You have heard the word "goal" applied to a topic before, especially in the business world. They are the ideals that we all strive toward realizing. Some are easier to reach than others, and some goals are much harder to reach than the others. What they have in common, however, is that it feels so satisfying when we are able to attain a goal, any one of them, that we have set in our minds.
We each have different goals from one another as individuals, yet there are some almost Universal goals that most people share in common. Things like graduating college, starting a career in our field, getting married, and starting a family are some of those goals that many people share with the next person.
But whose goals are those, really? Are those things truly our goals, or are they things that were taught to us to hold as goals in our lives by an outside figure? Sure, it can be argued that one truly does desire to get married and start a family, but even then, (most of the time) the idea still first entered that person's mind based on what they were exposed to and taught by someone else. What does that person really want for themselves? What are their true goals?
So many of us are going around not knowing what we each truly want in our lives. We are living by default, going around pursuing ideals that we were taught to us for us to prioritize. We are letting life happen to us instead of taking control of our lives by going after our real desires. It's eye-opening to then be asked the question 'What are your goals? What do you really want? What are your true desires?' I emphasize the word "true" because it's so common for someone's head to be full of ideals that were influenced by the outside.
The very first step towards living a life that's full of the things that we actually want for ourselves is being able to recognize what our true desires are in the first place. There are so many individuals who don't have a clue what they really want for themselves. It's no wonder that so many of us feel uninspired and unsatisfied.
You must ask yourself who you are allowing to direct your goals--you or outsiders? Don't limit yourself to what you think others will approve of. To be truly happy, the goals you strive to attain have to be yours alone. And remember that it's the journey, the process, of striving for our goal and approaching it that makes reaching it so satisfying.
It can be helpful to write down what you find to be your true desires. This will solidify the idea in your mind, and serve as a reminder for the times when your motivation may be low. Once you can attain clarity about what you really want, you can then consider how those things fit into the larger picture of your life as a whole.
Exercise: Write down your goals.
Take the time to brainstorm all of the goals that you have in life. Consider things that you would like to do, things you'd like to change, things you'd like to gain, etc. These goals should be both personal and professional and able to realistically be completed. List as many as you can think of! Feel free to share some of what you come up with with the community by leaving a comment on this post.
This is a good distinction - as most goals start off externally whether health, finance, relationships. The media, friends, family, community influences are all HUGE so really hard to find out what is really US and what is put there from other sources. Quite thought provoking, thanks for writing, I just subscribed.