“To reach our goal a straight path we will not follow.” Yoda
There is a vast amount of information written, and being written on the concept of setting and achieving your goals; Sunday Night Success being one of the contributors. Interestingly, within the first few weeks of 2010 I have already fallen behind on, delayed, or completely changed a couple of the goals I set for myself.
Why?
Opportunity came knocking.
The destination or the journey
Goals are your destination: they are the bigger idea that you are working towards. Losing 25 pounds, making $50000, publishing a book, going to Mexico, switching jobs. You set your goal as something you will try to achieve, and, once you achieve it you are done, you have reached your destination.
What is often forgotten is that there is also a journey to enjoy. How you work your way towards that goal can be just as important to changing who you are as finally reaching the goal. In many cases how you get there may actually end up being more important, and more interesting, than the final goal.
Straight path or twisting trail
Not only is the journey important, so are all of the different routes you can follow during that journey. Just because, in January, you determine a certain path will get you from point A to point B doesn’t mean that you have to follow that path. In fact, following such a rigid path may end up restricting you so much that, in the end, you limit your growth, or you are unable to reach your goal.
The journey between now and then, here and there, needs to be flexible. If something changes then be willing to adapt. You may need to change your approach or change the entire original goal; the point is to pay attention to how you are getting there and allow new opportunities to be part of the process.
Sometimes the best decision is to do something entirely different and see where it takes you.
Words versus intent
When an opportunity presents itself that at first appears to be in conflict with one of your goals, take a moment and look past the wording of your goal. Take a long look at what the INTENT of the goal really was.
If a new path presents itself you may find that the way you worded your goal doesn’t fit, but the intent, the real reason you set that goal for yourself fits perfectly.
Or, you may find that the intent of that goal was all wrong in the first place and the new path you have discovered fits you much better.
Opportunity example
One of my big goals for 2010 was: grow my private coaching practice financially to a point where I can cover all of my family’s basic living expenses by September 2010.
In January I received two new opportunities to do coaching work, enough work that it will be difficult for me to grow my own practice as quickly as I wanted too. At first, I struggled with this idea as I realized it directly conflicted with what I had set as a goal for myself. However, when I looked at the intent of my goal: to support my family through my work as a coach, I realized that both of these opportunities fit perfectly.
Yes, growing my private coaching practice will probably slow down, but my ability to provide for my family from my coaching work will rise much faster. The opportunity goes against the goal, but fits the intent and that is what is most important.
Try reviewing your goals for 2010 and determine the real intent of each goal. Does switching from goal to intent open up any new and interesting possibilities you hadn’t considered?
Need some assistance with setting your goals for 2010? Check out Jocelyn’s post on creating a vision board.