Goals, setting goals and motivation

Imagine playing a game of soccer without the two goals. It’s pointless, it’s aimless. If you don’t know exactly where you want to go, the chances of being successful are basically zero. Everyone needs goals. It’s obvious we need our dreams and ambitions, they are here to help us grow as an individual and as a group.

Setting goals is a skill by itself. A lot of people set too high goals and soon enough they get discouraged and quit. It’s almost always smart to set lower goals and exceed them. This keeps you motivated 24/7. Remember, that humility sets stability and accelerating growth. Be patient – don’t worry about what other people do, just focus on your stable growth.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn't dream BIG. NO!...you should always dream big but you need to cut the goals up to bite size chunks. For example a goal which is set to 1 year from now should be divided to months and those smaller goals should be divided to daily or weekly tasks.

It doesn’t always work like that because sometimes your goal is directly connected to results of some skill. For example a goal in sales. When you’re starting out, your results aren’t as good but you grow and your results get better. So you shouldn’t plan the same amount of sales on the first month and the twelfth month.

For some people it’s actually a good idea to set a goal which isn’t directly connected to results. For example when trying to lose weight, sometimes it’s better to have a goal of running 20 km a week than to lose 7 pounds in a month.

Motivation is not a flash like you see in the movies. Often you feel the urge to tackle your obstacles and say to yourself:” YES! C’mon ! Let’s rock! Let’s do it!” It’s not bad but in a couple of hours you wont feel like that anymore. Motivation is this fire which builds up inside you step by step. You take confidence from last success and your motivation grows. It’s something deep which you can’t put into words – you can’t force it, it appears when you have clear goals and when you know what you’re doing is right.

You shouldn’t see yourself as a fast sports car which avoids obstacles and tries to get to the goal as fast as possible. You should imagine yourself as a tank going downhill – slower but stable and crushes every obstacle on its path while the speed is building up.

It’s usually recommended to share your goals with other people so you would get the pressure of not letting other people down. I actually don’t agree with that. It might work for some people and with smaller goals but what i’ve learned is that it’s always better to keep your goals to yourself. When i share my goals with other people i already feel the illusion of having done something and it takes away from motivation. I feel that personal goals should be private...it’s your own, it’s you! For other people it seems that out of nowhere i accomplish something great and my ego loves it, when they say :” Oh my god, where did that come from? He is so talented!” But we all know that talent is an illusion.

While working towards your goal remember to drop the drama (see my previous post on drama). When something goes bad – don’t read much into it. Learn from your mistakes and never feel bad about it. Failing is part of the success – always get up and don’t waste your energy on self-pity. This takes a little practice. Don’t think about it – MOVE ON!

In conclusion i’d like to say that you all rock...no matter what. If you have a plan, you improve it through time and you stick to it - i promise that you’re going to succeed!

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