Worthwhile Goals

We know that fear, doubt, and laziness are three of the key factors behind why most people fail to achieve their goals in life, and succumb to failure as a result, but none of these three are actually the biggest factor. Try and work this one out; the biggest reason behind why people fail to achieve their goals in life, is because of the goals themselves. No, it's not the goal's fault why people fail to succeed. No, it's not because the goals are unrealistic or unreachable. The reason is the goals are simply not attractive or important enough. When we commence the journey towards achieving a goal, we start off all motivated, inspired, and excited. Here we are, about to start doing something for ourselves, and be working towards something that will bring us great satisfaction, happiness, and success, but how is it that we go from being all motivated, excited, and inspired, to just throwing in the towel, and quitting the journey? For anyone who has ever embarked on the journey to achieving a goal, you would well know that it's far from an easy experience. I think, prior to starting such a journey, most of us underestimate just how tough and challenging it can really be. We envisage that we will begin to see results within a few days, a few weeks, or maybe a few months perhaps, and yet, these results fail to eventuate in line with our expectations. For those who have persevered long enough to reach even the 12 month point in that journey, you would likely had felt that success still seemed like a long way off. All that we seem to encounter on this journey is failure, setbacks, rejection, opposition, and criticism. With all these negative results, it's only natural to become discouraged, frustrated, upset, angry, and demotivated. All the hard work, time, and effort that we are applying to creating this success, it feels like it is all being wasted. So we reach a point on this journey where we confront a choice. We either need to keep suffering through these adversities, setbacks, failures, and challenges, or we can just go back to the less stressful and less demanding way of life we had prior to starting this journey. Each time we continue persevering, and we encounter another negative result, we face the same question.

For most people, failure is a clear indication that success will never eventuate, and the goal is not obtainable. It's sad really, because this is far from the truth. Failure is actually a great sign of progress, and a natural stepping stone towards success. And yes, we do fail time and time again, not just the once. The question is, how do we continue persevering, continue remaining patient, continue remaining resilient, and continue to remain determined to achieve our goal, when we continually encounter failure, setbacks, rejection, opposition, and criticism? This is where it comes back to the goal itself. If we ever take the option of quitting on the journey towards achieving our goal, then the goal itself lacked importance, it lacked significance, it lacked meaning, it lacked reason, and it lacked purpose. The goal was not powerful enough to keep us motivated, inspired, and determined to continue through all the pain, the suffering, and the waiting. It's true that if we want something desperately enough in life, we would go to whatever lengths needed in order to get it. It's a characteristic we know as drive. When we are driven by something, our focus is fixed on it, and it remains steadfast. Despite all the adversity that gets thrown our way, we overcome it, because achieving that goal means everything to us. So many people have such watery goals, that it's no wonder why so many people quit the journey towards achieving them. Such goals could be "I want to be rich", or "I want to travel the world", or "I want to be famous". There's no solidity in these type of goals. Why do you want to be rich for? Everyone would love wealth, but that doesn't mean the reason behind the "why" would all be the same.

Let me give you an example of what importance, significance, and purpose a goal should look like. Imagine yourself standing on a very high cliff edge, which all of a sudden crumbles before you, sending you falling down the cliff face. Through all the crumbling rock, you manage to grab on to the ledge of a crevice on the fall, keeping you from continuing the steep decent down to the bottom, and saving you from plunging to your death. You're hanging on for dear life now, with no one around to help. What's your goal here? Obviously, to climb back up to the top to safety. But what's the reason behind this goal? What's the importance and significance? Obvious again, isn't it? To stay alive. If you fail to achieve this goal, you lose your life. This means you need to do everything you possibly can to make your way back up to safety. Our life is at stake here, so we naturally will do whatever it takes to stay alive, to work through the pain, to take however long it takes, and to face up to whatever challenges we confront in climbing back to the top. We value our life, naturally, hence why we are driven by this goal. Okay, so achieving our goals in life may not be life threatening, like this scenario, but what sort of life are we living if we are not achieving happiness, success, fulfillment, and satisfaction anyway? Without these four blessings, it's not really living, but more so, existing. Our goal needs to drive us. We need it to have the same sort of feeling of desperation and determination, as if we were hanging from that cliff face. It needs to create emotion within us. What we desire to achieve so desperately need to be worthwhile goals, not just something to wish for, yet be able to get out of the journey when the going gets tough. Worthwhile goals don't have an escape hatch along the journey towards them! Get clear on, not only what you desperately want as part of your future, but also the purpose, importance, significance, and meaning behind it. Be prepared for this journey to take a few years, that it will include many failures, setbacks, challenges, and rejections along the way, and that you will need to work extremely hard. The greater the goal, the harder the journey. The harder and longer the journey though, the more satisfaction and reward you will obtain on that day of success.

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