The Ugly Truth About Setting Goals
Why Reality Often Feels Underwhelming
Recall the feeling of achieving something big. You wanted it for the longest time, you worked and waited hours for it, only to be let down once you had it?
“All things that are, are with more spirit chased than enjoy’d.”
— William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice
Here’s the thing.
Your Goals Are Not Real
Goals are imaginary endpoints that you create in your head.
By the time you reach those endpoints, your endpoints have already changed — gotten further away. We set lofty goals, and by the time we achieve them, we have our eyes set on something loftier.
That’s life. Constantly dissatisfied with your present in pursuit of a better, more satisfactory future. That is why you grow because you never feel satisfied with yourself right now. You need always be better, stronger, fitter.
But it is disheartening to feel let down every time you achieve your goals. How then, can one feel satisfied?
The One True Motivation
Focus on mastery instead. Fall in love with the craft and the process.
The journey of getting 1% better each day is much more fulfilling than the destination of a single goal.
Embrace the idea that you’re constantly evolving and that the outcome you truly desire, is the person you become along the way.
Did you know?
Only legends read till the end!
Level up your thinking with a FREE ebook on mental models and 3 Big Ideas each week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue binge-reading:
