Goals are a lens through which we perceive the world around us.

Most leaders get that goals matter. They're supposed to motivate us, right? Give us direction, help us make decisions. But here's what I've learned from years in safety coaching, goals do something much more powerful than we realise.

They literally change what we see.

As the saying goes: "We don't see the world as it is, we see it as we are."

Dr. Jordan Peterson puts this brilliantly when he explains that our goals act like filters, sorting everything in the world into just two buckets: things that help us get where we're going, and things that get in our way. Everything else? It literally disappears into background noise.

Here's the kicker - we don't actually 'see' the world around us. We only see tools that can help us achieve our goals, or obstacles that might stop us. That's it. Everything else might as well not exist!

When this really clicked for me, goal setting stopped being another leadership tick-box exercise. It became one of the most powerful tools I could use.

Here's What's Actually Happening in Your Brain

The science behind this is fascinating. Our attention is incredibly limited - at any moment, millions of things are competing for space in our heads, but we can only process a tiny fraction.

Here's what Goal Attainment Theory tells us: we don't actually see objects, people, or situations for what they are. We only see them in terms of whether they help or hinder our current goal. The brain automatically tags everything we encounter as either:

Tools (Goal Facilitators) - anything that brings us closer to what we want

Obstacles (Goal Blockers) - anything that threatens our progress

That's it. Just tools or obstacles. Nothing else registers.

This "goal relevance" tagging switches on our selective attention systems. It's not that we're choosing to ignore things - they literally don't exist in our perceived reality if they're not relevant to our current objective.

From an evolutionary perspective, this kept us alive. Today? It plays out in boardrooms, on worksites, and in those split-second decisions we make all day long.

This isn't just theory - it's been proven in one of psychology's most famous experiments. You might have heard of the "invisible gorilla" study. Participants were asked to watch a video and count how many times players in white shirts passed a basketball. Simple goal, right?

Here's the kicker: halfway through the video, someone in a gorilla suit walks into the middle of the action, beats their chest, and walks off. The gorilla is on screen for 9 seconds. And yet, 50% of people completely missed it.

They weren't distracted or looking away. They were staring directly at the screen. But because their goal was "count the passes," their brain filtered out everything else - even a dancing gorilla. This is called inattentional blindness, and it happens to all of us, all the time.

Same Road, Different Worlds - And Missing What's Right in Front of Us

Let me give you an example that really drives this home, and connects to what we know about inattentional blindness:

Scenario 1 - The Police Car Behind You You're driving home after a work function. Had a couple of drinks hours ago, but there's that nagging worry you might still be close to the limit. There's a police car behind you. Your goal: don't get pulled over.

Suddenly your brain's "goal filter" activates and the world shrinks down to just:

• Speedometer (tool for staying within limits)

• Rear-view mirrors (tool for tracking police movements)

• Traffic lights (obstacle that might cause erratic driving)

• Your phone (obstacle to appearing compliant)

• Position of hands on wheel (tool for looking in control)

Everything else on that road? Other cars, billboards, shops, pedestrians - they're invisible to your goal-focused brain. Just like those people missed the gorilla because they were focused on counting passes, you could miss a cyclist, a broken-down car, or even a child chasing a ball into the street. Your brain is so locked onto "avoid the police" that other crucial information simply doesn't exist in your perceived reality.

Scenario 2 - Racing Against Time Same road, same conditions, but now you're late for the most important meeting of your career. Different goal: get there as fast as possible.

Now your brain only sees:

• Gaps in traffic (tools for overtaking)

• The clock (obstacle showing time pressure)

• Road hazards (obstacles slowing progress)

• Accelerator pedal (tool for speed)

Same road, same traffic, same conditions. But because your goal changed, your perceived reality is completely different. You're literally seeing a different world. And just like the gorilla experiment, you might completely miss that same police car from scenario one - even if it's right there in front of you.

It Works the Same Way with Long-Term Goals

These are quick examples, but the mechanism works exactly the same for our bigger, long-term goals.

If a leader's goal is "reduce serious safety incidents by 50%," their brain automatically sees:

• Unsafe shortcuts (obstacles to safety)

• Near-miss reports (tools for prevention)

• Training gaps (obstacles to competence)

• Safety equipment (tools for protection)

• Compliance audits (tools for improvement)

But if their real goal is "maximise production at all costs," exactly the same workplace suddenly looks different:

• Unsafe shortcuts (tools for speed)

• Safety procedures (obstacles to productivity)

• Training time (obstacle to output)

• PPE requirements (obstacles to efficiency)

Same workplace, same hazards, same people. But the leader literally sees two different realities depending on their active goal.

I've seen this play out countless times in the field.

Why Getting This Wrong Is Dangerous

Because goals filter what we notice, choosing the wrong ones means we literally see the wrong things. In safety leadership, this could mean missing early warning signs or overlooking opportunities to prevent harm.

I learned this the hard way early in my career. I thought I was focused on safety, but my real goal was avoiding blame. Guess what I noticed? Cover-ups, excuses, ways to shift responsibility. Not exactly helpful for actually keeping people safe.

The research backs this up too - goal clarity, alignment, and achievability are critical for sustained performance. Get the goals wrong and you create blind spots. Get them right and you sharpen your perception and improve your decision-making.

Where Safety Coaching Comes In

This is where good safety coaching makes all the difference. A skilled coach helps leaders:

• Define goals that actually align with both safety outcomes and human performance

• Spot the blind spots created by competing objectives

• Stay focused when operational pressure mounts

• Turn goals into daily decision filters that improve safety outcomes

I remember one client who was convinced their goal was "zero incidents." Sounds good, right? But when we dug deeper using the GROW model, their real goal was "look good to senior management." Once we got clear on what they actually wanted - which was genuinely to keep their people safe - everything changed. What they noticed changed. How they led changed.

The Bottom Line

We don't experience reality as it is. We experience it through the lens of our goals.

If you want to see a safer, more resilient workplace, you need goals that make those realities visible. And you need to keep them front and centre, especially when the pressure's on.

Choose the right goals, and you'll see - and create - the right world.

Sometimes it really is that simple. But simple doesn't mean easy.