How to REALLY Set Goals
Damn elusive things are goals.
Even the few people who set them don’t seem to get the results they want. I’ve been there myself many times over several years. I would write them down, recite affirmations, practise visualization and so on.
Some of the stuff I’d get and other stuff I never seemed to achieve no matter what I did.
I finally took a step back and had a long hard chat with myself. I asked myself two questions:
1. What do you REALLY want?
2. Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to get it?
Some of the stuff I had thought I wanted I didn’t really. Flashy cars, build orphanages in Romania and so on. They just were not my passion. Getting black belts, hitting my goal weight, financial goals were all stuff I really wanted so I actually wanted to put the work in.
The thought of me going out to buy a new BMW or flying first class doesn’t appeal to me at all so no wonder why I never felt motivated to take action. So:
1. What do you REALLY want?
2. Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to get it?
Paul Browning
You may also like
How Can I Help?
Why the Laptop Lifestyle is a Big Fat Lie
9 Comments
I think a lot of people just don’t know what they really want after begin to do what they are doing now…
You’ve put forward 2 good questions here:)
Some people set goals based on the expectations of others.
I feel the same way. My brother sets career goals to please our parents. His true passion has had to take a back seat to making our parents proud. I feel really badly for him. But, he has to live with his decisions.
I sometimes set goals because it is what I think I want to do. Once I get involved, however, I may realize that it is not what I really want. It is hard to walk away from all the work and time that I have dedicated to something, so I just see it through.
I understand this. You don’t want your hard to work to be in vain.
I really want to own my own business, but I am afraid to take the financial risk.
I understand your fear. You don’t want to risk everything and be left with nothing.
I recently decided to switch careers. It was a difficult decision to make because it really felt like I was giving up on everything I had ever worked on. But, I realized that I had set my goals when I was a teenager, and now as a woman in my early 30’s my interests, strengths, and overall expectations of life have changed.
I kind of grieved the loss of my childhood dream, but I am so much happier now. I have approached my second career as a true adult who has experience and has already made some mistakes. It is a much better way to approach a career.
Asking yourself what you really want can be a daunting task. You might find out that you really want something different from what you are working for. In my personal experience, this was a good thing. I was able to change what I was doing to become a happier and more successful person.