Waking up in the morning with my mind going faster than I can write my to do’s on my list is a bad sign.
My checklist is full of things like networking, blog writing, cold outreaches to potential clients, prepping for an interview, prepping for this week, prepping for next week, but it’s all in pursuit of my goals, right?
Here’s the hard truth: the hustle is not getting me any closer to my goals, and it’s probably not working for you either.
A wise person said to me recently you have all the right pieces, but you have to give yourself some air. Why “air” I asked? And that’s when they said, sometimes trying too hard is met with some resistance from the universe saying stop pushing so hard; similar to an airplane taking flight. Resistance is good, but sometimes going too fast is met with even more resistance.
If you’ve ever questioned why doing everything “right” still isn’t producing the results you want, the reason could have nothing to do with how hard you hustle.
Following the advice of others has to be tempered by what feels right to you and serves you vs. serving others. We do need to serve others and pay it forward to help the entire ecosystem whether you work for someone or work for yourself.
However, we have to pause and evaluate if chasing these goals really helps us to achieve them.
Here are a few questions to consider on how your actions are helping you to achieve your goals:
- Does the activity make sense to you or are you only following the advice of a “guru” promising fast results?
- Do you feel good about doing the activity? If it stresses you, it’s probably not right for you
- Do you get signals that indicate the activity is making an impact? If not STOPPPP!!!!
Now, the other piece of advice I can share with you I learned from Dorie Clark. When our goals are large it’s sometimes hard to determine what progress looks like and we need to look at what Dorie calls “the long game.” The most important thing to think about when it comes to progress is if your actions feel good to you and you’re getting small “raindrops,” you may be on the right track.
So how do you stop chasing your goals and start attracting results? I recently had a discussion with my friend and colleague Jeffrey Shaw about this.
Here are some examples of attracting your goals, feel free to modify for yourself:
- Instead of asking people to be a guest speaker, consider creating your own Lunch & Learn and attract the people who really want to hear you speak.
- Instead of hoping for a promotion for all the hard work, ask for feedback on what you are doing well, what can you start doing that will position you for a promotion. You’ll quickly learn if a promotion is on your horizon or you should start looking in another direction.
- Instead of networking heavily in one networking group to try to find the people who value your work, navigate many until you find the one that does not feel like networking, but you can build meaningful relationships.
- Instead of trying to keep all your commitments and feeling overwhelmed, consider downsizing them so the ones you maintain give you joy and fulfillment.
I recently took a short pause and cleared my calendar of all the complexity I had created and felt soooo good! I have a clearer mind and now can see what serves me and what does not. While I’m a bit superstitious and don’t want to share what has recently happened to me, let me share that I can see that slowing down just a bit is already getting me closer to my goals. I’m hopeful to share some of these in stories to come.
What I’d like to know now is what you think about what I’ve shared with you and how by not chasing goals actually gets you closer to your goals. If this is you, let’s book a call.
The CEO’s Compass: Your Guide to Get Back on Track – If you’re that leader who feels in their gut something, this could be the resource for you.
Good Reads
The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark. I haven’t read this book yet, but let me tell you if it’s anything like her last 3 books, you will be inspired. We discussed her new book on the podcast and I just received my copy. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on social when I’m done. She’s also written Stand Out, Entrepreneurial You and Reinventing you
Good Music
Sometimes a tune like this gets the mind focused on the task at hand. Each week when I write these posts, while I love to write, I also may procrastinate. I want to create content that is meaningful to you. This song was exactly what I needed to get focused and be in service to you!
Good People
“When you build connections with people who are outside what you’re doing, that’s actually where you have the greatest potential to change your direction and to learn dramatically new things.” – Dorie Clark