“What are your goals?” Throughout your life, you have been asked this question; at the start of a school year, on New Year’s Eve, the launch of a new job and of course by your financial advisor. I appreciate goals and the motivation behind them. We do need goals, they provide some direction. But can goals actually limit us?
The Problems with Goals
Goals are absolutely important but issues can arise with them.
“Keeping up with the Joneses“ Goals that others have or we feel everyone should have as basic goals are not individualized. For example, most people do want to be successful, take care of their family and retire someday.
“How do you eat an elephant?” Goals can also be overwhelming to tackle because they are often long term journeys, maybe decades, thus often avoided all together.
“What if we don’t make it?” Goals can be stressful because what if you don’t achieve them? Fear of failure can sell someone short by unintentionally settling on a safe goal that is easier to achieve.
Possibilities You Need to Consider
Take a simple but relevant example of the traditional goal of being “retired” someday. Does the idea of retirement fixate us on the task (goal) or the real desired outcomes (hello all the possibilities)?
"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."
-Bob Dylan
Goals do help us focus on tasks and move us in a general direction but can often miss the real desired outcome.
The truth is that most people don’t stop working in retirement, they just shift their work to choosing what they want to do versus having to, possibly start a 2nd career or volunteer their skills to their community.
This example has shifted my thinking on how to converse around goals and dreams. The question I ask now and you need to ask:
What are the possibilities?
Possibilities open the mind to be more creative, dream big and think on the true desired outcome of what could be (not just the tasks to get there).
What you value, what has been laid on your heart and the things you find important will steer this exploration.
Our conversations need to consider the possibilities of big dreams, big thoughts and BIG RESULTS.
