Be honest: do you really set professional goals for yourself?
Most of us don’t.
And those who do? Far too many are setting themselves up to fail.
Why Most Goals Don’t Work
In countless workplaces, professional goals are treated like box-checking exercises — vague statements that look ambitious on paper but vanish in the daily chaos of work.
A 2023 multi-industry survey with a strong healthcare bias found that almost half of employers use stretch goals but they are primarily used for reduction of errors and pushing metrics.
PubMed.
Professional Goals are often Herculean in expectation and Sisyphean in result. These are the infamous BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals).
Other times they’re so hollow they inspire no action at all.
Either way, the result is the same:
- Goals that sit untouched in a document somewhere
- A slow slide back into busywork, what I call the ‘Swamp of the Busy’
- And a creeping sense that “maybe I’m just not good at follow-through”
This isn’t laziness.
It’s a flawed paradigm – a broken system.
The Hidden Damage of Bad Goals
Poorly designed goals don’t just fail to motivate — they can actively drain your energy and erode your confidence.
Every time you set a goal and fail to reach it, your brain takes note. Miss enough targets, and you stop believing you can hit any of them. Worse, this can create a subtle cycle of Disengagement:
- You set fewer goals
- You invest less energy
- You grow more frustrated
- …and the cycle repeats
Harvard Business School’s ‘Goals Gone Wild’ paper (Ordonez, Schweizter et al. 2009) famously called out aggressive corporate-led goals as driving:
- Unethical behaviour
- Distorted risk preference
- Narrow focus
- Culture corrosion
- Reduced intrinsic motivation
No wonder so many of us stop setting goals altogether!
What Nobody Teaches Us
Most workplaces never teach how to design goals that actually work with your mind instead of against it.
Professional Goals need not represent an US vs THEM attitude – done right they fully satisfy both:
- They must be balanced: addressing each vital area of our professional life.
- They must be manageable in size but powerful in impact – laser vs shotgun.
- They must represent a step forward not just for ourselves, but also our organization, and ultimately society as a whole.
A Better Way Is Coming
Here’s the good news: There is a better way.
It’s not about willpower. It’s about structure.
Over the coming weeks, this blog will show you how to create goals that are:
- Small enough to start today
- Structured to grow naturally
- Powerful enough to transform your professional life
This is the heart of The Professional JetPack — a system built to help you enjoy your work and excel at it at the same time.
The Journey Starts Here
As The Professional JetPack nears its launch, you can count on this blog for powerful, practical advice to help you transform your working life — starting now.
Follow along!
Your next goal could be the one that changes everything.
