Today is June 1st. We’re almost half way through 2013. Logic would dictate that being 50% of the way through the year I should be half way towards accomplishing my goals. The reality… I can’t even remember my New Year’s resolutions.
I’ve always considered the placement of your goals to be an extremely important element of acheiving them. Goals that are too low will fail to inspire you, while goals that are set too high, at least initially, will feel out of reach and also cause a lack of motivation.
I feel that the metaphorical concept of where you set your goals has been covered to death both on my website and on others so I’d like to use this article to talk more about the literal placement of your goals.
Shortly after I became interested in personal development I remember reading about belief boards. The idea was that if you put your goals somewhere you’d see them frequently they would gradually become a part of your identity.
I didn’t feel that hanging my goals up in my room would significantly improve my chances of achieving them, but I figured the worst-case scenario was me wasting five minutes of my time.
I can’t remember exactly what my goals were at the time, but I remember accomplishing all of them a few months later. Afterwards I printed out some new goals and restarted the cycle.
I went through several revisions of my belief board until sometime in late 2012 I decided I’d grown past the point of needing a belief board. The result?
I clearly do. I mentioned earlier I couldn’t even remember my goals, but I looked them up and the results aren’t pretty.
Goal #1- Perform 50 juggling shows.
Result #1- Have only performed twice.
Goal #2- Become fluent in Spanish
Result #2- Can do little besides introduce myself and discuss the weather.
Goal #3- Get 100,000 views on Youtube.
Result #3- At 1,833 views.
Goal #4- Spend at least an hour writing and rapping per day.
Result #4- Stopped at the end of January.
Goal #5- Juggle 7 balls for more than 50 catches
Result #5- Stuck on 7 catches.
Goal #6- Fall in Love.
Result #6- nada.
The decision to stop pursuing some of these goals has been conscious. I decided at the end of January I simply didn’t have enough hours in a day to juggle, rap, AND blog. I felt I needed to have some degree of focus and I’m completely satisfied with the decision to stop spending so much time rapping.
Some on the other hand are absolutely inexcusable. It took me a few months to create a unique juggling routine, but I’ve been show ready for over two months, and only performing twice thus far is completely unacceptable.
I haven’t worked to market myself and even worse I’ve had opportunities to perform, but simply haven’t taken them.
I’m not even sold that goals are the best method of accomplishment anymore. I’ve read a lot from Leo Baubauta over the last couple months and am beginning to think that principles are a lot more effective than goals.
Regardless, the point I’m trying to make is if you’re not being constantly reminded of your goals or principles, you’re going to stray from them.
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