“Goal Setting”
If you’ve been around the self improvement field or productivity field long enough you have probably gotten sick of hearing those two words.
If you have set new year’s resolutions that never come true then you are probably dismayed by the very idea of a goal.
Still, goals can have an almost magical way about them that helps you achieve your deepest desires.
What do I mean?
I mean that you don’t always get what you aim for, but it sure helps if you point yourself in the right direction.
I have been preoccupied with the idea of goals lately. A lot of changes are coming in my life and I am living in a very interesting moment. I have lived in two states my entire life. One where I pretty much know I will get the same things day in and day out for the foreseeable future. And one where life is a total adventure and I never know what change will come around the river bend.
Now I find myself approaching a different state. A state in between a solid and a gas that we all know to be liquid. You see, in a solid state you know for certain what each day will hold. Well maybe not for certain, but you can more or less expect the same things each day.
In a gaseous state you never know what is certain. One day you are here, one day you are there. Change is the only certain thing you have.
Liquid is a totally different state all together. A happy existent where you have a sense of consistency, yet the freedom of change and movement.
I am entering that state now and it feels great!
What does all this have to do with goal setting you might ask?
Well I have been doing a lot of reading lately. About goal setting. About financial planning. About life planning. About making plans period…
There is a certain truth about the future being uncertain, but also a certain truth that the future can approach certainty with some forethought and planning. Hence, goal setting.
For the longest time I have kept a list of goals, updated on a somewhat irregular basis. It is interesting to see what goals I have accomplished, naturally. Almost without thinking about it. And what goals I have not accomplished. It is even more interesting to see how my goals have changed over the years and what my new goals are.
You see, the real purpose of goals is to help you focus on your deepest desires. And those desires may change over the years, as is obviously the case. But you will not accomplish your goals without focus. And more importantly you will not accomplish your goals unless they are tied to a fairly strong desire.
It’s almost like you don’t have to set goals at all. Your passion and desire lead you on in the pursuit of your dreams. They key is to always be attuned to your true desires. This will help you make better decisions that more align with your goals and therefore, more align with your desires.
My desires have changed and therefore my goals need to change with them. And all this has come about because I have made the effort to be more attuned with what I truly want and desire.
It is funny how I am now in this liquid state. I have a solid set of goals I want to accomplish. And a much more narrow list of them at that. Yet, I am flexible enough to pursue them in whatever way seems to work best.
And being like a liquid really can make your goal setting almost magical. Like water, you can erode any mountain away over time. Like water, nothing can really stand in your path. If one way doesn’t work, you can flow the other way. And ultimately you reach your destination even if it isn’t the way you thought you would originally get there…
“The life that conquers is the life that moves with a steady resolution and persistence toward a predertermined goal. Those who succeed are those who have throughly learned the immense importance of plan in life, and the tragic brevity of time.” – W.J. Davison
Hi Jeremy,
This reminds me of a Bruce Lee’s quote:
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”
Cheers~
Mark
Mark Foo | TheBigDreamer.com’s last blog post..How To Sell Like A Top Producer
Hi Mark,
I happen to be a big fan of Bruce Lee and have read all his stuff. His quote comes from even deeper roots in Taoism and his Wu-Shu training.
I’m glad you picked up on my reference. Sometimes it is hard to understand what someone is trying to get at without the background context. 😉
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy – When you said, “I have made the effort to be more attuned with what I truly want and desire.” it reminded me of how when goal setting I’ll ask myself “why”. Not just once, but several times. I find it’s often not a material thing I’m wanting but what that (thing) will give me. Now my goals are more internally based, rather than materialistic.
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We are beings of expansion. This expansion is never-ending because we are unlimited beings: infinite. Hence the moment you complete a goal, in a split second of that moment, you realize another higher goal to achieve, in this we are forever incomplete.
This is how I process that: I choose to set a goal, I do this first through intention for a desire and only take action when the desire inspires me to take action. At the same time (while I am waiting for the goal to manifest), I am relaxed and happy where I am at in life, I do not need to see the completion of a goal in order to be happy. I am happy just imagining the goal and I am content with that process. I realize that completing the goal is only going to make me happy for a split moment until another goal forms in that instant of completion. As a result, I can relax where I am, but still look forward to more.
However you can achieve every goal you ever desire with gratitude. No matter how busy you get create a routine to make a list of all the things you’re grateful for in that moment, this will help to bring more things in your life to be grateful about.
This is what leads to seeing life through the eyes of ‘the soul’. In this, there is no regret, only opportunity for seeing gratefulness in all things.
Being in a state of gratitude attracts blissful experience for a life-time. Every goal you could ever want to achieve will natural flow to you through this gratitude state of being and that is what life is all about.
I like solid myself. Liquid flow is not easy for everyone, ya know? I get what you’re saying though. This is my favorite part of the entire post: Like water, you can erode any mountain away over time. <—- That’s a beautiful thought!
*smiles*
Michele
Michele’s last blog post..25 Fun Facts You Didn’t Know About Me
Ultimately we all reach exactly the same destination, just at different times and by different routes.
I like the idea of flowing and never being sure where I’m going next. Even a river needs banks to keep it in and has a direction. Maybe goals can give us something close to river banks? As long as we don’t get too attached to the goals and allow the flow. But our destination is still always the same and the river always ends up in the sea.
Great food for thought.
Hi Ian,
Great way to put it. I like the idea of river banks! I think that was pretty much where I was going with my thoughts. 😉
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy, I like your analogy to different states of matter in achieving goals. It is important that we are adaptable in the pursuit of goals, instead of being hung up on a particular method of reaching it. Being clear and unwavering on the vision, and at the same time being open to all kinds of different methods to achieving the vision, is the key to goal achievement. Great post! 🙂
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I have a few overall goals that seem to be pretty solid, but I have smaller goals that I see as liquid and thus changing over time. My smaller goals, for the most part, are slowly moving me towards my larger goals.
In response to Nicholas, I think that the feeling of being incomplete also has to do with our inability to be satisfied for very long. It’s similar to the reason why buying a brand new widget may make you happy for a short amount of time, but we quickly adapt which is known as hedonic adaptation.
Great post Jeremy!
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Goal setting is very important specially if you want to plan long term.~-~
Goal setting is very important if you want something to be done in a short period of time.;;.