When I get inspired by an idea, it’s almost always followed by a burst of negative energy.
How depressing is that?
Pretty depressing, if I do say so myself, but it’s very true.
I get an idea, get excited, make lists, start planning, begin researching, and somewhere along the way, this leads me into a feeling of overwhelm, of too much, of not knowing what my next move is, and of hearing this voice in my head telling me I’m making all the wrong moves.
If you read my post on sticking with your ideas, you’ll know I talked about this exact concept, and how I was going to avoid it by not diving too deep into my project for 2020 right off the bat. I was going to let it stew, and not let it overwhelm me.
And yet, here we are… The lists, the planning, and the overwhelm have all taken on a life of their own.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not as if I don’t know how to set goals. I have a whole post on goal setting that I think gets pretty deep into how to set smart goals.
But honestly, I think for myself (and possibly for some of you), it’s not about our inability to set goals. Hell, it’s not even about our inability to create an action plan for our goals, which I know is probably the biggest problem for most people.
I’ll speak for myself here, but my struggle with yearly goal setting boils down to trying to do too much, setting too many goals, and allowing myself to loose sight of what I’m striving towards.
For example, I recently took a look at the goals that I set at the beginning of the year, and as much as I didn’t reach every single goal, I progressed in every area of those goals, which is great!
The problem, though, is that I don’t have a major sense of accomplishment or fulfillment, because as much as I’m 20-50% closer to reaching all six of those goals, I didn’t fully accomplish any of them.
And so, while I’m proud I progressed with those goals, in 2020 I’m going to be setting goals a little differently.
If you also feel like you know all there is to know about traditional goal setting, and yet you’re still not getting that major sense of accomplishment that you want from your goals, here’s what I’m going to do, and perhaps you’ll want to join me.
In 2020, I’m only going to set ONE goal for myself.
ONE thing that I want to do more than anything else.
ONE thing that I know will bring me more fulfillment than anything else.
When I look at December 2020, there’s only ONE thing that I want to check off, and that’s ALL I’m going to focus on.
Now, let me clarify, because you might be looking at this and thinking it sounds a little crazy to only focus on one thing for an entire year.
There are, of course, going to be multiple things in my life that I’m going to want to improve on all throughout the year. For example, the improvement of my health and fitness are major goals. My relationships are extremely important. And being able to cope with my anxiety more effectively is always something that’s going to be on my mind.
However, as much as these things are important, for me, I don’t necessarily feel that I need to set specific goals in relation to them.
Why?
Well, because I already KNOW they’re important to me. I know I’m going to work on them. I don’t need to have some end goal telling me I’ve progressed in those areas of my life. All I really need is to keep them in focus and consciously consider them.
BUT
Having said that, in order to get that sense of fulfillment, I think it’s important to set a goal in relation to a dream. Something big and scary. Something that you’ve always wanted to do, but that you’ve been putting off because you didn’t think you had the time, knowledge, or energy for it.
THAT should be your goal. Whatever that is, you should come up with an action plan to help you reach that goal. Put your blinders on, and don’t let the other million goals out there distract you (because if you’re like, they will).
I don’t know about you guys, but to me, the more I thought about this, the more it started to make sense.
Because remember: You can only give your full attention to so many things, and honestly, the things that you’re already prioritizing and thinking about in your everyday life, don’t need the attention. It’s the big, scary dream, or the thing that you want more than anything else that needs your attention.
Bottom line: Put all your goal setting energy into ONE thing, and I’ve got a feeling both you and I will start to those big, scary dreams coming to fruition.
Here’s hoping, right?
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