Extreme goalsetting

Image by Daniel Byram from Pixabay

What happens when you take on an extreme goal? I have found there are many benefits with this approach that can maximize your development in any discipline. First, you will never surpass the level of your greatest expectations. An extreme goal will quickly filter out most of your options until you are only left with one way forward, thus making the problem well-defined and thus easier to solve! I tried this approach out in 2017 for the first time and this was my goal “I am going to sing Nessun Dorma at least as good as Jussi Björling” and these were my constraints “and I shall do it within one year by practising 15 minutes/day.” The results blew my mind. Extreme goalsetting forces you to work smarter, not harder. The constraints are clear as crystal and if you are going to have even the slightest chance of reaching your goal, you need to spend your daily 15 minutes wisely.

Of course, I didn’t surpass Jussi after one year, but the important thing is I did sing Nessun Dorma in the original key with the high C in the end. I was so happy that I jumped up and down and waved my arms for several minutes. It was one of the most intense euphoric rush’s I have experienced. Although it took me 15 months to complete instead of one year as originally planned, I would never have been able to do it in 15 months had I aimed for two years instead. I could sing it a semitone lower than original after one year, but the additional three months I spent on just reaching the final high C. Trust the process and keep practising. As long as you are moving towards a goal, it is physically impossible to not reach it. It is just a matter of time. If you are moving 1 mm/day and the goal is 100 km away, you will reach it. When movement stops, it becomes impossible. The more extreme the goal, the more dopamine release you will experience by every incremental step you take towards it. Set a mediocre goal, and your progress towards it will also feel mediocre. Set an extreme goal, and even a 1 mm progress towards it will feel euphoric in comparison. This is what gives you fuel to keep going. It is a matter of mindset. Consider Nessun Dorma. It is one of the most difficult vocal performances ever, and by singing it (even if it’s not perfect) you join an extremely small club. And that feels very good!

A proper rendition of Nessun Dorma would require many years of hard practice for several hours per day. There are no shortcuts to reaching or even surpassing Björling, except the combination of hard work and talent. If you only settle for perfect, then go ahead and quit your day job and start practising for ten years. I suspect most of us won’t do that for the simple reason that it isn’t important enough to us. We don’t really want it. What I propose by extreme goalsetting is not the same thing. By working smarter, not harder, you will discover small details of true mastery that shines through – even with just 15 minutes per day! Let me tell you about a specific takeaway from Nessun Dorma. To sing the final high C in the end and sustain it, you will need a lot of air. But there is no time to fill your lungs just before you’re going to sing the final high C. You need to plan for it and fill your lungs way in advance, during the preceding phrases. The same thing can happen on a track day when you experience problems with a specific corner on the track. Chances are that your problem doesn’t lie with that corner. The problem lies three corners before! By reducing the entry speed three corners earlier, you will approach the “problem” corner at a lower speed, and consequently you will come out like a rocket and shave seconds off your lap time! This way, the previous problem corner can become your new favourite. This breathing/racing analogy is just one of many things that I learned by learning Nessun Dorma. These lessons normally require several years of hard practice, but with extreme goalsetting you can get these gems much faster. And then you can use the same techniques every day! It all comes down to sacrificing the present for the future. It sure isn’t fun to practice one single note for three months, and failing every single day, but when you get there… It’s like those green pipes in Super Mario that take you straight to world 8.