I am big on setting goals. In fact, there’s nothing that gets me more excited than writing down all the things I want to accomplish. But the other day it hit me. The goals I am setting for myself have absolutely no power! Sounds strange I know but it’s true. It is not my goals that get me to the finish line, but rather the hard work I put into reaching my goals. The magic is not in the goals themselves, the magic is in the hard work it takes to accomplish each and every goal.
To take this even further, many times the goal itself is not even the thing we want. What we really want is to feel a certain way, or experience something other than what we are currently experiencing. Take my goal of wanting to lose weight. Although that’s the “goal” I keep writing down, my actual goal is to feel better, feel healthier, feel stronger. My goal is to be able to sit in a chair and have some wiggle room. My goal is to be able to walk up a flight of stairs and not be winded by the time I reach the top.
I believe taking the time to set goals would serve us better if we were to start thinking about what we really want in our lives. Sure your goal, like mine may be to lose weight, but what you really want is to be more confident and more in control. Your goal may be to get out of debt, but what you really want is to be free to enjoy a vacation without worrying about how you are going to be able to afford it.
I think when we get down to the nitty-gritty of identifying what it is we really, really want and then go to work to obtain that feeling or that experience, that is when we will start having success in “crushing” our goals.
Our goals don’t work unless we do. And they also don’t work unless there is a strong connection to what’s on the other side of the work required to achieve the goal. It’s important to remember that goals are nothing more than a guide or map to get us to what we really want, and then we must do the work required in order to attain or accomplish that which we really want.
Likewise, I think it’s critical for us to stop focusing so much on the end result, the destination, the finish line or the outcome. Reaching this point will be great but what about all of the fabulous things we will experience on the way to that end result? That’s where the magic is.
So if we were to make it our business to keep our eyes on that which we really want and enjoy the ride on the way to obtaining it, then and only then will we crush our goals!
Your Turn To Share
Rather than writing down your “goals”, share in the comments below something you really want to feel or experience, and what you plan to do to attain it.