Goals are Stupid!
I’m finished with goals.
Or, I guess more correctly, I am done with goals being the measuring stick I am using for personal growth and progress.
March 2020, I was turning 40 and to celebrate I was going to run an Ironman in South Africa. It was to be the trip and challenge of a lifetime.
In early March, I had begun tapering, the phase of training for a race where you strategically lower the amount of time you are preparing, to allow the body to rest. I had done everything I was to do to prepare to achieve my goal. Those days where I didn’t want to get out of bed to train, but still did. Dealing with the constant soreness and self-doubt that arose day in and day out.
I could sniff the starting line. Yet as one border after another began to close, the reality of not achieving my goal became a different kind of challenge.
I never made it to the starting line. But to look at last year as a failure, one where I had not achieved my goals, would be a disservice to the progress I had made physically, intellectually, and emotionally.
Today I am more resilient, calmer, and more self-aware than I was 12 months ago, all on account of pursuing a goal.
Goals certainly serve a purpose, but when we place too much emphasis on achieving them, and not on the process, we begin to lose sight of the real payoff, our own growth and development.
I have a list of goals this year. I categorize them into emotional, physical and intellectual pursuits. At the top of each of those lists though, I define what it is I want to be more of in each of those areas.
Emotionally – Thoughtful
Intellectually – Confident
Physically – Resilient
Milestones are important, but I am also not going to allow not achieving a goal to stain my self-worth. Things can be difficult, circumstances can change, and I know if I am more of the three traits I listed above, I will be in a good place, no matter what happens.
Set goals, but don’t get too attached to them. Instead attach yourself to the person you are becoming more of along the way.