Here we are again. That annual ‘New Year, New Me’, craze we’re so familiar with is bombarding your social networks, workspaces, and local gyms. Everyone is feeling motivated and wants to make sure there’s no way you can’t know about it. The easiest thing in the world to do is to get that initial motivation because somehow the fact that it’s January makes a difference to whether or not you’re okay with your current circumstance. The illusion that we are starting fresh is enough to kick people in gear and work on a fresh set of goals.
For those of us who are always on the grind, January 1st is another day on the calendar. We know success is about incremental steps every single day towards making your life better, as well as the lives of people around you. If you need a specific time of year to put a fire under your ass, there’s a good chance you’ll quit before your next annual reminder. With that being said, never mind the irony that I chose now to publish a new blog post after a multi-month hiatus (face palm).
We know success is about incremental steps every single day towards making your life better, as well as the lives of people around you.
This post isn’t about staying motivated, though. There are tons of books, articles, blog posts, YouTube videos, and local seminars you can attend for your kick in the ass fix. Instead I want to delve into what I think is even more important than achieving your goals.
We’ve all wondered what it would be like to have super powers to manifest whatever we wanted, or at least what it would be like to be rich enough to buy whatever we wanted. I don’t think people ever finish playing that game, or at least take it far enough; so let’s do it now.
So you now have everything you can ask for with no effort. Any material possession, the love(s) of your life, ultimate health, every travel destination, it’s all yours in an instant simply by asking for it. There’s no need to even set goals anymore because you don’t have to work towards them.
How long do you think that feeling of satisfaction would last? How far could you stretch this instant gratification-based happiness before you started to ask yourself, “Is this all there is?”
Although I think goal-setting is paramount to success in any endeavor you embark on, maybe we’re missing the point. I would consider myself a goal-oriented person, but sometimes I ask myself, “At what point am I going to run out of goals?” This question inevitably leads to, “If and when I do run out of goals, then what? What happens after I’ve reached my full potential? What the hell am I going to do with myself then?”
Following this line of thinking tends to lead people back to that age old question, “What’s the meaning of all this?” Is it even worth it to commit myself to a life of intense discipline if at the end of it I’ll still end up the most successful person in the graveyard? You can see how things get dark and depressing really quick.
The more goals I achieve in life, the more I realize the feelings I expect to get when I achieve these goals always end up being less satisfying than what I anticipated in the process. Even if the feelings are comparable, how long will it last before it’s on to the next goal to fulfill your sense of purpose? As a result, you start to think your goals are just too small, but then you start to realize, maybe they will always be, and you’ll never truly be fulfilled.
A lightbulb then starts to turn on and I start to think about goals in a different way. Maybe we’re doing this whole thing wrong. Maybe we’ve got it backwards. Maybe the point of happiness is the in the work we put in towards it. Maybe it’s not about living for the pursuit of happiness, but rather, living for the happiness of pursuit.
The secret is all this elusive happiness stuff is right under our noses. We think it can’t be that simple. We just can’t seem to wrap our over-analytical minds around the fact that it’s not always about what you do, but what and who you are as a result. The achievement and setting of your goals might be an affirmation, but it’s by no means a prerequisite for fulfillment. We do the work simply because it’s an expression of a life fully lived, not because of what we think we’ll get out of it when the work is done.
We do the work simply because it’s an expression of a life fully lived, not because of what we think we’ll get out of it when the work is done.
So set goals. Be the hero of your own story. Climb the mountain. Slay the dragon. Conquer the world. But do all these things with realization that it’s not about the destination, but the journey itself. You won’t achieve every goal you set out for yourself; that’s a good thing. Life is always changing and so should you. Be present in your awareness of the good as well as the bad, because you need both to truly appreciate the beauty of this life we live.
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