How I Achieved My First Goal — A Sea Story
The process I learned after I enlisted in the Navy continues to help me with every task I undertake.
I wept bitterly as I scrubbed the haze gray paint off of my arms. What did it even matter if it came off anyway? I was only going to get covered again the next day.
I felt trapped in the Navy version of a Groundhog Day loop. I had been painting the ship for weeks.
It was a big ship, and there was a lot to paint.
I was also painting myself, because I hated wearing gloves. The trade I made for comfort was that I had to scrub every inch of paint off, every single day. A missed spot of paint on my elbow while wearing my clean uniform would inevitably lead to someone of a higher rank yelling at me.
And everyone ranked higher than me.
As I sat there in tears, feeling defeated, skin raw from days of vigorous scrubbing, I finally accepted that I was the cause of my own misery. It had been my own poor choices that led me to this dismal day.
With that acceptance, came a revelation: if it was my own choices that had gotten me here, what would happen if I made better ones?
That night, I set my first real goal.
Six years later, I couldn’t have been more different from that resentful, paint-covered sailor. By the time I received my honorable discharge from the Navy, I had also gained the respect of my shipmates and commendations from my superiors. Most importantly for me, I left wearing a paint-free uniform.
Kidding about the uniform. Though it was paint-free, it was not the most important part.
It all changed when I decided I couldn’t paint one more hawser, that there must be something else I could do. I didn’t realize it then, but I was forming the procedure that has guided me through every project I’ve attempted since then.
- Set your goal
- Work out a plan, backwards
- Go do it
That last one is easier said than done, so I’ll share three tools that keep me going:
- Movement before motivation
- Always have a “Next Action”
- Stay consistent
By following these steps, I got my ship upright, and my Navy career back on track. It all began when I set my first goal.
Step 1. Set Your Goal
Pick a goal, any goal. It doesn’t even have to be hairy or audacious. Ideally, your goal is something that can’t be accomplished in one single step. The prize is slightly complicated to reach, or you would have it already, right?
Here are a few examples if you’re still not sure what I mean.
- Lowering your cholesterol
- Giving a presentation to your boss
- Leading your local youth group
- Writing a book
- Learning a new language
- Getting a promotion at work
Basically, a goal can be anything you want to achieve that isn’t going to happen overnight. A thing that you want that is out of your current reach.
What is it that I really wanted? That’s the question I asked myself. Well, that was an easy one to answer. I wanted to do something besides paint!
First, you should know that being a deck seaman is more than merely painting the ship or swabbing the deck (that’s mopping the floor, for you landlubbers). It’s an honorable job, and a necessary one that’s existed for thousands of years.
In these modern times, the job doesn’t usually entail climbing up into the sails, but that’s about the only difference. A ship from any century still needs constant care and maintenance, like a car does. When I reported to my ship, I was assigned to the Department whose job it was to maintain the exterior areas of the ship.
Let me tell you: no matter how honorable the job is, there is nothing like never-ending manual labor to make you wonder about other options in life.
I was there because I was 19 and I knew everything already. I refused to listen to — even argued with — my chain of command.
In earlier versions of the Navy, I would have been tied to the mast and whipped for my insubordination. Luckily for me, it was the late 20th century. Instead, they confined me to the ship and put me to work.
A bright and promising future quickly began to look like a four-year sentence in hell, and I was only a few months into my enlistment.
I needed to make changes to my attitude. The Navy was my last chance to get my act together. If they kicked me out, I was headed for the streets again. I joined the Navy to get away from that, no way was I going back.
What could I do then?
I couldn’t leave the Navy, but I could leave Deck Department. I looked around the ship to see what other jobs there were. I found myself drawn to the Operations Department — I thought that the ship’s navigators were the coolest. They knew how to look at the stars and figure out where we were, in the middle of the ocean! Those sailors are known as Quartermasters in the Navy.
So now I had a goal: I would become a Quartermaster.
Step 2. Work Out a Plan, Backwards
Every good plan begins with information. I couldn’t decide how to proceed if I didn’t know what I needed to do.
I began by asking myself questions.
Q: What do I want?
A: To find a different way to spend the rest of my Navy enlistment.
Q: How can I do that?
A: I can’t leave my ship, but I can transfer to a different department.
By continuing in this manner, I moved from a broad question to a more specific one. I stopped when I found an answer that contained a specific task to complete.
When you turn your list of questions backwards, your last answer becomes the first step in your plan of attack.
Once I had identified my goal of becoming a Quartermaster and transferring to a different department, I started a new set of root cause questions to find out what that process would entail.
It didn’t take many questions. I needed to pass a test proving I had some knowledge about navigating a ship. The exam was offered onboard my ship twice a year, but I wouldn’t be eligible to take it until next year.
I now had all the information I needed to create a (very simple) plan.
1. Learn how to navigate.
2. Pass the exam.
Time to get to work.
Step 3. Go Do It
What this plan meant in reality was that I would have to get the manual and study after working hours. Living onboard a ship made learning how to navigate a little bit easier, but I still had my normal job to do. Whenever we went to sea, after standing my own watches and completing my daily tasks, I would slip to the chart table on the bridge to learn from our ship’s Quartermasters.
Meanwhile, I would study at night, in my rack, or in the ship’s library, teaching myself to speak the language of navigation.
If you’ve ever attempted to teach yourself something, you know that it is harder than it sounds. There is no teacher to grade your papers, no boss to give you feedback, no buddy to give you friendly competition. Not even a fancy app to give you virtual confetti.
