Watching the 2016 Olympic games in Rio has reaching their lifetime goals left me feeling unaccomplished and less than average. I got newly motivated to accomplish something I deemed important. All of a sudden I wanted to take control and

You have to start goals to reach them.

achieve leaps and bounds in my life overnight. I’m sure if I did that, the next day I’d feel unaccomplished and want to do it all over again and I’d become a hamster running in a wheel chasing accomplishment.

Setting Goals Is Important

I want to set and achieve goals. I even want to stretch myself to do a bit more than I thought I could, but most of the time I settle for what is easy. I aim to set goals in areas I have a talent I want to develop. I’m not a great runner, so running a marathon isn’t one of my lifetime goals. I wanted to get my yoga teaching certification and achieved that. I also wanted to learn French as I have a knack for languages, and I also did that. If we have no goals, we have little direction, like driving without a map. Set goals for your personal and work life.

Stay Motivated, Committed and Dedicated

Working toward a goal can feel cumbersome and daunting. I have written a novel and need to do a rewrite. I have a goal to get it published. I have goals to work on it, but manage to have too many other higher priorities to sit down and do it. I even leave the file open on my computer and ignore it, I confess.  Maybe it’s procrastination or simply quitting, but I can’t stop thinking about it and the plot line. I keep thinking it’s marinating and I’ll hit a eureka moment. In the meantime, I know I’m failing at my goal to continue working on it. I’m motivated, dedicated and committed, but I’m not taking action. Although there are times when you need to quit a goal, I’m not quitting this one.

Take Action Toward your Goal

Taking action is the hardest part. It takes reprioritizing your activities so you create space for the time you need to put toward your goals. One of my highest goals is regular exercise and I make it a tremendous priority in my life. I’ve faced a major health scare in my past so staying as healthy as I can is one of my top goals. I know I must take action toward working on the book. Writing is a muscle that gets stronger with use and weaker with neglect. That doesn’t mean it’s okay. I still write this and write in my day job. The truth is I struggle with the amount of work it will take to get there. It’s a fear.

Now, watching the Olympians and their stories about how they reached their goals, I see the pain and sacrifice they had to go through to achieve success. Their work paid off. Even if they face the disappointment of not medaling, no one will ever look down on someone who qualifies to go. I try to follow my own advice as I repeat it in my head daily trying to face the guilt I feel for not doing the work I need to on my book. On the other hand I can praise myself for working on and achieving other goals in my life.