The ideas of goals and success are often intertwined. It’s easy to use them interchangeably, or think that one depends on the other. Setting goals is an amazing way to push yourself. They’re so important for progress. But your achievement of your goals does not define your success.
When you create your goals, make sure that they stretch you. They shouldn’t be small. Make a system that ensures that you are consistent with working at them.
When setting your goals, have you ever compared yourself to others to see what you should be achieving or when you should feel successful? You can’t measure your success against someone else’s! This is your own journey. If you start looking to others to define your success, you will be disappointed.
In order for your goals to correlate with your success, they need to be aligned with your personality and your values. If you have a calm, more passive personality, but you set a goal to be more aggressive with your work, you will have difficulty reaching it.
I want to point out that your goals do not define you success. If you reach a goal, but you don’t feel satisfied with the results, maybe you need to make the goal bigger to reach success.
On the flip side, just because you don’t achieve 100% doesn’t mean you aren’t successful. For example, if you host a fundraiser with a goal of raising $20,000 and you only raise $15,000 that’s amazing! You still collected a significant amount of money for the cause, which is a success.
So when you are trying to become successful, it’s important to have affirmations supporting these goals. Say these with me:
“I am going to be successful.”
“I am going to be happy with my success.”
“I am not going to compare my success to others.”
“My success is within me.”
Make this last one your mantra.
If you have a stretched goal that you are working towards, that is awesome. But if you don’t fully reach it, don’t beat yourself up. You still have gone further than you would have otherwise. Your success can only be defined by you and your own standards. Your success is you.
If you have any questions about how to make goals, how to measure success, or how to not compare your success to others’, email me at 40PlusFlexyandHealthy@gmail.com