Goals don’t move people do.
And it might just be your best option. Let me explain. New Year, New You. Set a goal, get after it. Simple
Split a goal up into bite-size chunks, find a way to get it done. Simple.
If it works. Good! But, what if it doesn’t work?
Here are some of the options available to you:
- Decide the wind was not in your favour and wait for a change in the conditions.
- Try again. Although this may be insanity.
- Change the goal.
- Change the person/people who have the goal.
If you are considering taking Options 1 or 2. Here are the questions you should consider. Taken from Seth Godin’s blog Questions for the underinformed.
“Has this ever worked before?”
“How is this different (or the same) from those times?”
“What will you do when it doesn’t work the way you hoped?”
For those who are thinking about Option 3. Changing the goal. Quitting might just be the smartest thing you do.
Hiring and firing are always options. But, that’s cold and inflexible, and it’s Christmas. Option 4 is really about developing skills, taking on a new perspective, and creating experiences that inform us.
I say this because every 90 days I plan what I am going to do for the next 90 days. And for the last 3 years, the same goal keeps coming up. Write a book.
I have circled around it, dabbled, scribbled, sniveled, and dragged my attention towards it, every 90 days. And then in the last 90 days (Sept-Dec 2021), I sped up and committed to doing it.
But, I don’t think commitment was the breakthrough. I think the breakthrough was in continuing to talk to people who had done it, other writers and editors, asking questions, and being asked questions. Taking on new information and changing my perspective.
Until I believed that I could do it. To a standard, I would be proud of. I know I’m not going to be the best writer in the world. I doubt my own mother will read my work. But, I have found value in my creative endeavours.
I changed, my goal stayed the same. And that starts with a different question.
“Are you open to change?”
