Goal Setting and Action
Peter McWilliams said, "If you're not actively involved in getting what you want, you don't really want it." I love excuses as much as the next person, but I have to agree with McWilliams on this.
Pretending to Take Action
When I give lip service to something I say I want, I either plan to do something about it later, or I go through the motions without really participating. I may spend an inordinate amount of time planning. This is not to say that planning is bad, but there comes a time when planning is just procrastination. How about going through the motions without really participating? Have you ever washed your car just to keep people from writing rude notes in the dust? How about the time you had a new car and spent ages washing, waxing and buffing your new baby? We all know when we're putting in effort and when we're not, when we really care and when we don't.
Time Doesn't Equal Results
The amount of time you spend isn't a good gauge of how effective your efforts are. Cast your mind back to a time when you had a report due in school. Did you have long periods of time when you just sat in front of a blank piece of paper or a blank computer screen? More time was spent checking the clock than actually creating the report. We've all been there.
What Do You Really Want?
I can't tell you. Sometimes it's hard for me to know what I really want. Several years ago I finally joined the gym that Mike belonged to. I'd been putting it off because I knew I wouldn't make the time for it. Thinking that it would help get me going, I signed up for one of the workout programs they offered. I figured that getting in shape and looking better in clothes would be good motivation.
Nope. That didn't work.
A vacation in Acapulco was coming up in a few weeks. Surely that would get me to be faithful and spend quality time at my workouts.
Nope. Any of you who work out know the difference between just showing up and really working out. One produces results, the other spends time.
Then, quite apart from the fitness club, I started taking dancing lessons and fell in love with the lindy hop. I wanted to dance, I wanted to dance well, and I wanted to enjoy it. Back to the gym. Forget the general workout program – I signed on for a personal trainer 3 times a week. Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night would keep me from training. Because I wanted to get slim? Because I wanted to be fit for the sake of being fit? No. The majority of other lindy hop dancers were some 30 years younger than I was and I didn't want to be sitting on the sidelines while they were having fun.
So what do you really want? Don't let others decide because that won't be enough motivation to keep you going. Find out what really drives you to achieve a goal. You'll find that along the way you'll achieve more goals than the one you set out to accomplish.
