Goals – Instructions for your brain

Once you set a goal with purpose and clarity, believe in it, and keep it in front of you every day, your mind has something to look for in the world.  It has a mission and will sort information and options according to your goal; bringing you closer each day.

Getting clear is getting started.  

What are you clearly pursuing?

Learn from your mistakes

What mistakes have you made lately?  I made a few.  Sometimes they are small and sometimes they are big ones – you know the ones that had you going down a path for months or even years before you learned that you had to turn back.  Those hurt.  Time invested, wrong expectations shattered, and wasted resources.

But that’s what life is if we are getting better.  We learn from our mistakes.  Of course, it’s always better to learn from someone else’s mistakes; it’s cheaper and faster and doesn’t hurt much.  That’s why we read and observe. 

When you see someone who made a big mistake, ask about it if you can.  What were they thinking in the beginning?  Why did they do it?  What information did they have and not have?

“All in the dark we grope along, and if we go amiss, 

We learn at least which path is wrong, and there is gain in this.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Learning suddenly

“Pain is knowledge rushing in to fill a void at great speed.” – Jerry Seinfeld

This statement wasn’t part of Jerry’s stand up routine.  He was serious.

When we have a knowledge gap or poor expectations of what will happen, it hurts when we find out suddenly.

Fear is not the enemy

We all are afraid.  This is what holds us back from being our best selves and doing what we are capable of.  

“Fear is not the enemy.  Waiting for fear to go away, is.” – Marie Forleo

It’s not whether you have fear or not; it’s whether you are letting it stop you or not.

Use your head.  Feel the fear.  Do it anyway.

What should I do now?

Your goals determine what is a right and wrong use of your time.  They determine what is useful and not useful.

Should I be doing this or that?  It depends on your goals.

Get clarity on your goals, and don’t have conflicting ones.

The right amount of anxiety

“There is a Golden Mean of anxiety.  Too little, and it fails to perceive the threat.  Too much and it becomes paralyzing.”  -Dr. Mardy

Do you have too much anxiety, or too little?

No return

Today will come once. 

There is no going back. 

No second chances.

Maturing into a better you

I’m 56 now.  Sometimes a situation comes up and I know the old me would have said or acted or even felt a given way.  Then I recall how that went when I did, and I decide not to deal with it that way again. 

I elevate my response.

I am getting better.  

Interference

You want X.  

Your goal is X.

What is interfering with you accomplishing your goal?  

Honestly, is it in you, or outside of you? 

What if you took your foot off the brake and removed it?

How?  When?

"Earned"

Earned – the only true reward.