The Key to Goal Achievement and Productivity!
It’s the second month in the New Year, and it is at this point people often start to lose their momentum and commitment to New Year’s resolutions. I suggested in my first newsletter of the year, to surrender those resolutions, and work from the space of having goals but also going with the flow and not beating yourself up when life gets in the way.
So, what does it mean when you are going with the flow, but instead of holding on loosely, you have let go entirely and are completely unmotivated and unproductive?
If that is the case with you, I would ask you to explore the why behind your goal.
I asked a client why he had chosen to pursue a career path when he did not like it; his response…“I really didn’t think about it, it just kind of happened”.
You would be surprised how often I hear that response when I ask people about their career path or other life goals. The key part of that answer is; I didn’t really think about it.
So why don’t we think about things in greater detail, especially those categories that influence the quality of our lives for a long time to come? My theory is that this type of thinking, thinking that requires deep exploration of who we are, what we want, our values and our purpose, requires time; a luxury that appears to be in short supply today.
The reality is we all have the same twenty-four hours in the day. The difference between people who remain productive towards their goals and those who do not; is they took the time to think and develop clarity on two points:
1. What do I want?
2. Why do I want it?
It is easy to name what you want:
- I want to be in better shape.
- I want to make more money.
- I want a better relationship with my spouse.
- I want to have more time with my children.
Exploring why you want those things requires more time and thought:
- Why do I want to be in better shape?
- Why do I want to make more money?
- Why do I want to have a better relationship with my spouse?
- Why do I want more time with my children?
Exploring the answer to these questions is not difficult; it does, however, require an investment of time, energy and conscious thought on your part. But taking the time here to explore this question will help you determine if you are more likely or unlikely to remain productive towards your goal.
THE KEY: Knowing your why behind your goal helps you to determine if you are willing to pay the price of admission to get it!
When I first decided to go out on my own and start my business, I explored my why. Why do I really want to run and operate my own business? There were multiple reasons, but there was one big reason.
That reason for me was Freedom.
The freedom to create my own schedule, the freedom to be in charge of how much money I want to make and the freedom to realize I have immense power to influence the quality of my life.
Along with this desire for freedom, came the awareness that there would be a tremendous increase in responsibility on the career front of my life, and this increase in responsibility would impact all the other areas of my life.
No longer would I have the luxury of walking into a job, performing a service and receiving a paycheck every two weeks. I would have to figure out how to market myself, get clients, and set up a system of internal support to manage clients, projects and profits. A lot more work!!
I had to decide if I was willing to trade in more time, energy and increased stress to achieve freedom. In other words, was I willing to pay the price of admission?
My answer was yes, and that was the key to helping me stick to it when I faced doubt and uncertainty. When I encountered those days that I felt like I wanted to quit, like it was never going to happen, like the stress would never get better, I would ask myself; why are you doing this? “Freedom” rang out loud and clear, giving me the courage to keep going.
My mission is to help people become much more conscious of themselves; conscious of themselves intellectually, emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially and socially. What do you really want in these categories of your life, and why do you want it? If you don’t know your why, you won’t have enough reasons to stick to your goals.
If you find you’re struggling to remain productive, sit down with a piece of paper, explore those two questions, and see what you discover. Ask yourself if you are willing to pay the price of admission or not.
Dedicated to raising your consciousness!
