I was speaking to a group of entrepreneurs on how to stay motivated in pursuing your goals when I got this question,
“How do you keep going when you’ve made the same goal over and over again for years and haven’t reached it?”
This one hit me for a couple of reasons.
1) I could sense the despair
2) I have totally been there.
I answered in the best way that I could.
Look at it as a learning process. As long at you don’t give up on learning you won’t give up on your goals.
In my own life, it took me 4 years to hit the income goal I set for my business. I thought it would take me 1 year. It took us 7 years to move our family to our dream location. I thought it would take me 2. I am still working on the goal of building a retreat center that I set over 10 years ago. I thought it would take me 5 years. But I have no complaints. It’s pretty awesome to be running a successful business, living in Santa Barbara, and planning my first retreat in Costa Rica. Had I given up on my goals because I didn’t reach them fast enough I would never have the business or lifestyle I have now. Instead of giving up, when I didn’t make it, I recommitted. I learned what there was for me to learn and changed what I knew to change and kept working at it. In the process, I’ve learned more about who I am and who I want to be, growing a business, raising a family, what it feels like to take risks, and tenacity than I ever could have imagined.
“Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” ~ Bill Gates
I absolutely believe in setting short term goals. We use them to stay in ACTION and to always be making progress. But if everything doesn’t happen as fast as you like it doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you. It just means you aren’t there…yet.
My trainer recently sent me an email with a line that helped me get out of bed at 4am and run 4 miles straight up a mountain. I never regret it when I do it, but I always regret it when I don’t. This might not apply to everything in life but when it comes to running up mountains, real or figurative, I find it to be true.
