I was interested when I read in Chris Argyris et al.'s "Action Science" that there is evidently research that says that people are better at pressing on, overcoming obstacles to reach a goal than they are at changing the goal.
I can understand. Most of us hear steadily about the value of hard work, about never giving up, about persistence, full commitment, and personal application. If you are really focused on attaining your goal, you don't want to ask yourself if the goal remains worth pursuing. Still, however painful it may be to consider modifying the goal or abandoning it, clearly a goal can become out-dated, inferior to alternative pathways, too expensive. I realize that we can't deeply focus on attaining a goal while at the same time undermining our efforts and our motivation by questioning the plan.
Yet, the world changes. Buggies get replaced by automobiles, books are delivered through cellphone signals, school children strike up communication with counterparts on other continents. More demanding disasters take place. New opportunities arise. It just makes sense to keep some of your research staff or your philosopher-in-residence or some of your own little gray cells, maybe just on Saturday afternoons, for periodic review of goals and plans. Maybe it is time to sell or invest or give up or double your effort. Simply plowing ahead making better and more beautiful buggy whips while horses are being abandoned as a main means of transportation is blindness, vanity with a vengeance.
