During the frenzy of goal setting for next year, what are you doing with the goals that you set last year at this time that are still yet, unmet? Do you just roll them over? Do you think about them and wonder why they are not met? Do you devise a strategy for meeting the goal this year, or do you just move on? It is said that successful people set goals and this is true. It is taught that you have to visualize your goal and keep it fresh in your mind to achieve the goal, this too, is true. But is imagining driving your new car, or having $100,000 in your bank account enough? Clearly it will make you feel good about yourself as you slog through your days, but is that enough?
What do you do about your feelings during all of this? Goals are a conscious activity, but it is said that all action is emotional and those emotions are built in your subconscious. This is why feeling your goals and visualizing them is so effective, but what if there is a disconnect, and more importantly, what is that disconnect? I have given this a lot of thought this past few months. I have always been a goal setter and a goal keeper. I am proud of the goals I have accomplished, but I have never achieved, as of yet, the goals I have set for my life. I work to find what the missing ingredient is. It is not just writing down the goals and looking at them. It is not just visualizing the success that I will attain and allowing the joy of that emotional success wash through me. It is more and it is less.
Like many of us here I have had coaches, read books, listened to tapes, attended seminars and webinars and felt great about all this frenetic activity, but I am still a block away from what I want. How do you bridge the divide? Is it as simple as persistence? Is it as plain as staying the course year in and year out? The goals I had at 20 are different, or differing at 30, 40 and beyond, but there is an underlying theme that has been with me forever. 
I think this is true of most people I speak with. Instead of looking outside myself for the goals, maybe they are inside and have been there all the time. Maybe by pouring in information and tasks and systems we are covering over the true nature of our goals. All of us want to do the best, be right, be successful as we define that success and be respected for our accomplishments. So this year as I write goals I am looking hard at the goals I didn't accomplish and why. I am looking back through the years and seeing that the goals I didn't accomplish this year, I didn't accomplish last year or the year before that. Does that make me a failure? Well, yes and no; I clearly didn't meet the goal and that is failure, but I also haven't given up so the game is still on.
Opening the mind to what does not want to be seen is difficult. I learn from others and incorporate what is working. Sometimes it takes time. This year I can achieve more of what I want like I have throughout my life, but it is never without constant and persistent focus on the goals, what I am doing and how am I doing with it. Best of luck to all of you and I say that knowing that the more focused I am with the work, the more lucky I am in it's pursuit. Happy Holidays.
Comments(6)