How to Work With Goals

​I have a confession to make. I'm a goal raiser. Whenever I get close to achieving one goal, I get excited and raise it again. Goals motivate me a great deal, but it was years before I realized how many things were wrong with my approach.

Don't get me wrong, goals are amazing. They have the power to focus and motivate, driving us to greater heights. But if you're like me, sometimes the goal becomes so important that races in particular can become so high stakes that disaster follows. Part of it is cognitive distortions, but that's another article...

So how do we approach goals?

Traditionally, we create a goal that is centered around completing a race or running a certain time. We then get motivated to train for that race. If we complete the race then we are happy, and if not the attempt or even the entire venture is considered a failure.

But why do we run? Is it really just to get a certain time on some distance or to brag to others that we completed and competed? Yeah, I do that. It is one the reasons, but its pretty far down on my list of motivators these days.

Goals can be looked as motivators and markers along the way. They can be a fun way to mark our progress and add a different twist to a much deeper goal: the lifestyle of a healthy and fit individual. And for at least some of us another goal as well: supporting a process rich with opportunities for personal growth and meaning. And so as the smaller goals are met or not met, a substantial sense of satisfaction and meaning is developed internally.


​If you'd like to unlock your own motivation, check out my 3 day online course.
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