Choosing a goal and sticking to it changes everything - Scott Reed
In Issue 102 I wrote on how the best laid plans can go awry if your inner workings are not sorted.
Today I pursue the idea of goal achievement by interrogating this question: whose goals are you pursuing?
Now that may seem like a moot point, because, surely, you can't be spending your life achieving someone else's goals! Well, that isn't always the case.
When I was a little girl I heard someone say to another 'don't blow your own trumpet'. I was only just beginning to grasp the concept of 'me' and 'mine' and the saying did not make sense to me. So I asked my Dad... He said it meant that one shouldn't be a show off. I still didn't understand so I asked "if it's your trumpet why shouldn't you blow it?"
I recall this conversation today because there are things no one else can do for you. And one of those things is chasing your own rainbow.
Well intentioned parents sometimes impose their dreams onto their children, and, in the process, cause difficulties when the children end up living some else's life. In another family related situation, going into the family business sometimes means accepting a given situation rather than pursuing what you want for yourself.
A couple of years ago a brave young lady said to me that she had abandoned her marketing course because she realised that her motives for taking it up in the first place were skewed. Her friends talked about marketing like it was the most glamorous job in the world, and she though it would make her fit in with them. Wanting the approval of others can push someone to sacrifice their own desires for a life that they don't really want.
And this doesn't only happen to young people. I know 50 year olds who have spent so much of their life chasing someone else's dream that they believe it's too late to start following their own. And so they are unhappy, dissatisfied, and stuck. As long as they don't stand up for what they want, they will remain trapped. What a sad story.
If you are feeling trapped and dissatisfied with your life now, it could be because the goals you are chasing are not yours. Do something about it today.
