Goals

Self-Management Tools - Goals

Goals Limit Options

Everyone agrees that having goals is a good thing because we need goals to survive...all living species have goals, even if they are nothing more than surviving. But have you considered the downside of goals?

Yes, goals are a good thing up to a point. We all need to have goals, just to survive and to allow ourselves to focus on getting what we want and need. We just have to be careful that we don't let our goals from the past blind us to current opportunities. The problem with goals is that they limit us to what we already know we want. If we fail to stop and look around at what new opportunities are possible, then we are stuck with what we desired in the past. We missing seeing other good trees in the forest because we have become so focused on just a few of them. In fact, we are living in a forest of trees, and some are taller and thicker than others. To limit ourselves to selected goals, this means we have limited ourselves to only what these goals can provide, and ignored all the potential benefits inherent is all other possible goals. Things change, and we change. So, our goals should change as well.

Changes in our goals should not be taken lightly. People hesitate to abandon well-worn goals. People hate to cut their losses. The concept of abandonment, after having put considerable time and effort into a goal, is disheartening. However, cutting one's losses is called "sunk costs" meaning you can't recover what you've already invested but you can shift the resources to something better if the potential benefit is worth what you will lose from not continuing to purse an old goal.

In summary, You need to continually scan the horizon in search of new and better goals, and to abandon those that are less attractive than the new one's you have just found.

Beyond Goals
What could possibly be beyond goals? The answer is a simple one...great goals. We live with daily goals, and I call these good goals. The only way to get what we want is to work for it, and goals are what we are working for. We have been conditioned early in life by our mentors to pick goals, and just as importantly, we were taught the importance of complete them. Never give up; Complete what you start; Don't be a quitter. This well intended advise got us where we are today, but these good goals are also limiting our future. The only way to have a great future is to have great goals. Thus, we must learn how to shift from good goals to great goals.

Good goals are what we spend most of our time working on, and ultimately, we are likely to achieve them. The downside to good goals is that they ultimately limit us. The most that we can hope to attain in life is limited to the goals we pick. We will never rise above the goals we have set for ourselves as our goals ultimately determine the most that we will ever accomplish.
The problem we all have is that we have selected good goals, but not great goals.

We don't have to be limited by our good goals. We have choices. Rather than good goals, we could pick great goals. But to purse great goals, we must give up some of our good goals. This may be hard to do as we have learned since we were children to "finish what we start, to never give up...don't be a quitter". Thus, to switch from good goals to great goals, we have to break some old fashioned rules. We have to go against our natural instincts: give up, quit, and not finish some of our good goals.

Where to start? We have to imagine the greatest goals we are capable of achieving, and establish them as our great goals. What are the greatest things you could possibly imagine doing in your life time? Why aren't you doing them? Is it possible that you don't have the time, because you are spending all your time pursing good goals instead of the great goals that could be your destiny. It's time to give the ordinary good goals, and start thinking about the great goals that we could and should be working on instead. Living a life of greatness will require that we pick great goals. Otherwise, we circumscribe our life by the goals that we pick.

Goal Selection
Want to pick a goal with a surefire chance of success? Any goal that relates to who you already are or are capable of becoming has almost a certainty of coming to pass. It is only when you take on challenging goals that require you to become someone different than who you are that have the slimmest chance of attainment.

You have great power to become the person you were meant to be. To become someone you were not meant to be is much harder and quite uncertain. So, why fight the odds.? Pick a goal that is aligned closely with who you are now or who you have the capability to become. Look into the immediate future and see what you can do already that has not been done and then do it. Once those goals are completed, look ahead and choose again. The best and easiest goals lie close at hand. As you compound and accumulate small goals, you will look back and see how much distance you have covered just by taking one easy step at a time.

Goals Demand Change
People who say they don't like change are ignoring the fact that any goal they may pick for themselves, if successfully achieved, will in fact result in change of some sort to the status quo. What most people mean, when they declare that they don't like change, is that don't like change imposed upon them that they don't like. People only want to be the recipient of positive change and they want the ability to veto the changes they don't like. So, in regards to change, not all change is bad, and in fact, people should be change seekers as all new good things come about through change.

Motivation to Act on Our Goals

We will never act on our goals unless that matter to us. Only goals that we are motivated to achieve will compel us to take the actions necessary to achieve them and to endure the tests to our faith by the roadblocks and risk that we will encounter along the way. If a goal doesn't excite you or move you to action, then you have either have wrong goal or the wrong perspective on the relative important of the goal. Either get fresh motivation or get new goals.

When Events Flow in the Right Direction , Go with the Flow

While canoeing down the Colorado River on a sunny, summer day and effortlessly reaching my destination, I speculated that the best way to get anywhere was to find a river flowing to it. It's a good notion to strive for, because if it were always practical, it would make life so much easier. But easier is not always better.

There are many currents in the world to choose from, and each is flowing in a different direction. At this moment, we are all riding in one flow or another and we are moving wherever they are taking us, sometimes blissfully unaware. With all but a minimum effort, we will end up at the river's end. The key question is this, "Is this were we want to end up?" If not, then we are on the wrong flow, heading in the wrong direction. So, you might want to take notice of the flows you are currently going with. Are they the rights ones? It is easy to get into a flow, relatively effortless to stay in it, but it tough to get off one.

You need to check the flows you are currently going with or about to get into very carefully. You have many flows to choose from. If you can't find a flow going in the direct you want to go, you can choose to create your own. It may take a little more effort, but once you start, you are likely to find other like-minded people who want to join you for the ride. Then, you have your own flow to go with.

So, the question is... should you go with the flow? And the answer is... it depends. You need to think twice before you decide whether to go with any flow. Make it a thoughtful choice that depends on where you want to end up rather than how easy it is to get there.

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