How Not Focusing On Your Goals Can Help You Achieve Them

While checking out my new favorite blog Trizle I saw a great post on why people tend to have such a hard time achieving their goals. In the article you’ll find the same time-tested advice of “break your goals into small, manageable chunks” that you can never hear too often. But what stands out about this article isn’t so much that it talks about looking at small sub-goals, but that it urges you to focus on what you can accomplish “by tomorrow.”

As a coach, I see people miss this point far too often, and I have to correct it in them (and admittedly, sometimes, in myself). Goals can be intimidating to people – not because people are weak or incompetent, but because there’s a level of overwhelm that comes to an achiever when the “big picture” gets too much (or all) of the focus. And achievers like us … we have some pretty big big pictures.

But Small Goals Rock, Too
It’s great to have big goals, but if you aren’t executing on them on a daily basis, you’re hosed. It’s the little sub-goals that get you where you’re going, so you have to stay “in the moment” and focus on knocking them out. Not focusing on gaining the small wins, now, will kill your momentum. In other words, quit daydreaming/obsessing about winning the race and focus on putting one foot in front of the other, now.

Earning a million dollars or losing 50 pounds? Great goals. But it can be a challenge to stay motivated when you’re still working on that first $1000 or first ten pounds. The finish line seems so far away. And that can drain your motivation. While so many people tell you that you should focus on your goals, I’d have to tell you from experience that putting your focus on the finish line isn’t going to get you there.

Focus vs. Presence
If you keep your focus only on your goals, you’ll live in wishful thinking land. (”I’m gonna be rich! I’m gonna lose 50 pounds!”) When it comes time to get into action though, you’re going to be more likely to wish you were at the finish line and you’ll hear that whooshing sound as your motivation slips away. I’ve seen it too many times to count. Being too focused on your goal can put you in the dangerous position of resenting the (serious) work you have to do to get there.

On the other hand, if your focus is on your actions – your sub-goals – you’re going to be on the right track. But when you focus on your tasks, you want to keep your goal present (meaning you remind yourself of it) to put your non-exciting task in perspective. In other words, you don’t say, “I’m going to lose 50 pounds!” you say, “I’m going to get through lunch and dinner without snacking because that’s going to help me lose 50 pounds.” This way, you infuse even a “painful” task like sticking to your meal plan with purpose. And purpose is a seed for motivation.

The Process vs. The Prize
So now you know to keep your focus on your tasks (because those tasks are what you have to make sure you do) and to simply keep your goals present as a way to make sure those tasks have a motivating meeting. But what do you do when you are focusing on your task … and you aren’t taking action?

When my clients struggle with generating the motivation to take action, it’s generally because they are focusing ONLY on the process (painful task) and not the prize (awesome goal). Their breakthroughs come when they are redirected to focus on going through the process as a means of grabbing the goal. (Again, keeping the goal present but not in focus.)

In other words, it’s a hell of a lot easier to do something you don’t want to do when you are firmly convinced that it matters.

So Get To It
Take a minute now and think of a goal you’re stalling on – one that you think about a lot but that you aren’t taking action on. What’s the next action you need to take on that goal? Read back through this post and from that article on Trizle and get your focus off you what you wish you had and back onto what you will do next. Do it now – you’ll thank yourself for it.

- Dave Navarro