Goal setting had never come easy to me. I’m one of those people who was plagued by overwhelming fear and uncertainty of change.
This was quite evident when it came to pushing through with my goal of becoming a certified life coach.
Despite knowing that I had a natural talent and passion for helping people, I procrastinated time and again when it came to pursuing my goal.
You see, not all of us willingly take action towards our goals. Some of us will require a very swift kick in the behind. In my case, twice.
Ultimately, it was frustration and a state of utter hopelessness that made me take my first steps towards my desired goal.
Around five years ago, I became very frustrated with employment. I was stuck and completely unchallenged by my job. In typical corporate employee fashion, I tried all means within my ability to change position to no avail.
It was at this moment, almost by chance that I met the woman who would become my life coach and mentor to date.
She patiently walked with me on my journey of discovering how to create a solid income from my passion. Through her, I was able to create a clear and distinct long-term plan to grow steadily from a side hustle to a full-time coach.
Best laid plans, right?
Wrong.
Goal setting is easier than following through…
After one full year of working with clients alongside my corporate job, I fell off the wagon. I allowed self-doubt and fear to take over.
As these feelings intensified, I became terrified at the thought of not having the comfort of a monthly paycheck. Not to mention the benefits it came with.
Rather than face the uncertainty of transitioning from employment, I chose the easy way out and dug in my heels for another two years.
Now let me tell you something about desire. When there is a fire inside of you, it will keep burning no matter how hard you try to ignore it or douse the flames with your doubting Thomas queries.
At some point those flames burn so fiercely that they threaten to smoulder you. At this point you have a choice. You can ignore the flames constantly. Or you can open up to the possibility of change.
Change was the only option
That was exactly a year ago today. I chose to take the plunge and set about planning how to implement the action plan I had created years before. This was a lot easier said than done.
My original plan needed lots of adjusting and panel beating. Also, I endured the gruelling process of failing and getting up over and over. I had to constantly query my plans to establish how SMART they really were.
Desperation and fear would often creep in since success didn’t come overnight. To be honest it’s all still a work in progress.
One of my key lessons was exactly that – Patience and Persistence. You need to keep working at something and learn from your failures. You need to keep tweaking the inputs each time rather than repeating the same mistakes and expecting a different result.
Failure does not mean giving up. It simply means that you have to try a different way. And to keep going, holding your head up no matter what.
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Lessons learnt
It definitely hasn’t been easy but its been overwhelmingly worth the work and the wait. I’ve learnt that having a support system and an objective set of eyes is invaluable and a huge asset!
You need to surround yourself with like-minded people who can call you out while encouraging you, as opposed to those who just want to drown your dreams in cold water.
It can also get a little lonely. As you grow in focus and self-awareness, you start to realize that there are actually few people who walk this path. Don’t let this discourage you. The fulfilment you’ll get from living out your desires will more than make up for the lost company.
My goal setting and achievement journey is far from over and I consider myself a mere infant in this life changing process. Just as a baby desires to grow and crawl, walk and ultimately run, I too constantly seek to improve myself. I now view every single interaction as an opportunity to grow while positively impacting those around me.
The most important thing I have learnt is amazingly simple though. I’ve learnt that you can travel the whole world in search of something only to find that you had it all along.
If you’ve read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho then you are familiar with this premise. Not only have I been blessed enough to experience this, but I have gone as far as making it my personal brand.
Fulfilment.
Isn’t that what we are ultimately seeking?
[Tweet “You need to surround yourself with like-minded people who can call you out while encouraging you.”]
What has been your experience with goal setting?
We’d love to hear from you so please share in the Comments below. And if you have a good story, why not Contact Us and have it written as a guest article on this blog?
(Image Credit: Ross Findon at Unsplash)
