When Is The Right Time To Dump A Goal?

I tested the options by giving my brain a directive and listening to the thoughts and feelings that arose.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve covered most of my home state of New South Wales, travelling its entire length and much of its breadth, on foot, in a car and aeroplane.

The excitement of freedom has distracted me from the work plan I set for myself a few weeks ago. My 90-day “proud to achieve” goal is: “Start gathering my tribe, connecting with 1000 Go-Getter Gals via email.” I know that I have at least 1000 adventurous women in my life, close and far away.

My heart overflows with joy when I think about all those incredible women being in a room together, supporting each other to live their dreams. The first step in making that happen is to work out who they are and connect with them via email. It’s taking me much longer than I anticipated to get the tools set up to manage things well.

The newfound freedom may have diverted me from my goal; however, it has created a valuable opportunity for face-to-face discussions with many people, and new thinking has emerged from that. I’ve also met new people who are keen to support my journey.

All of this leads to my question for this week’s reflection. When is the right time to dump a goal?

I wish I could find an easy answer to that question. In Route To Unstoppable, you’ll learn that I work with two types of goals – Stake-In-The-Ground goals (STIG Goals for short) and Personal Missions. STIG goals are short-term, small progress steps, and Personal Missions are for the long game. “1000 Go-Getters” is a STIG goal.

Formal education and years of business planning have heavily programmed my brain toward STIG goals. Once set, some experts say I must cast that goal in stone and pursue it relentlessly, never wavering my course. Nice theory.

That mode of thinking doesn’t allow for freak opportunities to emerge. Where is the space for creativity and the laws of attraction? It feels like something from the dark past when life happened more consistently and predictably. Before digital technology and transactions at the speed of light, there were fewer variables in life. Now opportunities can spurt up in front of us like hot springs. Do I bathe in their natural glory or ignore them and keep focused on the original goal?

If I dump my 1000-Go-Getters goal and absorb the bounty of emerging opportunities, I’m at risk of forever chasing each shiny new thing and never gaining the momentum of progress. Alternatively, bloody-minded commitment to my original goal may mean I fail to recognise an incredible opportunity to achieve beyond my wildest dreams.

I tested the options by giving my brain a directive and listening to the thoughts and feelings that arose. I told myself, “I’m going to dump my goal”. Immediately my inner voice responded with “no need to be so dramatic”. So I have found a milder route to take.

These are my next steps. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below.

1. I’m sticking with my 1000-Go-Getters goal.
2. I will assess each new opportunity or idea to determine their impact on that goal. Do they help me get there or not?
3. If no, but it seems to have value, I will add it to my vision and longer-term ‘possible actions’ list.
4. I’ll review my vision and action list before setting my next STIG Goal. I have finished my 1000-Go-Getters goal.

Other stuff I have enjoyed learning this week:

• Dr David Bohm’s book On Dialogue has abseiled me into the chasm of our unconscious minds. I especially enjoyed his explanation of how thinking and feelings fold into our unconscious minds as thoughts and felts and remain there until we call them up.
• Sam Parr at Cap Con 5 shared how he achieved a multi-million dollar exit from his business at 31 years old. When looking at building businesses, he always starts with distribution – that is, how will he get the product sold and supplied to customers. Most people start with the product or the value proposition. Sam’s approach begins with the most significant challenge and works back from there.
• I’ve started working with a jewellery designer to create the jewellery range for Go-Getter’s Compass. I’ve never designed and manufactured jewellery before, so it’s a steep and delicious learning curve. My favourite sentence in the brief – “Think of it like jewellery with a secret society attached”. It will be beautiful jewellery that will help you navigate through life. It will also have distinctive features so you can easily recognise it when worn by another woman – straight away, you’ll know you’re in the company of a Go-Getter.

I’ll show you some of the initial sketches next week.