Tag: stretch goals

Balancing Where You Are and Lofty Goals (3-25-26)

Last week was about Mario, chasing Power Moons, and making progress.  This week is about Super Mario Wonder, celebrating where you are, and having lofty goals.

Currently, I’m playing Super Mario Wonder, a recent side scrolling game filled with bright colors and fun powers.  I’m pretty good and I often reach a flow state, where I effortlessly sprint through the level, perfectly time every jump and move, dodge the bad guys, gather all of the purple coins, find all of the wonder seeds, and capture the flag at its peak at the end of the level.  Sometimes, I’m not in this flow state.  I still beat the level, but it’s not quite as magical or smooth.  When I’m not beating levels in the flow state, I’m still having fun.  I’m still doing well.  It’ s just not magic.  I don’t beat myself up when this happens.  I don’t get mad or overly critical.  I am proud of beating the level AND I continue to go after achieving the flow state.

Let’s make some connections.  Think about work for a minute.  How do you balance being proud of where you are and aspirational goals?  Yesterday, I had my first performance check-in and I told my boss I was feeling pretty good about things.  He asked me what it would look like to be doing great.  I told him I would be delivering magic.  Everything would move and be effortless, and he basically said, “So you’d be doing miracles?”  Well, basically 😉 

I explained that I’ve done magic before at work, so I know what that looks and feels like.  That’s what I’m chasing.  I’m very proud of everything I’ve done this quarter.  However, similar to our Mario story, I’m beating level, but it’s not flow state level magic right now.  I’m not crushing myself because I failed to meet a borderline unrealistic expectation.  I’m just acknowledging that I have lofty goals that I know I can get to.  I’m reflecting and thinking about how I can handle things in the future to enhance my chances of delivering magic.  I’m celebrating what I’ve done, while still aiming high.

The challenge- How will you balance lofty goals with being proud of what you’re delivering?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Mario Kart Cup Challenges, Stretch Goals, and Performance Reviews (8-20-25)

Golden Dash Cup 3 stars 150cc (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe) - YouTube

Last week was about Mario Kart, and choosing the right set up for the right task.  This week is about Mario Kart cup challenges, stretch goals, and performance reviews.

In Mario Kart you can do grand prix cup challenges, where you race on 4 courses to earn championship cups and stars.  On the easier difficulties I have gold cups and three stars on all of the courses.  This isn’t true on the hardest difficulty.  My stretch goal is to get all gold cups and all of the gold stars, but I’m not there yet.  On the hardest difficulty I have some gold cups with stars, some gold cups without stars, some silver or bronze, and some without any cups. 

With the information you know, would you say I’m bad at Mario Kart?  I’d hope not.  I hope that you’d say that I’ve demonstrated mastery at some levels, and now that I’m playing at the highest level I’ve shown I can perform well, even if I haven’t perfectly hit all of my stretch goals.  Even if I never get all gold cups and all gold stars at the highest difficulty, I know that I’ve delivered in Mario Kart.

So where exactly is this going?  I’m going to have a performance check-in with my supervisor on Friday.  Much like Mario Kart, I’ve set some aggressive stretch goals.  Much like Mario Kart, I don’t have perfect gold cups with three stars for all of them.  During the conversation I’ll share how I have one gold cup with 3 stars, and I’m proud of how I crushed it.  I’ll show some of my silver cups as well.  Even though they aren’t gold, I’m proud of them too.  I’ll also be honest about the challenges where I couldn’t get a cup and the lessons I’ve learned.  Maybe the course had unexpected turns.  Maybe I just wasn’t ready.  Maybe I didn’t have the right set up.  Maybe I had to choose to prioritize getting gold in one cup over other cups.  At the end of the day, I am trying to play at the highest level possible, so I understand that it will be next to impossible to hit all of my stretch goals.  Falling short is inevitable.  The only way I’d hit all of my goals is if I was playing on easy mode, and where is the challenge and fun in that?

The challenges: Will you be brave enough to set stretch goals?  Will you be comfortable when you don’t reach all of them?

Bonus thought: Since I’ve already did my performance conversation write up in Mario Kart language, am I good?  Do I need to do anything else?  If someone from HR could check on that for me, I’d appreciate it 😉

Bonus thought 2: Obviously this is a not-so-secret challenge to my boss to see if he can deliver feedback to me through the lens of Mario Kart. I’ll make sure I update you on how well he does.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry