Drifting Goals Archetypes
The Slippery Slope: How Good Intentions Can Lead to Lowered Standards
A Story About the "Drifting Goals" Systems Archetype
Look at the causal loop diagram above. Hover over the nodes, edges and the green "B" symbols (balancing loops). At first glance, it might look like a bunch of boxes and arrows, but this diagram tells one of the most important stories about how organizations, schools, families, and even individuals can gradually lose their way without anyone noticing until it's too late.
The Setup: Two Paths, One Choice
Every time there's a gap between what we want to achieve (our Goal) and what we're actually achieving (Actual), we face a fundamental choice. The diagram shows this gap right in the center because it's the heart of the whole system. When this gap appears, pressure builds, and we have two ways to respond:
Path #1: The "Easy" Route (Upper Loop) We can reduce the gap by lowering our goals. If we aimed for an A but got a C, we can decide that C's are "good enough." If our basketball team aimed to win the championship but we're struggling to win half our games, we can decide that "just having fun" is really what matters.
Path #2: The "Hard" Route (Lower Loop)
We can reduce the gap by taking corrective action to improve our actual performance. This means more studying, better practice habits, learning new skills, or changing our approach.
Why the "Easy" Route Feels So Tempting
Here's the thing about Path #1: it works immediately. The moment you lower your goal, the pressure disappears. The gap closes. You feel relief. No one's disappointed anymore because expectations are now lower.
Path #2, on the other hand, is frustrating. It takes time, effort, and often money. You might study harder for weeks before your grades improve. Your basketball team might practice new plays for months before you see results. And there's no guarantee it will work.
This is why the diagram shows the upper loop as so powerful. When you're under pressure and someone's asking why you're not meeting your targets, it's incredibly tempting to say, "Well, maybe our targets were unrealistic to begin with."
A Real-World Example: The High School That Lost Its Way
Let me tell you about Jefferson High School (not a real school, but based on real situations). Five years ago, Jefferson was known for academic excellence. They proudly sent 85% of their graduates to four-year colleges, and their average SAT scores were among the highest in the state.
But then things got harder. Budget cuts meant larger class sizes. Some of their best teachers retired. The student population changed as the district redrew boundaries. Suddenly, only 60% of students were college-ready, and SAT scores dropped 80 points.
Year 1: The Pressure Builds The school board was upset. Parents complained. The principal felt tremendous pressure. The gap between their goals (85% college-ready) and reality (60% college-ready) created a crisis.
Year 2: The First Compromise Instead of investing in intensive tutoring programs or smaller class sizes (which would have been expensive and taken time to show results), the school made a subtle shift. They began saying, "Not every student needs to go to college. Trade schools and community colleges are valuable too." Their official goal quietly became "75% college-ready."
Year 3: The Drift Continues When they still couldn't hit 75%, the conversation shifted again. "College-ready is hard to measure anyway. What matters is that students graduate and are prepared for life." The goal became "85% graduation rate with life skills."
Year 4: The New Normal By now, hardly anyone remembered the original standards. New teachers and administrators arrived who had never known the school's former excellence. The current 60% college-readiness rate became "pretty good for our demographic."
Year 5: The Reckoning A local newspaper ran a story comparing Jefferson to neighboring schools. Parents were shocked to learn how far their school had fallen. Students who had been told they were "doing fine" discovered they weren't prepared for the colleges they wanted to attend.
The Sneaky Nature of Drifting Goals
This story illustrates why drifting goals is so dangerous. It happens gradually. Each individual decision to lower standards seems reasonable at the time. No one stood up in a meeting and said, "Let's destroy our academic excellence!" Instead, it happened through small compromises that felt practical and realistic.
The diagram shows why this happens systemically. Each time the gap creates pressure, lowering the goal provides immediate relief. But this relief comes at a hidden cost: your actual capability slowly erodes because you're no longer pushing yourself to improve.
Where Drifting Goals Shows Up in Your Life
This archetype isn't just about schools or businesses. You can see it everywhere:
Personal Goals: You wanted to exercise five times a week, but after struggling for a month, you decide three times a week is "more realistic." Then twice a week. Then "when I have time."
Team Sports: The team aimed to win the league championship, but after losing several games, the coach starts saying, "The important thing is that we're improving" (even when you're not really improving that much).
Academic Standards: A class starts with high expectations, but after several students struggle, the teacher gradually reduces the difficulty of assignments and tests.
Family Rules: Parents set clear rules about screen time, but after constant battles, they gradually allow more and more exceptions until the rules become meaningless.
Breaking the Cycle: How to Keep Your Standards High
The good news is that understanding this archetype helps you fight it. Here are some strategies:
1. Make Goal Changes Deliberate and Rare Don't let goals drift unconsciously. If you need to change a goal, do it deliberately after careful thought, not in reaction to pressure.
2. Focus on Improving Your Corrective Action Instead of lowering your goal, ask: "How can I get better at closing this gap?" Maybe you need better study techniques, a workout partner, or different practice methods.
3. Expect Delays Remember that real improvement takes time. Don't abandon your corrective actions just because you don't see immediate results.
4. Get Outside Perspective People inside the system often don't notice gradual drift. Ask friends, mentors, or family members if they've noticed your standards slipping.
5. Track Your "Drift" Keep records of your original goals and regularly compare them to your current expectations. Are you maintaining your standards or gradually lowering them?
The Power of Understanding Systems
The drifting goals archetype teaches us that good intentions aren't enough. Even well-meaning people can gradually lower their standards without realizing it. But when you understand the system dynamics at play, you can make conscious choices about which path to take when that inevitable gap appears between your dreams and your reality.
The next time you're tempted to say, "Maybe my goal was unrealistic," stop and look at the diagram. Ask yourself: Am I taking the easy path that feels good now but hurts me in the long run? Or am I willing to do the hard work of actually improving?
Your future self will thank you for choosing the harder path—the one that leads to real growth instead of diminished dreams.
Questions for Reflection
- Can you think of a time when you or someone you know gradually lowered their standards rather than working harder to meet them?
- What makes the "corrective action" loop so much harder than the "lower the goal" loop?
- How might you design systems in your own life to prevent goal drift?
- What would Jefferson High School have needed to do differently to maintain their academic excellence?
Remember: The most dangerous part about drifting goals is that it feels reasonable every step of the way. Only by stepping back and looking at the big picture can you see how far you've drifted from where you wanted to be.
References
JSON CLD File
Sample Prompt
Prompt
Please generate a new JSON file for the causal loop diagram for the "Drifting Goals" archetype. The diagram has two balancing loops with Gap shared between the loops. The name of the top loop is called "Lower the Goal". The name of the lower loop is called "Take Corrective Action To Achieve Goal".
The center of the diagram is (0,0) with x increasing to the right and y increasing going down. In the center at (0.0) place the node with the label "Gap". Gap is shared by both loops.
Above the Gap node is a balancing loop directed counter-clockwise curvedCCW centered at (0, -100). In the upper right at (100,-100) place a node with the label "Pressure to\nLower Goal". In the upper left at (-100, -100) place a node with the label "Goal".
In the lower half is a clockwise balancing loop curvedCW centered at (0, 100).
At (100,-100) is the node "Corrective\nAction".
At (-100, 100) is the node "Actual".
Use the structure in the cld-schema.json to generate the JSON file.
There are five total nodes in the diagram.
There are six edges in the diagram.
The three edges in the top are counter clockwise.
The three edges in the bottom are clockwise.