Goal setting (or determining goals) is one of the main pillars of those who practice personal growth and productivity. It is probably out of the question that if we want to get anywhere we will first have to decide where we want to go.
Thus, a study that is repeated until exhaustion to demonstrate the necessity (obligatory, inevitability) of the objectives is the one carried out by the University of Yale, according to which some students were asked if they used to write down what their target in writing. As you can imagine, only 3% of these students had this habit. After 20 years these students were interviewed again and it was found that this 3% were much richer than all their peers. Personally, I think that jotting down your goals on a piece of paper or just keeping them in mind doesn't change that much. Furthermore, although this study can be very motivating, it is certain that it was never developed, according to the researcher Lawrence Tabak, who took the responsibility of confirming the authenticity of something that was just an urban legend to give scientific strength to some. personal growth courses. At this point I allow myself to make a neuropsychological digression: in our brain there is an Attention System that acts as a Supervisor and that allows us to recognize a familiar voice, delete all information totally useless for the task we are carrying out or on the contrary, keep it in memory. In short, it is a system that often works automatically and that allows us to reach the point we want by controlling various factors; obviously, at this point it is essential to determine the objectives in order to indicate to this system in which direction to look. A bit like it happens with the Google search engine. However, keeping a goal in mind and being able to make it happen are two completely different things. Thus, sometimes it would be better not to have goals. Let me explain; Sometimes the goals, far from keeping us focused, turn into real limits for our potential as we strive to achieve them by losing sight of the path of our life in its entirety, and forgetting that the goals are only tools that guide us in research and that can change in relation to the conditions that surround us. Of course, having no goals does not mean doing nothing but on the contrary, trying to develop a passion and devote ourselves completely to it. Taking daily activities as something that satisfies us and not as tasks that must necessarily be done. I understand that it is difficult to find a passion but I am convinced that we all have a small internal engine that pushes us in a particular direction. So, once we have found this passion we will simply have to follow a few simple rules: 1. Start with the simplest part and take it easy. When we are supermotivated we normally want to reach the goal very quickly. Unfortunately, haste is a bad advisor and there is no journey that hasn't started with planning and the first step first. We will have to start slowly, giving life to the dream in a gradual and progressive way without getting caught up in despair. Let's remember that concrete is just as important as structure. 2. Let's give ourselves room to grow. Maybe at first your passion is just plain a hobby but over time it can probably turn into your main source of income. Be flexible enough to allow yourself to grow, take risks and be able to achieve dreams that go beyond what you set out to do. Do not stop along the way if what you see further on is more motivating. 3. Give yourself space to enjoy yourself. Putting passion into an activity is wonderful but it is also necessary to find space and time for interpersonal relationships, friends, family. Learning to relax and take a breath of fresh air is essential to enjoy the journey. 4. Don't plan for the long run. A lot of fun life changes the context in which we find ourselves and so long-term plans are no longer feasible, we will only realize that we have lost precious time. 5. To err is human. We all make mistakes sooner or later, we cannot assume a perfectionist attitude that would only have the effect of immobilizing us and making us feel guilty. We will have to assume that mistakes are opportunities to learn and improve. Every time I start a new project I am convinced that I will be wrong in something but at the same time I am convinced that I will overcome the fall and continue advancing with more strength and more experience. It must be said that although these rules are quite general and applicable to almost all projects, the most important thing is that each person takes his own path and develops a personalized strategy that allows him to give the best of himself with the lowest psychological cost. . Let us remember a phrase of Serrat: “walker there is no path, the path is made by walking!”.
