“Those who know the way broadly see it in all things”
-Miyamoto Musashi
How many times have you heard someone you admire say, “you have to fall in love with the process” or something similar? Like the most impactful sayings to my own life at first it seems to simple but if you play the game long enough, whatever the game may be, the above statement will resonate.
Let’s take a look at how this ties into goal-setting. If you set a goal to run a marathon you have to train for it. You start out running a few miles at a time and progress from there to longer and longer runs until you’re fairly certain you’ll be able to finish (I don’t think anyone knows for sure they’ll finish the first one until it’s over). Ironically the more time you spend in this training the less time the marathon will take on the day, but I digress. Let’s say you give yourself six months to train for it. Six months is a long time to wait for a goal to be accomplished. Our brains weren’t designed for that kind of resilience when it comes to staying on task, especially not when the task takes from you what this endeavor does.
Another example might be to lose as specific amount of weight, let’s say 30 pounds. Most would agree that a goal of 1 pound per week is doable but aggressive, this would put us at 6 months out again. Regardless of when you start this journey there are a ton of holidays, birthdays, or other types of parties that can throw you off track. You don’t have to be 100% strict for 6 months to lose the weight of course, but most fall off their diet around the above mentioned pain points in my experience. The point being the same as with our marathon example, 6 months is a long time to wait to celebrate your achievements.
What if instead we make our goals to train for the event, or to follow the diet? If my goal is to train for a marathon I have daily, weekly, monthly opportunities to gauge progress and pat myself on the back. If I’m dieting the same applies, I can celebrate every meal, pound, or withholding from certain items.
Whether we are talking about fitness, health, business, relationships, or any other item I think you should have lofty goals. But the goal should be within the process itself, not the end result. End results don’t always bring the satisfaction we thought they would when we embarked on the journey but learning to follow a process is a learned trait that will carry over into every aspect of your life. Once you know how to succeed in one area you can succeed in others and the process continues on. Set an end result, figure out how to achieve it, and set your goals accordingly along the way!
P.S. Sometimes it’s helpful to have someone in the know help with your goal-setting. Book a free consultation here and we can help you establish your new found process.