“Objectives are well and good when they are sufficiently modest, but things get a lot more complicated when they’re more ambitious. In fact, objectives actually become obstacles towards more exciting achievements, like those involving discovery, creativity, invention, or innovation — or even achieving true happiness. In other words (and here is the paradox), the greatest achievements become less likely when they are made objectives.” Kenneth O Stanley
When we put objectives into account for our tasks, we are creating a false security blanket that is a hindrance to true progress which may be counterintuitive. Most of the time, chasing for false objectives force us to spend time, money, and energy toward a deception. In retrospect, one of the big criticisms against Stanley’s line of arguments is that he ignores the power of incremental innovations and advocates for all-in disruptive innovations.
This perspective is in line with Stuart Firestein’s observations around the importance of curiosity and failure in scientific, social, and business pursuits.
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