F·10
Focus & Deep Work
Specific and Hard Beats Do Your Best
A specific, difficult goal outperforms a vague one or an easy one in nearly every task ever tested.
- Evidence
- proven
- Topic
- Focus
- Things to do
- 3
- Read
- 1 min
provenHow strong is the evidence?
Tested again and again, by different people, and it keeps coming out the same. You can lean on this.
- Locke & Latham, American Psychologist, 2002 — 35 years and 400+ studies
Why it works
“Do your best” has no reference point, so any effort satisfies it. A number tells you when to push, when to stop, and whether you are behind — it turns effort into feedback.
What to do about it
- Attach a number and a date to anything that matters. “Write more” is not a goal; “1,000 words before 10am” is.
- Set it at the edge of achievable. Performance rises with difficulty right up to the limit of ability.
- Where you have never done the task before, set a learning goal instead — “find three methods” rather than a number.
Where people go wrong
A hard number on a task you do not yet know how to do. There it produces anxiety and shortcuts, and a learning goal beats it.
Read next
- Stress Is Enhancing, If You Believe It IsBelieving that stress improves performance changes the physiological response and the outcome.solid
- Say “I'm Excited”, Not “Calm Down”Reappraising anxiety as excitement improves performance. Trying to calm down does not — it is a much longer distance to travel.solid
- Attention ResiduePart of your attention stays on the previous task — unless you left it with a written plan for resuming.solid
- The Phone Doesn't Have to BuzzA smartphone within reach reduces available working memory even when it is face-down, silent and switched off.solid