What about a life without GOALS?
Scary thought, because we have been SO brainwashed to beileve in 'em?
GOALS are SUCH the source of disharmony!
- They make us live constantly in DEFICIENCY! We set goals that are further away than our reality, naturally. So then we create a GAP between our reality and our goal, and we are constantly reminded of the fact that we are not enough.... YET.
- We are not good "celebrators"! So, we spend our lives "in deficiency", chasing our goals and if we over deliver or just deliver, we check the box and then SET NEW ONES! We don't linger in celebration because we need to get goin' and set some more goals!
We are always DOING things to ACHIEVE things... to REACH things...
It FEELS wrong.
Or, maybe not "wrong", but "sub-optimal"...
WHAT IF...
What if instead of goals, we committed to "A WAY OF LIFE.... A WAY OF BEING".
What if instead of "our profit goal is $20 Million", we said "We are committed to being Profitable , and BEING more profitable quarter after quarter?"
What if instead of saying "I want to lose 15 pounds, I said I want to BE healthy and LIVE healthy... and I want to eat well?"
What if instead of telling our kids " Get X or Y grades, we said BE ENGAGED in LEARNING... just BE CURIOUS and BE THOROUGH?
What if instead of saying "I want to go to X or Y college, we said, I want to LIVE inspired and LEARN constantly and from the best?"
Would we possibly...
LIVE HAPPIER?
ACHIEVE EVEN MORE?
REACH LEVELS OF SUCCESS AND PEACE OF MIND THAT WE DIDN't THINK WHERE POSSIBLE?
You read that people who write down goals achieve them more often,,,
BUT, you also read that virtually everyone who has made it HUGE was less "pursuing goals" than "living a vision".
Jobs, Bezos, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Chris Kyle (The American Sniper)... They weren't driven by goals... they were driven by A WAY OF BEING.
What if we took the pressure away from ourselves with respect to constant goal creation and over-measurement and focussed solely on THE MOMENT and HOW WE SHOW UP IN IT?
SURE, I get it.
We need to do some PLANNING.
We need to in business and in life have some IDEA of our desired and actual pace, but if that is what it was, a PLAN and a PACE... not a "GOAL"... a "DESTINATION"?
We COMMIT to a WAY OF BEING, and we always craft a PLAN to give us some framework.
And, then we just keep showing up and finding harmony...
I always say that I am driven by being better today than I was yesterday... COULD THAT BE ALL I NEED FOR GUIDANCE and MEASURE?
TRUST me... The THOUGHT scares me too! I have been a champion of goals. I have been running around the muddy track, whipping myself for years and years trying to run faster, leaner, smarter, wealthier, and all kinds of "ers".
And, its worked...
It's worked in that - I have an AMAZING life and family and circle of friends and business... but I have been down too often in disharmony. I have struggled with peace of mind and joy too many moments along the way.
Could I have achieved an even more AMAZING life and family if I had just committed myself to BE in the moment those things that I constantly REACH for?
Could I commit to doing the BEST that I can in every moment to BE a GREAT FATHER,, and not set "goals" to it?
DO GOALS actually LIMIT our POTENTIAL and set us down a path that LACKS joy along the way?
COULD I BE BETTER, COULD I POSSIBLY BE THE VERY BEST VERSION OF MYSELF... BY JUST FOCUSING ON BEING, because the truth is when we carry the weight and the stress and the disharmony of deficiency others around us feel it. It's visible and palpable in how we live, how we love, how we interact.
Could it be this simple and this different from what so many have written?
I'm going to try it for a little while.
I want to have a plan... but I am going to run without "goals"...
I am going to stop focusing on DOING more to ACHIEVE more...
and I am going to try to BE more in the moment, the man that I know I want to BE...
Trust me... It's scary...
But it feels so RIGHT...
I am going to BE more loving, more considerate, more comfortable, more profitable, more scalable, more strategic....
NO NO NO NO NO!!!
I am going to BE LOVING, CONSIDERATE, COMFORTABLE, PROFITABLE, SCALABLE and STRATEGIC....
IN THE MOMENT...
And, succeed or fail, in the next moment, I am going to show up and try again to BE the best.
I will be HONEST in my assessment of my progress, and I will adjust based on the TRUTH.
But, I am going to work on BEING...
BECAUSE I am convinced that it is a path with greater happiness and joy...
Harmony begets harmony...
There is a better way...
JUST BE IN IT ;-)
Yours in harmony!
Nestor