Many of you listen to Dan Miller or have read his books. His brand is built on finding the work you love. It is a great concept and it makes us strive to learn more about ourselves. I believe you can find the work you love, but not everyone has the right approach. If people are not careful they will be continuously searching for the perfect work; they keep moving the goal. This can be dangerous because a person can become disillusioned by chasing goals that are continuously moving targets. What if you just decided to be happy in your job?
When setting a goal it is best to have it clearly defined, but it is not possible to reach fulfillment in some of our goals. For instance we will be happy when we have more money, find the perfect spouse, etc. The goal will keep moving if we are not careful.
We need to have contentment (something I struggle with) within our lives or we will always be a hamster in a wheel. As an example, many people in our culture try to buy things unknowingly trying to reach contentment. They are trying to fill a hole in themselves that things cannot fill.
You not only have to be able to set a goal then go after it but be willing to move the goal. Imagine your goal is to reach the top of the mountain. There is a marker there that you can see from the distance. You plunge ahead trying to reach that goal. What will reaching that goal get you? You are on top of a hill, big whoop. What if you had the ability to set that goal marker somewhere else, maybe right next to you? It is hard for those of us that like to be achievers to think in this mindset. It is almost like letting ourselves down and settling. It is not, instead of moving your body to reach a goal you are changing your mind.
I have begun looking for ways to become content with many areas of my life. I still like to achieve but I have stopped chasing certain things which will never make me happy. It is hard to do this, but I am already seeing the fruits of my endeavor. For instance when I described getting rid of one thing I was describing one of my steps to reaching contentment.
This was such a good blog Josh! A feeling of being content is something I struggle with. Toward the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012 I started making small strides in this area but I am a work in progress for sure. This perspective at looking at goal setting prompts me to deeper thinking on all of this. Thanks for sharing!!
I have started asking myself “what will make me happier” and then develop goals based on that. it the great scheme of being happy many of our goals do not improve that metric.
Great post Josh. This is something I struggle with occasionally as well. I’m a bit of an “over-doer” and when I’m not moving, I feel like I’m being lazy. Since I started my own business(es) and began working from home, I am finding it easier to be content and have inner peace.
What about starting the businesses gives you the inner peace?