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This Is How To Think About A Goal

It can be simple. If you let it.

Deb Knobelman, PhD
3 min readJan 11, 2019
Photo by Ashley Bean on Unsplash

I sat waiting in my car in the dark, last in a long line of cars. When my 11-year-old son finally got in the car, he could barely contain himself.

“Mom, I’m so close! I’m almost there!” He told me.

He’s doing an after-school program at an indoor trampoline park. (Have to keep those boys moving in the winter months when it’s hard to run around outside).

He has been working on his flip on the trampoline. Working and working.

“Mom, I’ve almost reached my goal! I bet I’ll get there by next Thursday! Some of the other kids wanted to play dodgeball today, but I stayed on the trampoline to keep practicing. I know I’ll get it soon.”

He was ebullient. Invigorated at the thought of reaching his goal. Not afraid to keep trying, even though he had failed every time so far. And confident that he would get there if he kept working.

Here’s the thing. He has worked on his flip for a few weeks, and can’t quite get it. But that has had no impact on his mindset and enthusiasm.

I asked him why doing a flip was so important to him. He told me:

“I’ll be so proud of myself for learning how. And then maybe I can make a YouTube video to help other people…

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Deb Knobelman, PhD
Deb Knobelman, PhD

Written by Deb Knobelman, PhD

Neuroscience. Wall Street. C-Suite. Parent. Recovering Nervous Nelly. https://www.debknobelman.com

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