Think big and all things are possible right? Woo hoo!
As much as I love this idea, in practice I’ve actually seen this work against people in business (myself included). I call this the demotivation point, and it’s something that we all need to be aware of.
When it comes to setting goals – in particular financial goals – I find that they tend to fall into 1 of 2 categories:
- A “wishing” goal – picking a number that sounds really great in theory but isn’t really attached to anything. Ie: these days we hear a lot about creating “your 7-figure business!”… sounds great but isn’t always attached to reality. And quite often it comes from outside of the person (do they really want 7-figures or is it just all the rage right now?).
- A “wanting” goal – being really clear on what you want from life and biz, and then looking at how this can be created via your business. Letting the truth of our lives and business situation pull us forward to reaching this goal in a manner that you can see and feel.
When I decided that I really wanted to take my biz to the next level a couple of years ago, part of what came into play was, of course, to pick my financial goal. At the time the conversation in my head pretty much went like this:
“How much money do I want to make in 2010? Hmmm…. I dunno, everyone around me seems to be focused on making 7-figures, so yea. That sounds good, 7-figures it is.”
So bam -that was my goal… and away I went on the journey of growing my biz. I had talked to people about making 7-figures, I had mapped out various ways to reach this goal, and it was all looking great on paper. But come fall of 2010, I was nowhere near that point… and I started to feel demotivated. As much as I thought I wanted to make 7-figures, the idea wasn’t actually that motivating for me and I was feeling stuck.
I remember talking to my coach about it and he just asked me a simple question in return:
“So what do you want to make then?”
Well, when I really took a look at my life as it is now, where my business is at and such, I actually came to a much different number. Instead of 7-figures, I was looking at a number in the 6-figure range (which I was actually really close to already for the year).
And an amazing thing happened when I re-evaluated the number – I could actually SEE it happening. I could conceive of actually reaching that goal, mapped out a plan, got specific and, most importantly, felt connected to the goal.
Connection is the key here – if we don’t feel connected to our goal, it’s not going to happen. And I daresay that if we aren’t connected to our goal, that means it’s probably someone else’s goal, not our own.
I’ve seen the same thing happen through our OBM Training & Accountability programs. We talk to everyone about how “yes, this can be a 6-figure business”… and as much as I’d love to see that happen for everyone, what I came to realize over the past year is that not everyone wants that. Some people would LOVE to make $30K in a year – for them that is super dreamy!! And once they reach that goal, I know they’ll be ready for more the next year, and so on.
The bottom line is this – if you have a goal that you can’t see yourself achieving – energetically and literally – then it is time to revisit that goal. Where did it come from? What do you really want in life? And how much does that cost? List everything out with actual numbers to come up with your total.
Yes, a goal should stretch you, yes it could (and should) feel a bit “eek!” in some ways… but if you truly can’t even conceive of reaching that goal, if you can’t see yourself there, then it may become more of a burden than a motivator. That’s when you’ve hit the demotivation point – where your goals work against you vs. for you – where they paralyze you instead of pull you forward.
So the obvious question is, does your current goal feel attainable with a dash of “eek” thrown in? If yes, you are in the right spot. If not, then now is the time to revisit. Get clear, hit the reset button and get ready to work it here for the rest of 2011. Now that’s a woo hoo in my books. 😉