Change Your Goals Midstream
If you learn or stumble across something that makes you want to change your goal, then just do it. It’s amazing the things you come up with in the shower isn’t it?
You should keep in mind that failure to meet goals does not matter as long as you learn from it. Feed lessons learned back into your goal setting program.
This brings us back to the point I was talking about before. You must enjoy the process as well as the final outcome for this very reason. If after 15 years of working towards a goal it suddenly no longer holds any sparkle for you, simply move onto something else! There is absolutely no loss in this because striving for that goal just gave you 15 years of pleasure. It just happens that at this point in your life now, it’s no longer important. Move on, no big deal.
You must remember that your goals will change as you mature. Adjust them regularly to reflect this growth in your personality. If goals no longer hold any attraction for you let them go.
I thought I wanted a Porsche, maybe a H1 or a Dodge Viper. So I worked on motivating myself to make enough to get one. I went out and bought some car magazines and looked through them. I was following my own advice about taking action and visualization. But while I was doing this I suddenly realized I didn’t really want a fancy car. I was actually very happy with my 2005 Chevy Blazer! It did everything I always wanted an SUV to do.
The expensive car goal had been set in me by common society. I had been trying to motivate myself to make money for something I didn’t even want. At least now I new that this particular wasn’t on the list anymore. I was free to pursue something that had deep seeded meaning to me.
Goal setting is your servant, not your master. It should bring you real pleasure, satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
If it stops, there is no longer a point. Let’s look at an example. The best example of goal setting that you can have is to try setting your own goals. Set aside two hours to think through your lifetime goals in each of the categories. Then work back through the 25year plan, 5year plan, 1year plan, 6-month plan, and a 1month plan. That part we will get to later.
Finally draw up a “To Do List” of jobs to do tomorrow to move towards your goals. When you do, you will soon realize that you will be on your way to using your goals setting on a routine basis.
My Key Points in Goal Setting
Goal setting is an important method of accomplishing any lifetime achievement. However, there are some key points that you should consider before setting your goals. Let’s take a look at what those are.
1. Deciding what is important for you to achieve in your life and making your choices based on this knowledge.
I had a lot of trouble with this one when I listened to the common advice on goal setting that is out there. I just couldn’t nail down a massive, worthy, “save the world” kind of goal. I just couldn’t find a mission that I wanted to fully apply myself to and I knew this was a problem according to most experts in the field. Apparently I would be “unfocused” according to them.
Then I realized something. What I really wanted out of life was freedom, fun and happiness. At that point, I didn’t want to achieve any pinpoint objective at all. What I wanted was a “way” of life. My goal was not a thing but a lifestyle.
Now this realization was important because I didn’t have to pick one thing and center my life around it. What I ended up doing was following my heart and passions all the time and having fun in each moment. When I started having fun all the time, I was
being active in the area of my joy. The funny thing is that until you are in your area of joy, you’re probably not doing all the things that you need to do in order to be a “success” in what you’re working on anyway.
You see this all the time with kids that are pushed into university without having any idea what they want to do or who they are at their core. They get pushed into chasing a goal that they didn’t pick in the first place. They never wanted to be a doctor so they hate studying doctor stuff and they flunk out. Maybe if they had just a year off to explore different areas of the world and think about what brings them joy at the core of their being they would be able to get into the flow developing a self with more integrity. Which turns into a successful person in the end.
