by Nick Bogatin
Are ya nuts? What are you thinking? Failing is painful! Not reaching our goals is the worst outcome we could think of!!
We bet you're thinking something along those lines right now, and you could be right. We don't' always look at things the same way as others, but our theory is pretty simple. Check it out.
If you consider this logically, the goals you set are objective. You seek a positive outcome when you achieve them. In order to reach our goals, we get to "grow," and growth can be painful. It doesn't matter if it's emotional, physical, or mental growth, the possibility is that it will be painful, but "no pain, no gain," right? The benefits to this kind of growth are abundant.
How does all of this relate to failing at goals being a good thing?
The truth is, if you aren't failing at reaching your goals, then something else is at work, and it's far worse than simply not achieving goals you set. Let's suppose you reach every goal you set for yourself, would you agree that it's possible you are setting the bar too low? Can you see how this could be a worse problem? Most people live to avoid pain, and falling short of a goal, might be considered painful, so even unconsciously, you might be setting easy-to-reach goals to protect yourself from feeling the pain of failure. But, can you see how that keeps you from living up to your potential overall?
Reaching your goals all the time simply means you aren't growing. Ever heard, "No pain - no gain?" Growth can be painful, but it's how we evolve, and it's necessary to live a fulfilled life. When you strive for a goal, you get to reach higher than you thought possible, and sometimes you'll reach and grab ahold, and sometimes you'll miss, but each time you're stretching yourself, and that is the definition of growth. It's more about the process and less about the result.
The nice thing about this process is that whether you make the deadline, achieve the impossible, or fall a little short of the mark, the growth you go through is yours forever. THAT is the power of goals. That is the power of life.
We set a goal for ourselves. It's a lofty goal, to be sure. We'll share it with you. We are committed to writing, editing and publishing over 50,000 words of content for a project. Remember having to write a 10,000 word paper in college? Seems tough. And it IS a lot of work, but consider this - Our target is to have it done in 14 days from start to finish.
We knew when we set the target finish date that it was going to test us. But here's what we're finding... after just a few days of working on this project, we've learned two things that are going to save us an enormous amount of time. Whether we finish in 14 days or 16 days, do you think that if we hadn't had such a challenging goal that we would have ever discovered these techniques? And can these lessons learned serve us in the future? We say in the face of failure, "Bring it on!"
We believe that failing at goals can be GREAT! Every failure offers opportunities. We learn, grow, make adjustments, ask questions, and to assess the approach we take. Nothing could possibly hold more value.
Don't get us wrong. We don't want to fail. We simply choose to see the positive perspective when things don't go as planned. Our bottom line goal is to live a fulfilled life, and this is a way we've found to overcome our fear of failure. We know that with every failure is an opportunity to learn and we embrace that.
One day we came across a mentor who taught us that the basic difference between a good life and one that was extraordinary was the shift in our focus from our goals to our BHAGs. What is a BHAG you ask?
It stands for: Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
These are the goals that are so big, so enormous, and so "impossible" that you have no clue how you are ever going to achieve them and that scares you. Don't let that fear keep you from going after it. The only way to eliminate fear is to face it. Courage is not the absence of fear but going on in spite of the fear.
In summary, failing at goals is an initial shock to your ego but it is a great learning and growth opportunity. Choose to go after your BHAGs and if you fail, celebrate your growth. If you succeed, your life will never be the same.
We bet you're thinking something along those lines right now, and you could be right. We don't' always look at things the same way as others, but our theory is pretty simple. Check it out.
If you consider this logically, the goals you set are objective. You seek a positive outcome when you achieve them. In order to reach our goals, we get to "grow," and growth can be painful. It doesn't matter if it's emotional, physical, or mental growth, the possibility is that it will be painful, but "no pain, no gain," right? The benefits to this kind of growth are abundant.
How does all of this relate to failing at goals being a good thing?
The truth is, if you aren't failing at reaching your goals, then something else is at work, and it's far worse than simply not achieving goals you set. Let's suppose you reach every goal you set for yourself, would you agree that it's possible you are setting the bar too low? Can you see how this could be a worse problem? Most people live to avoid pain, and falling short of a goal, might be considered painful, so even unconsciously, you might be setting easy-to-reach goals to protect yourself from feeling the pain of failure. But, can you see how that keeps you from living up to your potential overall?
Reaching your goals all the time simply means you aren't growing. Ever heard, "No pain - no gain?" Growth can be painful, but it's how we evolve, and it's necessary to live a fulfilled life. When you strive for a goal, you get to reach higher than you thought possible, and sometimes you'll reach and grab ahold, and sometimes you'll miss, but each time you're stretching yourself, and that is the definition of growth. It's more about the process and less about the result.
The nice thing about this process is that whether you make the deadline, achieve the impossible, or fall a little short of the mark, the growth you go through is yours forever. THAT is the power of goals. That is the power of life.
We set a goal for ourselves. It's a lofty goal, to be sure. We'll share it with you. We are committed to writing, editing and publishing over 50,000 words of content for a project. Remember having to write a 10,000 word paper in college? Seems tough. And it IS a lot of work, but consider this - Our target is to have it done in 14 days from start to finish.
We knew when we set the target finish date that it was going to test us. But here's what we're finding... after just a few days of working on this project, we've learned two things that are going to save us an enormous amount of time. Whether we finish in 14 days or 16 days, do you think that if we hadn't had such a challenging goal that we would have ever discovered these techniques? And can these lessons learned serve us in the future? We say in the face of failure, "Bring it on!"
We believe that failing at goals can be GREAT! Every failure offers opportunities. We learn, grow, make adjustments, ask questions, and to assess the approach we take. Nothing could possibly hold more value.
Don't get us wrong. We don't want to fail. We simply choose to see the positive perspective when things don't go as planned. Our bottom line goal is to live a fulfilled life, and this is a way we've found to overcome our fear of failure. We know that with every failure is an opportunity to learn and we embrace that.
One day we came across a mentor who taught us that the basic difference between a good life and one that was extraordinary was the shift in our focus from our goals to our BHAGs. What is a BHAG you ask?
It stands for: Big Hairy Audacious Goals.
These are the goals that are so big, so enormous, and so "impossible" that you have no clue how you are ever going to achieve them and that scares you. Don't let that fear keep you from going after it. The only way to eliminate fear is to face it. Courage is not the absence of fear but going on in spite of the fear.
In summary, failing at goals is an initial shock to your ego but it is a great learning and growth opportunity. Choose to go after your BHAGs and if you fail, celebrate your growth. If you succeed, your life will never be the same.
About the Author:
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