What interferes with you hitting your goals?
Many of us know we should set goals.
Some of us actually write them down.
But yet fewer of us actually achieve them.
In my experience from working with hundreds of people it is not just a lack of self-discipline that stops us from hitting our goals, although often that is what we believe. The real reason many of us fail to hit our goals is because just at that point of taking massive action which really boosts our chances of success, we suddenly hit ‘Interference‘. This Interference can take many forms – family responsibilities; extra demands made by the JOB; surprising events that demand our time or sudden bad news that need our attention. All of these occur to interfere with us taking massive action not just because they exist (and therefore take up our attention), but also because they make us DOUBT that our goals are worthy of the action worth taking. We become uncomfortable in continuing with such massive action towards our own goals, when we have all that interference. We begin to believe that we should just carry on as we were and reduce our expectations of ourselves. We should not be selfish in having personal goals and huge ideas! We should fit in with what other people think and want and slowly merge into the primordial soup of nothingness which is the common fate of humanity. But your goals are not just your goals – what you achieve will make a difference in the world. So we are counting on you to achieve them. It’s true – there is a reason why you feel the drive to take action, to change yourself, your environment, your place in the world. The world needs you to be successful!
Your goals were placed like seeds in your brain, to help you grow, to make you get outside your comfort zone and to help you learn. Don’t tread on them, ignore them, or fail to feed them with light and water. If you do you will never cultivate them to create a different reality. Whatever seems hard now will seem easy in a year’s time. And then you will face even harder challenges. Are you gonna be someone who gives up at the earliest hurdle? Or do you have perseverance and strength to draw on even when times are tough? Don’t let fear, ignorance, worry about what others think or say stand in the way of your goals.
It might mean that you have to get up earlier to do what you need to do before the pressures of the day get going. It might be that you have to learn to be assertive with well-meaning but ignorant people who distract you. It might be that you need to go out of your way to ensure you meet your responsibilities AND take action towards your goals. Whatever you have to do to manage the interference needs doing. And you are the only one who can do it.
There is a sign outside a new gym in Stoke-on-Trent (and believe me the people of Stoke do need more exercise) which says ‘ Continuous effort, not strength or intelligence, is the key to unlocking your potential’. This is SO true! Don’t let FEAR (False Expectations Appearing Real) stop you. You were born to succeed and be EXCEPTIONAL! Don’t let interference get in the way of your radar!
