We know that it is important to have goals – I think that’s a given these days.
Even those people who tell me that their goal is to not have a goal, have still got a goal.
But as you can see from the image if you give it some thought, it doesn’t take much to turn a goal into something else – a subtle change in life can make what once seemed vital to achieve suddenly seem like hard work.
Most of us have a health or fitness related goal that we want to achieve, be it weight related, completing a fun run, climbing Mount Everest even. But what happens when the goal becomes so overbearing that you dread thinking about it or doing anything about it?
Do you stick at it? Turn away from it? Ignore it?
It’s not such a bad thing to admit some times that your goals and priorities change – just because you started gym to lose weight doesn’t mean you can change your goal to being able to lift your body weight or complete an obstacle race if that is what captures your imagination.
What is important however is to acknowledge it to yourself that your goals have changed. If you keep that mental list of goals, and you don’t achieve them, it will add up to a list of perceived failures in your head, and before you know it the internal dialogue is all about how you can’t achieve your goals.
Christopher Columbus discovered America, but that wasn’t his original goal. He was looking for a route to Asia. Just because he didn’t achieve his goal doesn’t mean he didn’t achieve anything of worth.
So what’s the takeaway message?
Be mindful of your goals and what you’re doing to achieve them – do something productive as often as you can to get to them
Celebrate achieving the goal – you worked hard for it, make it count
Don’t be afraid to let them go if they no longer serve a purpose – you’ll feel trapped by them if they are no longer relevant. It is’t necessarily a failure to not achieve a goal if your priorities have shifted
Acknowledge in some way that you’re letting them go – don’t hang on to stuff that serves no purpose
This by no way means to give up on them when it gets challenging – that’s a whole different ball game!
Sometimes the effort we make to achieve a goal has a far longer lasting effect than we realise – the skills and courage we gain from seeking to achieve one goal allow us to go on to other goals with renewed purpose and knowledge on what is important to us.
Don’t give up on the goals that mean a lot to you and your health, but let the stuff that no longer serves you go!
Would you like to find out more about how to get and keep your motivation?
The MOJO Program is just $29 and will help you work out what’s working, and what’s not working for you.
Try it!!