One Important Principle of Goal-Setting

Do you have dreams in life?

Yes?

Great. Have you written them down?

Yes.

That's even better. That means you have goals!

But now it's time for action.

Are your goals realistic and achievable? Do you have a plan of action? Did you determine a due date by when this goal should be achieved? Have you created smaller "bite-sized" goals to work towards your main goal?

This Is Where "The Rubber Hits The Road"

If you have all those things mentioned above set out and in place, it's wonderful. The excitement is high. You are motivated and full of energy.

You can't wait to start working.

But one month down the line...or maybe two months...you start stressing. You are behind schedule. Maybe the first of your smaller goals took you longer than expected to achieve.

Then, with the second goal, you failed completely.

You had to start over and you had to do something else instead. Now you are so far behind schedule, you'll never make it in time to achieve your main, ultimate goal in time.

It's a lost cause. You might as well quit. It's just the same as last time... This goal-setting stuff is a lot of nonsense and it doesn't work...well at least not for you.

But here is the problem.

I struggled with this myself for many years...and got highly frustrated with myself in the process.

Your goals and your due dates are not set in stone. Be flexible.

It's not a "make or break" situation. Nobody is standing there, holding a gun to your head, saying you will achieve such and such by this date or...

So, why do you do it to yourself then?

Yes, it's awesome to achieve your goals within the time limit you have given yourself. It feels even better when you can achieve them in less time.

But things do not always work out the way we want them to. That's a fact. Make peace with it.

So, what's the point then in setting any goals?

It gives you direction. It gives you a purpose. It gives you something to work towards.

To be without goals is like a ship being on the open ocean without a rudder. No one knows where it will end up and when.

When a ship leaves the harbor, the captain knows exactly what his destination is and by when he should be there.

But he might get delayed by bad weather before he even leaves the harbor.

He might face stormy sea conditions while on his way to his destination and he will be forced to take a different route to avoid stormy waters.

But through careful planning, patience, responsibility, and commitment, the captain will get the ship and his passengers to the wanted destination.

Source: CANVA

It's exactly the same with our goals.

We set our goals and the due dates by which we want to achieve them.

And then we think we can't change it.

Change it.

You have set your goals and at the time of setting them, they looked realistic and achievable. But circumstances change. Then you need to be flexible and change with them.

Life happens...

Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans. ~ John Lennon

If all goes well and you start reaching due dates before the time, that's awesome. Keep going. Work even harder. But do not change your final due date or set higher goals...yet.

If you encounter difficulties or challenges though, change your strategy and/or if needed, change your due date. But don't just give up. Keep going!

The Difference Between Targets and Goals

Another thing that I figured out for myself, is that there's a difference between targets and goals.

My short-term goals are more like targets. You can even call it milestones if you wish.

But my short-term goals (weekly and monthly) are targets that I need to meet in order to arrive at my yearly goal. My yearly goals will then become targets to hit on the way to achieving 3-year and 5-year goals.

It's all part of the same journey. When looking at your ultimate 5 or 10-year goal, some of your targets will become (short-term) goals. As you then achieve these (short-term) goals, they still are targets on the way to your long-term goal. Does that make sense to you?

Another thing to keep in mind is to maintain a balance. Even though you should be flexible, don't start to "chop-and-change" too quickly.

To start, set a goal with a due date that feels realistic to you.

Source: CANVA

In my case, I have set some goals for this year that I want to achieve on the Hive blockchain.

To someone else, it might seem like small goals. To me, they are realistic. Someone else again might think "wow, how are you going to do that?".

Every individual finds himself at a different place. They are your goals.

When you start working towards these (yearly) goals, and you find you are getting ahead of schedule by hitting your targets before their due dates, that's awesome. Keep it like that and work even harder.

Do not change your yearly goal just yet by making it bigger or higher. You are merely ahead of schedule on reaching your targets. Keep your goal as it is until you have achieved your goal.

Then, once you have achieved your goal before the due date, you can start working towards your next goal...for example maybe your goal for the next year.

You might also now decide to maybe make the next yearly goal slightly bigger or higher to stretch yourself a bit.

If you start changing your goal by setting higher goals, based on the fact that you are hitting your targets early, you might not get to the point where you can enjoy actually achieving your goals. Because every time you get closer to achieving your goal, you move your own goal-post.

First, achieve your goal before you try to reach for bigger goals.

If you battle to achieve success within the given time before the due date, by all means, move the date out to another date further on in the future.

Especially if you are making progress, but you are merely behind schedule, do not give up just because you can't make it before the due date. You can still arrive at your destination...just a bit later and you are aware of it.

So, never move your due date to an earlier date. You can rather arrive at your destination at an earlier than expected date, or move your due date to a later date in the future.

In my opinion, that is the one thing we need to remember:

Remain flexible. Nothing is set in stone.

I hope this helps.

Let me know what works for you to help you achieve your goals. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading my post.