months), and ask yourself the same question, but about the three-month milepost. Then identify a six-week milestone. Keep slicing the duration period in half, repeating the same sort of question, until you get down to one week and then to one day.

“Having difficult goals will increase your performance.”

Each day, ask yourself, “What must I have accomplished today in order to know that I’m on track” to achieve my HARD Goal? By handling things this way, you can get started right away on your quest to fulfill your objectives. Plus, this process gives you a clear track to follow, and it reminds you that achieving your HARD Goal requires focused attention and daily work.

“With the exception of some sports, no characteristic of the brain or body constrains an individual from reaching an expert level.”

Another useful tip: Enlist a friend you can call upon for moral support as you pursue your goal. The purpose of this call is not happy talk. Rather, this friend will help you constantly focus on your goal. Your friend should be ready to ask you frequent questions related to each of the HARD goal realms: For example, to inquire about a heartfelt facet of someone’s goal, you might ask, “Why do you care about your goal?” For the animated part of the goal, ask, “Tell me how it looks or feels when you hit your goal.”

To focus on the required element, ask, “Why is this goal necessary right now?” To hone in on the difficult feature of a goal, ask, “What did you do today to advance your goal?” Through such questions, you will be able to focus yourself on the HARD Goals that you plan – not hope – to achieve.

About the Author

Mark Murphy is founder and CEO of Leadership IQ, a leadership-training firm. He also wrote Hundred Percenters.

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Hard Goals

Book Hard Goals

The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

McGraw-Hill,
 



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