It's the Carol Dweck stuff again - always worthwhile.
It's more straightforward to apply this to a goal that has been defined by others, such as a test, a sport etc. In product development, it's more difficult, because one needs to define what the product is to do* - and to redefine that when and if needed.
* You can have a problem-in-search-of-a-solution, or a solution-in-search-of-a-problem. The first is easiest: to make a product by setting out to solve a problem - problems them become a resource, a raw material. The other way is to come up with a fantastic idea - a solution - and then to go in search of a problem it solves (or one can just "throw it over the fence" and see if anyone works out a way to use it).
It's more straightforward to apply this to a goal that has been defined by others, such as a test, a sport etc. In product development, it's more difficult, because one needs to define what the product is to do* - and to redefine that when and if needed.
* You can have a problem-in-search-of-a-solution, or a solution-in-search-of-a-problem. The first is easiest: to make a product by setting out to solve a problem - problems them become a resource, a raw material. The other way is to come up with a fantastic idea - a solution - and then to go in search of a problem it solves (or one can just "throw it over the fence" and see if anyone works out a way to use it).