Why you should set goals...

Okay, I’m going to answer the title prompt up top.

The reason you should set goals is that they will force you to grow as a person.

“It isn’t about the goal, it is about the person you will become in the process of reaching that goal.” This was said by Brooke Castillo on her podcast in one of the very first episodes. I listened to that episode about a year ago, and I didn’t totally get what that meant until I started really managing my mind.

If you set a big goal and take EVERY possible action to achieve it, you’re going to become a different person than when you started. I’m not talking about super easy things you already do, but things you have always wanted by maybe think are just a little too big. Do THOSE.

Growth can happen at any point in life. You don’t have to be in your early twenties in order to set and accomplish goals. I like to think of setting a goal as planting yourself in a bigger pot. This gives you so much potential as you grow into this goal, this next version of yourself. The only thing is… there are growing pains.

What happens when we grow outside our normal everyday selves? Well maybe we have to tell people, and so much of the time we are afraid people will judge us for our goals. We need to do new things which make us all kinds of uncomfortable.

This discomfort is the currency for achieving your dreams. Why do people give up on goals so easily?

They don’t want to feel uncomfortable.

When we get uncomfortable, our brain goes into an all-out freak out danger there’s a bear behind you mode. Our brain thinks that putting ourselves out there, doing new things, becoming someone else, is a literal threat to our existence. So, anxiety and discomfort will come up. Expect them. Greet them like old friends! You can even think something like:

OH! This is the part where Chelsea told me I would be uncomfortable! Man, it feels terrible, but I’m willing to feel this feeling in order to reach my goal.

Rationalization can be productive, but not when you’re thinking about your goals. So, if you catch yourself saying, “I just don’t have time, what was I thinking?” Or “52 books in a year? That was a little ambitious…” You are using a very valid rationalization to not feel that discomfort of MAKING time to achieve your goals.

These rationalizations are tricky because they usually trigger all or nothing thinking. When we doubt our goals, we usually give them up altogether - perfectionism at its finest. When you have only read 1 book in a month and you planned to read 52 that year, do you give up altogether? Or do you still stick with a reading habit?

After all, who would you be if at the end of the year if you read 12 books or even 5 instead of giving up? Goals that change us should feel scary when you set them. You may even feel a little nauseous. This is part of it - those growing pains I was talking about.

But I’m about to give you a huge leg up here…

Visualize yourself in the dawn of 2022 (or whatever next year is for you) and you’ve read all 52 books, or ran those marathons, or healed your relationship with overeating or over drinking habits. What does THAT person think of the first habit that didn’t work out? That third run of the week where you had to walk most of the way? What does that person think about the fact that you missed a day?

They are not fazed.

They are not fazed because they accomplished their goal, and that mishap, those first three miles, though hard, were just part of the journey. They were just a bump in the road.

When we adopt the mindset of someone who has already achieved the goal, we can see all the self-doubt, trials, errors, more trials, more errors, mishaps, missteps, and everything in-between as the pathway to getting where they wanted to be.

If you experience self-doubt and setbacks with the mindset of NOT having accomplished the goal, you’ll probably make it mean you can’t do it. Why?

Say it with me: because “I’ve never done it before.”

Do yourself a favor and never say that sentence again. The entire point of setting a goal is to do things you’ve never done before. If you use not doing something before as a rationale for why you can’t do it, you will LITERALLY never reach your goal.

That thought will never be useful if you’re interested in growing and achieving your goals. Notice when you think it and when you say it. Why not think, I have to be here to get there. I KNOW I’m going to do what I set out to do. Everything that happens until I achieve it is part of the process.

That’s some high-level thinking.

What are your goals? And, what kind of person are you going to be once you achieve them? Adopt your mindset from that place. Start thinking like that kind of person thinks, start doing what they do, dressing how they dress, etc.

Do you want to start a YouTube channel? Great! How many videos do you want to make? How many subscribers do you want to have? Is someone with 10,000 subscribers nervous about posting a weekly video? Probably not, they’re a YouTuber!

How do you become a YouTuber? Adopt the mindset and habits of a YouTuber!

It seems simple, and it is. It just takes a little brainstorming.

Do you want to make sure you reach your goals this year?! I want to help in any way I can! Sign up for a FREE consult here if you’re interested in achieving your goals in the fastest most efficient way.

Much love,

Chelsea