You drive your car knowing you’re looking to get from point A to point B, but you rarely consider how to improve that ride. Sure, you might turn on music or roll down the windows to feel some fresh air, but are those things helping you maintain a consistently better experience, or are they simply temporary pleasures? This is generally how we think about our goals and preferences in life. We think about what we want to achieve and convince ourselves that we’ve thought about the process. In reality, we just give it limited consideration and don’t sit down to think about what could improve the steps needed to achieve the goal.
This unintentional lack of thinking makes us miss greater rewards and a better day-to-day life. After all, if you took the time to wipe your car’s wiper blades, kept up with your tire’s air pressure, and replaced your air filters, your ride from point A to point B would be easier, less bumpy, and much more enjoyable. Life is the same way. How do you want to drive it?
Imagine a career goal you’re striving to achieve. Don’t be vague. Envision yourself one year AFTER you’ve achieved this goal. What does that look like?
Be specific and speak the specificity out loud. This exercise is not just a mental game; it’s a powerful tool to inspire you and guide your actions towards a desired future.
Consider the details of what you’re doing, what your surroundings are, and what your daily life will be like in the 365 days after you’ve hit this specific career milestone.
The mental picture you create should give you a more fortified sense of direction. This takes your goal and turns it into a vision.
Bring yourself back to “the now.” You know what you want to achieve (the goal), and you’ve developed an idea of what life will look like after achievement (the vision), but it’s time to set the steps in motion. This is where most people find motivation but start to second-guess what they’re doing after coming across some consistent hurdles. It’s throughout this process that you start to develop feelings of insecurity, ideas of imposter syndrome, and anchoring towards comparing yourself to others as opposed to staying on track. These are signs that you aren’t paying as much attention to what will improve your process while you work to attain your goal. Even worse, it’s likely a sign you’ve lost track of the purpose behind your vision. Staying present and focused will help you regain control and confidence in your journey.
Start by acknowledging the process you are using to achieve your goal. Do you have mile markers to keep you on target? Are you giving yourself coordinated rewards or acknowledgment breaks as you go? Can you create more adaptive security, such as a backup plan or a support system, to ensure you can handle unexpected challenges without losing momentum (not to be confused with comfort, which may slow down your progress)? You should ask yourself, ‘How do I make the ride smoother and more refined?’ This will ignite a deeper sense of control and help you look at details you likely missed. We often ignore these details because we go on autopilot. This ‘default action mode’ is responsible for convincing you that you are taking the right steps and causing you to conclude you should not pivot because you are trying to achieve that certain goal. The problem is that the goal is just as much a mile marker as your prior steps toward achievement. You’re not actually trying to achieve the goal as much as you are trying to bring your vision to life. Stop looking at things with utter finality and start seeing that the steps you think you’re taking are what you need to fortify.
The more you focus on goals and lose sight of the vision, the more you lose yourself. Frustration, bitterness, humiliation, resentment, letdown, and skepticism start to take over. Eventually, as you fight these inner thoughts, you develop a sense of worthlessness and start trying to change your environment. This is seen through actions that completely change your daily dynamic. For some, it means taking on self-care tasks like meal planning or consistent exercise commitments, while for others, it could be buying a new car or completely changing life direction. Though positive as some might seem or momentarily feel, these actions deviate from your original vision and could lead to thoughts of regret. While you should always focus on removing all negative influences from your life, it doesn’t mean you should deviate from a vision you are passionate about. You just need to examine your approach and revisit your actual vision.
People often talk about goals as the most important thing to achieve, but sometimes, an over-focus on them pushes you away from what you actually want. The reality is, goals are just a portion of the picture. You might say they want to learn to cook a better holiday meal, but the vision is about people enjoying it with you, not the food itself. Others say they want to earn a ton of money, but the vision isn’t at the expense of your free time. Goals are a marker toward a vision you want to create for your future, so focus on improving your process toward the goal instead of just getting to the goal itself.
If the best way to predict the future is to create it, you might as well ensure you’re creating it right.
Isolate what you really want and focus on improving how you get there.
