How To Guarantee You Complete Your Goals
If you want to finish what you started, practice being patient
“Slow down buddy.”
I say this to myself a lot.
Now that I come to think of it, not a day goes by when I don’t find myself telling my brain to “shh.”
Not too long ago, I was reading a story written by another Medium writer when I noticed that they have their own publication. It turns out that they use this to self-publish their own work.
My reaction was as follows:
“That’s a nice idea. Perhaps this might help me leapfrog my way to ‘Top Writer’ status. Why don’t you set up your own?”
I know what you’re thinking. Creating your own publication is a good idea.
But I haven’t told you everything. There is one teeny-tiny difference between said writer and me.
I’ve been writing for 2 months. I have 11 stories published under my name. I still view this as an accomplishment, but I guess you could say I’m still new around here.
As for said writer? They’ve been writing for years. And I don’t have the patience to count the hundreds, if not thousands of blog posts they’ve written since.
What I’m trying to say is this: it’s easy to get excited by the honeymoon phase when starting something new. It’s easy to want to fast-forward to as close to the end as possible so that you can finally say to yourself: “I made it.”
But it’s much harder to admit to yourself that, well, some things just take time.
Don’t Let Your Goals Consume You
“Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.”
― Benjamin Franklin
A “get rich quick” mentality is easily breakable. It reflects impatience, an unwillingness to learn, and a tendency to avoid commitment.
I find it hard to argue against these points.
But equally, I must admit that I also have sympathy for those who exhibit this mentality. Partly because, at times, I too am guilty of thinking in this manner.
And the more I ponder over why we persuade ourselves of our ability to ‘get rich quick,’ the more I’ve started to realise that there is a fine line between being an idealist and trying to transform those ideas into reality.
I love the idea of having ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goals’, or BHAGs for short. Whoever coined this term is an absolute genius. It resonates with people like me who like to think big, and believe that “impossible is nothing.”
Having goals that are challenging but do-able gives us something to work towards. There is something magical about being clear about what you want to achieve, and knowing that with just one more hour of hard work, you are one step closer towards doing so.
But at the same time, we are at risk of burdening our minds with the need to reach our BHAGs. We overwhelm ourselves with the notion that we have to be constantly working away at our dreams. We feel guilty if we aren’t burning the midnight oil.
And eventually, we crack. We lose hope. We still want to navigate our way towards our definition of success, but now we just want to get there a whole lot faster.
We can no longer tolerate the idea of enduring further pain along the way, overcoming more and more challenges, and surpassing additional obstacles to get there.
To put it simply, we let the idea of meeting our BHAGs consume us to the point that we no longer consider them to be worth pursuing.
And to put an end to all of this, we try to find ways to hasten the process and skip to the end. That way, we meet our goals, and we don’t have to suffer the ups-and-downs along the way. It’s the easy way out.
Finding the Right Balance
“Don’t be in a hurry to achieve your dreams…your dreams will still be there tomorrow.”
― Lindsey Rietzsch
Trying to reach your goals is like walking a tightrope. The end is in sight. You can see those who’ve reached the other side, cheering you on. Your destination is crystal-clear.
But each step you take is filled with nerves and anxiety. Part of you wants to go back to the beginning for fear of tripping up along the way. But you have to move forward. And so you try and find ways to scurry to the end.
Now think about this for a second: have you ever noticed how most tightrope walkers carry a pole with them as they walk? They hold this horizontally, with their hands tightly gripped around the centre.
They do so because it gives them a sense of balance. It allows them to take one careful step at a time.
There is a certain harmony that exists between having a vision that you want to implement and being patient enough to allow it to take its natural course.
If you want to cross the finish line, find the right balance between taking a small step while also having the end in sight.
Accept the fact that an internal balance must exist if you want to complete your goals. You need to carry a pole to help walk that tightrope. Scrapping the pole results in failure. Accepting it results in a greater probability of success.
As a result, you’ll no longer be in need of a ‘quick-fix’ solution.
If reaching ‘Top Writer’ status on Medium is your BHAG, as it is mine, then you simply have to accept the fact that you need to be patient enough to see your writing journey through to the end.
And who knows, maybe I will start that publication someday. But today just isn’t that day. And tomorrow might not be too. But that’s okay as well.
Thanks for reading. And all the best out there!
