Having Goals Might Be The Reason Why You Are Not Attaining Them

What you should be asking yourself at the outset is: why do you want to have them in the first place?

Before you know it, six months since the day you’ve set yourself those New Year Resolutions have passed. I know it’s been a crazy time, how is it already June?

When else more appropriate than now to take a look at whether you’ve managed to stick with them, and if you’re any closer to reaching your goal.

If, in hindsight, you find that within days of setting those goals, you’re already struggling to stick to it — consider asking yourself why you’re doing it in the first place. Whether it might be worth letting that goal go.

We get carried away with the idea of doing something just because someone else is doing it as well. We want to hop on the bandwagon. Intermittent fasting is beneficial for you? I’m on it. Meditation? Count me in. Reading five hundred books a year? Sounds right up my alley. Gratitude journal? Hell yes!

It could also be that we’ve read endless articles on “productivity hacks”. About how the world’s most successful CEOs wake up at 4 in the morning. Which somehow translates to success being even remotely related to waking up early in the morning. And the next thing you know you’re forcing yourself to change your bedtime to 9 p.m. just so you can get up early.

For some of us that might be true. Getting out of bed before the world does gives us extra headspace to focus on what needs to be done before being overwhelmed with notifications and distractions. But, there are times that we lose sight, of the underlying purpose of it all.

I consider myself a victim of this, having been slightly obsessed with productivity and optimal living, self-awareness and all of that jazz. I’ve read about how multitasking is bad for you, and how it takes 25 minutes for your brain to refocus on your original task having been interrupted. And I understand, for the most part, the science behind all of it. Admittedly, there is substantial evidence that it works, or that it has the potential to work! Trust me, I have tried growing plants on Forest! app, installing website blockers etc. But at the end of the day, having a goal of forcing myself to be fully focused on one task for more than an hour at a time physically does not work for me.

But the point of it is that — when you have a goal and you find that you’re struggling to keep up with it, then perhaps the next question to ask is why are you doing it in the first place?

If it is not something that you’re excited to keep up with, or stick to, then is it something that is inherently of any value to you at all?

Yes the flip side of this argument is that there is always that inertia and that habits are difficult to change.

But motivation does not cause action. Motivation is a myth.

Rather, it’s action that creates momentum and that’s what keeps you going.

Sometimes, one potentially telling sign of how a goal might not be important, is that you’re struggling to stop yourself from finding excuses to doing it.

You only have this once chance at life. So why spend your time chasing after other people’s successes and dreams?

Pick your own path, your own values and your own beliefs. Work towards your own version of your ideal life.

If you’re persuaded that having a certain goal is of value to you, of course keep to it. What you might just want to be satisfied with is that you are well-aware of your intentions and that you understand why a particular goal is important to you.