Personal Development: Leaving Your Goals Unfinished
Author: ophelia | Category: Law of AttractionThe problem for most people including myself is not starting a goal but leaving it unfinished. Unfinished goals have become like plus signs (+) in our failure columns. Lose weight +, make more money +…
Why do we always tend to leave our goals unfinished and how do we resolve that? The goal may be for diet, exercise, financial improvement or otherwise, but somewhere along the line we just leave a whole pile of goals, dreams, aspirations and projects unfinished.
Why do we leave things unfinished?…
Usually the same energy and excitement that is used to start a goal seems to taper off somewhere around the middle leaving - well, BOREDOM. Do I have to finish this? For most it maybe that something pushed them off track of a well meaning goal. They decide to lose weight - they work out at a specific time of day - they are good at keeping it on track for 1 week and then for one day life happens; work late, pick up the kids, overslept and now they feel horrible. Oh great I missed a day out of my workout, I failed because I didn’t work out every single day like my plan said. Now they start feeling shame of not being able to commit to anything for a period of time, then the next day they wake up and think ’Well I’ve already failed with my plans for going to work out so since I didn’t go yesterday, then today shouldn’t matter that much.’ Now they’ve missed 2 days in a row -more guilt, more blaming, more thoughts of failure…by day 3, it’s pretty much a dead case. ’Yeah I was working out but I couldn’t go for a few days - I guess my daily workout plan didn’t quite work out daily.’
With any goal that is how it’s left unfinished or any project - something happens that shifts your focus and before you know it, you really don’t want to go back to your old project. Sometimes you just think it’s a complete waste of time or don’t want the feeling that you have failed at your goals so why even bother trying?…
How to make sure you finish your goals:
A surefire way to make sure you complete your goals is to just simply pick them up again when your mind runs on the task or the goal. Example, if you think about going to the gym and you haven’t gone in 3 weeks, just get dressed and go to the gym! Just re-start the goal or continue with the goal. If you have a project that’s 25% complete and you think about it, just go ahead and do another 10%. If you went to the gym off and on for a period of a year, wouldn’t you have a better body than going and stopping for 4 years? If you keep completing portions of a project whenever you think about it, won’t it be a 100% complete eventually? The trick is to do a little bit more towards your goal every time you remember it or every time you hear yourself say that you’ve failed. If you keep picking up breadcrumbs you will eventually get to the goal - either that or at least have a load of breadcrumbs!
May 28th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Great advice, thanks.
May 29th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Great post! I love this quote:
“If you keep completing portions of a project whenever you think about it, won’t it be a 100% complete eventually?”
Being someone who is constantly starting new projects, I have recognized that my enthusiasm is always strongest in the beginning, but that, of course, is when it’s easy to do the work!
Later, when boredom or complacency start to set in, THAT is when someone’s true colors are tested. However, your advice to just get started again is rock-solid. It literally is just that easy.
Thanks for sharing!
May 31st, 2007 at 9:13 am
I was merrily reading along and came across this http://www.personaldevelopment.ie/2006/08/are-you-interested . The basic point is that if you haven’t accomplished your goal, especially if it is an old one, you need to consider if you are still interested in it enough to stay with it.
For example, I’m using that this morning. I loved the books for LOTR, but never watched the movie trilogy because at the time I didn’t think they could possibly fulfill the original. (I know better now, of course). But I did manage to fall for Viggo from the Aragorn pictures :). (I like my actors smart, giving, tall, dark, and handsome - like Dad, I guess.)
Anyhow, after waking up to him (grin), I joined some Viggo lists and made a folder in my ScreenPaver folders for his pictures, and so on. But lately I’m not as interested in him, and finding something to watch him in has not been a driving force.
So this morning I have moved his picture folder to the Old ScreenPaver pics to join a few others, and I’m unsubscribing from those lists. I’m not totally deleting the pictures, because eventually I do want to pick him up as an interest again, but that won’t be for a while.
On the other hand, I’ve found a renewed interest in OOAK dolls and doll making, and this definitely keeps recurring, not sure why, but I’m going with it again.
So when you’re deciding what to do with that old goal that has suddenly reared its head again - maybe it’s time to check if you’re really still interested, and at what priority/ranking/place you want that goal to be.
Make it a wonderful day! :).