Many people setup goals in their life but once they are achieved, go into free fall with the problem being that they never thought of what happens once a goal is vanquished to the past.
Goals are Important
I believe that a life without goals is a life without meaning. Our species has evolved to the point where, for those of us lucky enough to be born in an affluent country, having a place to live and food to eat is taken for granted. This poses the first problem, there is no longer any motivation to do much of anything as much is given for mediocre performance. The second problem is that we are taught, from a young age, that you need to work you way up the corporate ladder or win the lottery to have any type of happiness or success in life… don’t believe it! This is a problem because most of us will not follow this route, as a result, many give up on the life of their dreams because it doesn’t follow the mold marketed to us by mass society. The third problem with goals is simply a state of balance, if they are too easy, they are meaningless, if they take too long, people give up… that fine middle ground is tough to achieve.
Inspiration + Motivation + Dedication = Goal
Here is my benchmark for solving the third problem outlined above, the first two are up to you to figure out. I have learned that simply giving answers without forcing thought is a futile effort for both involved. How to decide if a goal is worth your time and effort? Easy, first, you need an idea, an “damn, I wish I thought of that years ago” moment, now, if you remember this, without writing it down over several days you have the ambers that may grow into a raging fire. That raging fire? MOTIVATION, you see, it isn’t good enough to simply have a great idea, you need to feel an internal push to spend more and more energy towards making something happen. This can be anything, from trying to loose weight to saving up enough money to purchase your next house. Alright, you got a great idea and motivation but without dedication, the first two will die off. So what is dedication? Dedication is the ability to not only sustain the fires of motivation but also, systemically, develop new ambers. For any fire to remain viable, you need to keep adding more fuel. When is a goal worth while? When you have an idea that becomes ingrained in your head which you cannot stop working on and, most importantly, follow through with even when things don’t look so good.
Now what?
Alright, you are fast approaching your goal, whatever that may be, you need to switch gears now before it’s too late. Remember that overwhelming drive that took over many aspects of your life, well, that is about to come to a screeching halt. You need to run off, yes, stop ALL work on your goal for a few days (good time for a vacation far away) and gain a new perspective on what you are about to accomplish and figure out the “what’s next”. That may be to further elevate your goal or completely change the road you have taken so far as you see it going towards a brick wall.
The Bottom Line
Goals are not a finishing line, they are a market on the road of life.
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