At times, we may feel inclined to set goals for the people we manage. But the problem with setting goals for others is that doing so may turn what feels like "play" to them into "work".
A way to circumvent that might be to work alongside others to help them set their own goals, in a way that is aligned with ours. Doing so turns something primarily driven by external factors (carrots and sticks) into something intrinsic.
Some people seem to struggle considerably more under conditions built on extrinsic motivators. And I think these are the people who either produce outstanding work or do a lousy job. There's no in-between.
This may be the reason why prolific people often start as bad students. Even though they are smart, something about working for grades and not having a say in what and how they learn, breaks their spirit.
The reason underperforming students may go on to become masters could be related to them finally finding an environment that drives intrinsic motivation.
And that is the kind of environment we can create when we take our time and let others set goals and find a path to achieve them, instead of dictating them — A place where people can thrive.

From work to "play"

In everything we do, there is a threshold or shared understanding of "good enough". Okay. Sufficient. Average.
Large language models and machine learning are knocking on the door. And while their transformative power can be hard to predict, there is one thing we can be certain about. This technology will set a new, higher, unprecedented standard for the work we put out there.
Output that used to be good will soon become mediocre because now we have tools that can do better. So the only option we have left is to embrace technology and accept the call to level up. To collectively improve our ability to learn and to produce work that has higher quality.
But this time, we'll keep raising the bar. Good things are coming.

The bar has been raised

Even though I'm the first to advocate the idea of <a href="https://moonwith.com/posts/train">showing up every day</a>, I don't believe doing so is a sufficient condition for achieving mastery. Programming every day won't make you a <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/gba.html#:~:text=To%20programmers%2C%20%22hacker%22%20connotes,something%20in%20an%20ugly%20way">hacker</a>. Playing chess every day won't make you a grandmaster.
When we start learning a new skill, every day can be a challenge. But after a while, we start getting comfortable. We start enjoying it. We get good enough to be able to play the game without having to put deliberate effort. And the better we get, the less we gain out of just showing up.
The trick to getting better at any skill is to actively seek pain. To break a skill down into microskills and to target, measure and push one of them at a time. Like we do when we work out at the gym.
<h3>To reflect</h3>
If you had to break down a skill you're trying to learn into 5 smaller skills, what would they be? How would your learning approach change? How would you go about measuring your progress in each one of them?

Programming every day won't make you a better programmer

Building up a new skill or working towards a new goal can be frustrating. Especially when we're just getting started. Our output is often below the level we're acquainted with. And feeling our work is below average can be frightening.
A proven way to get better is to show up consistently. To put in the work on sunny days and rainy days. To show up, even when we feel we're not good enough.
Because it doesn't matter how good we are. What matters is the trajectory. — How good we aim to become. And how much we're willing to improve by deliberately deciding to show up.
With every little step we grow bolder. We grow our confidence. And, slowly, without realising, we can reach a level that might end up surprising us.

Showing up

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From work to "play"

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