No external motivation.
This means it’s all gotta come from you, and that can be a point of failure. You’ve got to keep moving even when no one else is watching. Here are a few of the ways I’ve learned to keep myself going.
Movement Before Motivation
Q: Why didn’t you get up and write 1000 words this morning?
A: Because I didn’t feel like it.
If you wait until you feel like it, it’s probably not going to happen. Even if it’s something you really want to do, like completing your novel, there will be days that you won’t feel like writing. On those days, you need to write anyway.
Do it before you feel like it.
It may lead you to actually feeling like it — the “fake it till you make it” routine. Once you’ve forced yourself through those first few paragraphs, magically, your motivation will appear. The words will flow from your pen as if handed down from heaven.
Or not.
Either way, you showed up and worked, and ultimately, that’s how things get done. By doing them.
(As a bonus tip for those who really are struggling with writing X words a day, try setting a pomodoro goal instead. Your only commitment is to write for 25 minutes. Some days, I walk away after one pomodoro. Most days, though, when the timer goes off, I don’t even hear it because I’m pounding away at the keyboard. Not the method for everyone, every time, but it works for me.)
Always Have a “Next Action”
Every time I found myself with time on my hands, I would return to the question, “What is the one thing I can do right now that will take me in the right direction?”
Becoming a Quartermaster was my one and only project, so the answer was either hit the books or hit the Bridge. Study, study, and study some more.
Most people manage more than one project in their lives at a time, though. David Allen’s classic book, Getting Things Done, is a great place to start if you’re interested in learning more about productivity systems. I want to focus on one of his ideas in particular, the “Next Action”.
Whether you have one project, or many, they all have one thing in common:
At the very heart of every project is nothing more than a list of steps.
Once you visualize your project this way, it follows that no matter which step you are on within that project, there must be a next step, or “Next Action”, that you can take.
Know what it is.
Know what it is for every project you’re working on. Keep those actions on a list, and always have it at hand. Try reaching for your list instead of your social media feed when you have down time.
Always ask yourself, “What is the one thing I can do right now that will take me in the right direction?” *
Scan through your list and see which “Next Action” best fits into the time and place you’ve found yourself available.
For example, while waiting for your to-go order, you scan your “Next Action” list. You are reminded that you still need to buy the decorations for the youth event on Wednesday night. Amazingly, this restaurant is right next door to a party supply store, so you go get that done before your food is even ready.
Or maybe you use that time instead to make a phone call to a loved one, because one of your goals is to check in on your elderly aunt from time to time. Maybe you even pick up an extra plate and bring it by her house instead, and while you’re talking, she spills the news that your cousin is actually the illegitimate son of Prince Charles!
Okay, not really. You have the same conversation you always have with her — she refuses to stop calling them the San Diego Chargers and blows raspberries at you every time you correct her.
And you would have missed out on that if you hadn’t checked your list.
Always have a “Next Action” ready to go. Don’t waste time wondering what you should be doing — know what you should be doing. Then do it.
Stay Consistent
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
— Calvin Coolidge
With any challenge comes a thrill of excitement. This boost can push us through the first few days of a new routine. After the excitement wears off, though, it becomes harder to keep focused and easier to return to our old ways.
This is where it is crucial to stay the course.
When I was studying for that exam, I had no trouble being consistent with my study. Passing that exam would change my life, and I wasn’t going to let anything stop me.
That wasn’t the case, though, when I decided to quit smoking cigarettes. Though that was also a life changing decision, it was much harder to accomplish. Every time that I failed, I’d smoke more because I was depressed that I had failed. It was a vicious cycle.
But one day, a lightbulb clicked for me.
No one else was counting how many days it had been since I’d had a cigarette, so why should I?
I stopped counting.
Instead of caring about how many days it had been, I began to care about today alone. And when I failed, and had a cigarette, I didn’t start smoking again in despair. There was no broken streak for me to grieve, because there was no streak. There was only an imperfect human, having an imperfect day. I forgave myself and I quit again.
I kept quitting until I didn’t bother starting anymore.
James Clear says every action you take is a vote for the person you want to be. I wanted to be a Quartermaster, and I voted for that idea by studying every day to learn navigation. I wanted to be a non-smoker, and I voted for that idea every time I had a smoke-free day.
Stay consistent. Every vote counts.
What Comes Afterward?
I’ve met other Navy veterans who were bitter about their time in service. That was where I was headed, no doubt, if I hadn’t decided to do something different. But I did do something different, and instead of being bitter, I am grateful.
You won’t be surprised to learn that I passed the test and went on to become an outstanding sailor in the United States Navy. (I’m not boasting, that’s the literal word they use on performance reviews. Makes me sound super awesome, though, right?)
It’s also not surprising that after becoming a Quartermaster, I set more goals for myself. I’ve achieved them, too, by using this same process.
Anytime I want to conquer something new, I follow these three steps:
· Set a goal
· Work out a plan, backwards
· Go do it
Remember: every project is a list of steps that you must take, one by one. Don’t think about how many of them there are. Focus on the step you’re on, and know what step is coming next.
Once you’ve reached your goal, don’t be surprised to discover that, like me, you suddenly have new objectives. Accomplishment can be addictive. So set a new goal and take it from the top.
I wish you fair winds and following seas on your journey — you got this!
*Sometimes the answer is, “Nothing.” Proper rest is just as important as productivity.