I am currently going through the process of evaluating and re-evaluating what I do and why I do it. Through this endeavor, I have come across an important, not to be overlooked thought about the goals that I set for myself:
Goals should be purposeful, yet adaptable.
You see its a somewhat paradoxical statement.
The more direct my goal is, the easier it will be to formulate & structure a plan to get there. The challenge of course is selecting that singular goal to go towards.
Why is this hard?
It’s really hard for me for a couple of different reasons:
- I like doing a lot of things…I like to have my hand in a number of different problems. That is how my brain is wired. I know that it will take an immense amount of focus and passion to eliminate distractions so that I can strive towards a singular goal.
- I don’t know exactly what I want to do: You see I don’t believe in a linear career. I don’t think it exists, unless you want to be something like a doctor where there a certain number of steps you must take to move forward. The only way for me to know what I want to do is to talk to other people or try it out for myself. I’ve been doing that, at a really really high frequency, now it will take some thinking from my end.
- It’s also a challenge because things change all the time. Ideally I want to pick goals that are flexible enough to transition over different phases and seasons of my life.
I know that having a goal is really valuable — and I know that I am the type of person to do everything in my power to “accomplish” one. That is good.
I just have to be very purposeful with the goal(s) I want to go after. That way I can convert a lot of my motion into desirable action.
Do more.