Are you good at sticking with your goals until you achieve them?

byKathleenOh

524 followers

Updated 6 years ago

It's easy to feel that you're not disciplined enough. It's easy to feel like you let yourself be distracted. It's easy to feel like sticking to your goals means pain now for gain later. But it's the wrong way to think about reaching most of your important goals.

You have two kinds of important goals.

The first are longer term goals that require effort extended over time. They are your marathon goals, and they will probably involve hitting a wall at least once. You will need discipline, but you'll also need to support that discipline in the way marathon runners prepare for hitting the wall. You'll need conditioning (building strengths gradually) and you'll need purpose (there has to be a reason to pull you through the grind) and you'll probably need a team to cheer you on and offer practical support.

The second kind of important goals are your goals for personal relationships. These are not a marathon: you are not trying to compete and there is no finish line. It takes a different kind of discipline to show up for people, to let them show up for you, and even to know when to keep your distance. Under any kind of stress, you are unlikely to make good emotional decisions. If you push or if you reach too hard, you are likely to break trust instead of building it. What you need is a kind of relaxed energy that invites connection and builds awareness of state and mindset.

Commitment sometimes feels like effort, but it should not feel like pain and it should not feel like isolation. It begins with noticing what you are experiencing and finding support for the mindset and emotions that will help you move forward.

Committing to your goals means committing to bringing out your best self in practical, reliable ways. And that's what WA teaches, in every program.

How have you discovered ways to build commitment by building your best self?