Planning for Incremental Success – Designing the Game
Previous Posts in this series:
Planning for Incremental Success – Introduction
Now the foundations have been laid, we are going to progress on to exploring absolute and relative goals in more detail and the gamification of your planning approach…
Absolute and Relative Goals
Let’s first establish that attainment means having the ability to mark a task or job as done. Progress means a reduction in the total amount of effort required to realise our end goal.
Now most tasks or jobs, quite often especially the big ones, have little or no value in terms of turning the dial on progress until they are fully completed. We can however flip the script with these kinds of big challenges and instead choose to focus on relative measures rather than absolute.
An absolute measure is something like; I will run 5km in 25mins. It is a specific goal with a very clear definition and a decent amount of work is required over a long period of time to achieve it. There are lots of steps along the way that we can target as sub goals though. Now these could be alternative versions of our primary goal like run 5km in 27mins which are alternative absolute goals, or they could be more centred around a relative attainment of progress with a focus on cultivating the right behaviours.
Some relative goals in this context could be; Run 5 minutes more this week than last, include more ascent in my runs this week than last. Both of these goals move us in the right, but the specific measure is relative to the performance of the previous week.
In a professional context, this can mean switching to goals that focus on how we do what we do, rather than the attainment of the outcome driving why behind we are doing the task. Of course, we need to ensure the how is the right how and does actually increase the probability of attainment!
This is the introduction of gamification in our planning approach. The game being to find little wins that we can aim at on a daily/weekly basis which move us in the right direction. Cultivating this behaviour (which can be a relative goal in and of itself) creates clarity and affords us the ability to feel the gleam of success when we tick off all of the tasks on our daily focus list.
In this context; psychologically attainment of these relative goals translates in to a feeling of progress and will boost both our motivation and determination. The key here is designing a game that you can win. But that is up to you!
Designing a Game You Can Win
If planning is the architecture of progress, then execution is the game we play inside it.
And like any game, the rules matter.
Most people unknowingly design games they are destined to lose. They set distant, absolute goals with vague timelines and no feedback loops. The result is predictable: long stretches of effort with no visible progress, followed by a slow erosion of motivation. Not because they lack discipline—but because the game itself is broken.
A well-designed game does three things:
- It provides frequent feedback
- It creates achievable wins
- It reinforces the behaviours that matter most
This is where relative goals become powerful. They shorten the feedback loop between action and reward. Instead of waiting months to feel successful, you can experience progress daily.
But there is something deeper happening here.
When you shift from absolute to relative goals, you subtly redefine success. Success is no longer a distant outcome—it becomes a way of operating. You are no longer chasing a finish line; you are becoming the type of person who moves forward consistently.
This shift matters more than it first appears.
Because most meaningful pursuits—building a career, improving your health, raising a family, developing mastery—are not finite games. They do not have clear endpoints. Treating them as if they do sets you up for cycles of intense effort followed by disengagement once the goal is reached (or missed).
Instead, they are better understood as ongoing processes of becoming.
In this context, the purpose of your plan is not just to get you to an outcome, but to shape your behaviour along the way. The “game” you design is effectively training you—rewarding certain actions, reinforcing certain identities, and gradually defining who you are.
So the question becomes:
Are you playing a game that makes you better, or just one that occasionally lets you win?
A powerful planning approach ensures these two things are aligned.
You still need absolute goals—they provide direction and meaning. But your day-to-day system should be dominated by relative goals that:
- Encourage consistency over intensity
- Reward effort aligned with the right behaviours
- Allow for adaptation as circumstances change
Over time, something interesting happens.
Momentum builds.
Not in dramatic leaps, but in small, almost unnoticeable increments. A slightly longer run. A slightly better decision. A slightly more focused day. Individually, these moments feel insignificant. Collectively, they are transformative.
This is the essence of incremental success.
It is not about dramatic breakthroughs or perfect execution. It is about designing a system where progress is inevitable—where each day, in some small way, you move forward.
And perhaps most importantly, it is about making that movement visible to yourself.
Because what we can see,
we can sustain.
What’s Next?
The theory is done, so next we are going to explore how the concepts, principles, and definitions of absolute and relative goals apply in reality to different planning horizons…
Enjoy, for now.
Previous Posts – Planning for Incremental Success – Introduction