Negotiate Anything Turn Ambition Into Action: The Real Way to Achieve Big Goals
21 snips
Apr 29, 2026 
Caroline Miller, author and applied positive psychology expert who coaches people on grit and goal-setting. She challenges SMART goals, explains learning versus checklist goals, and reveals why many goals become lifeless. Listeners hear practical strategies for practicing skills, protecting ambitious plans from naysayers, and building the resilience to pursue awe-inspiring aims.
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Learning Goals Versus Checklist Goals
- There are two fundamentally different goal types: learning goals and checklist (performance) goals.
- Caroline Adams Miller explains checklist goals are repeatable recipes, while learning goals are novel tasks requiring a different strategy and mindset.
Avoid Attainable Targets For Big Goals
- Avoid SMART-style 'attainable/realistic' targets when pursuing big, transformative goals because they encourage mediocrity.
- Caroline Adams Miller urges setting challenging, specific goals outside your comfort zone to build confidence and peak performance.
Flatten Your Learning Curve Before Performing
- When a goal is a learning goal, deliberately flatten your learning curve with education, role play, or simulations before performing.
- Miller cites training quarterbacks with augmented reality and role-play for service staff as ways to speed mastery.
