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Have you ever tried to set and reach goals only to fall short and fail to achieve them?

Did it ever make you feel like setting goals is a bit pointless?

Think about it.

We can’t really fully control the outcome, we don’t really feel happy until we’ve hit the goal, and once we do hit the goal, we’re happy for maybe a week tops.

Then we ask ourselves:

“Is that it?”

But what if there was a different perspective that can make our experience with goal setting more enjoyable and holistic?

In this week’s newsletter I’m going to share my initial experience with goal setting, how that experience has transformed over the years, why it’s important to continue to set goals, and a holistic way of going about achieving goals.

Going After Goals: The Unhealthy Way

I remember when I was starting my career in life insurance sales as a fresh college graduate.

I chose to go into sales because I can more or less dictate my income level with the job compensation being no salary, all commission.

I set two goals that year.

The first was to reach an income of Php1,000,000 in one full year.

The second was to qualify for this membership called the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) which financial advisors qualify for based on their sales volume for the calendar year.

In my first year in 2017, I fell short of my income goal.

But, I did qualify for the MDRT.

I felt a myriad of emotions that year.

I felt dejected, frustrated, and anxious, when I didn’t have sales; and I felt grateful, excited, and joyful whenever I would close sales.

I just remember taking massive action that year and it eventually led me to reaching one of the two goals I set.

However, I felt generally unsatisfied the entire year aside from the moments leading up to my first MDRT qualification.

I was also torn because although I reached one of the goals I set that year, I didn’t reach the other.

I realized that as much as I wanted to, I didn’t have control over the end results.

As I’m writing this, I’m realizing that I was generally unhappy that year on the inside (although, I would show otherwise to the outside world) because I made those goals the most important thing to me that year.

The times I was internally happy that year was when I was anticipating the qualification of my first MDRT all the way to its fulfillment.

And that happiness lasted maybe 2 days, at most a week, and then I had an internal “what now?” moment.

And so I set the next goal.

In 2018, the following year, I reached my second qualification to the MDRT and I also hit my initial goal of earning Php1,000,000 in a calendar year.

Hitting those goals are a feather in my cap, and I’m proud of myself for it, but the journey was tiring.

I wanted to still hit the goals that I set, but instead have a more enjoyable experience of doing so.

After all, from a time perspective, the journey takes up way more time than reaching the destination.

Which led me to learning about this next concept.

Don’t Focus on the Goal, Focus on the System

James Clear says in his book, Atomic Habits:

For example, if my goal as of writing this newsletter is to have a thriving online business earning me Php12,000,000 a year and be a successful entrepreneur, then that goal isn’t really all that important.

What’s more important is the system, the process, and the habits I build like hunting for ideas online, reflecting on what I learn, and writing these newsletters every week.

As I focus on building and optimizing my systems and being consistent with it, the goal will just naturally one day come to fruition.

What about you? What systems do you need to develop and live by so that reaching your goals will eventually just become a natural occurrence rather than something you have to toil over?

Something you can think about.

With this being said, you might be wondering: “So Zach, does that mean I don’t have to set goals anymore and I should just focus purely on the right actions, habits, and systems?” 

Well, not entirely. Let’s explore why.

Why Continue to Set Goals

I’ve learned that It’s important that we still set goals regularly. Here are 3 reasons why.

1. The goal is a compass. It sets the direction of where you want to go. Find clarity or you will end up traveling in circles. If we don’t have goals, we won’t have clarity on what systems to live by. The goal and the system are equally important. Once you have clarity on the goal that you want to hit, spend the majority of your time focusing on the regular actions that will allow you to achieve the goal.

2. We, as humans, are outcome oriented. Every human action is to create a result or an end. In Psychology, this is referred to as “Prospection” which in essence means that humans have the ability to imagine the future. So, even if you say you “don’t have goals,” every action you are doing now is to achieve a goal in the future. For example, the goal of eating is to not be hungry anymore, the goal of getting a job is to make money, and the goal of going to the beach is to enjoy and have fun. It may just be that you haven’t articulated or clarified your goal and so you may end up on autopilot in your life.
   

3. Goals give you purpose. This is one of the key ideas in Man’s Search for Meaning, a book by Viktor E. Frankyl. What he talks about in regards to goals is that if we don’t have a purpose to move towards in our future, then our present doesn’t have any meaning either. Purpose allows us to feel excited about waking up in the morning. Purpose makes life more colorful and more fulfilling, and is one of the key factors in living a fulfilling life.

So, while it is important to focus on the systems the majority of the time, it is equally important to set goals and re-align with your goals regularly if you want to live a fulfilled life.

A Holistic Way of Achieving Goals

In this section, I want to share a couple of perspectives that I’ve learned over the years that may help you in having a healthier relationship with goals.

Perspective 1: Set goals you truly want, not what society wants for you.

Your goals don’t have to be the traditional climb the corporate ladder, make millions and millions, and retire at a particular age.

If that’s the goal you truly want, then more power to you.

But goals can be something as simple as, I want more time with my family, or I want to rest more, or I want to have a peaceful life.

Something I learned recently was this sentence stem:

“Wouldn’t it be cool if…”

Then finish the sentence. Whatever comes to mind with that sentence stem can become your goal.

Don’t complicate things, keep it simple. What do you truly want?

Perspective 2: Goals don’t have to make you unhappy.

Maybe just like me at the start of my career, the reason why you may feel unhappy when it comes to goals is because you are focused on the lack of the goal rather than how far you’ve come.

If you’re always looking at the goal and then looking at where you are now in the present and you tell yourself “I still have a long way to go…” then you’re definitely going to create feelings of unhappiness.

Measure the gain, not the gap.

Measure your progress instead. By measuring incremental growth from where you were in the past to where you are now, you create feelings of gratitude and a sense of accomplishment.

Compare yourself against your former self rather than your future self.

In Conclusion

Here is a reality check: Not all your goals will be achieved at the time you want them to be achieved.

This doesn’t mean it’s pointless to set goals.

Keep measuring the gain and you’ll be surprised how far you’ve come compared to 5 years ago.

I’ve learned that it’s important to also keep a balance between desire of wanting to achieve goals and happiness with where I am now.

It can get tricky, but it is something that can be learned.

After all, joy in the present while having excitement for a big vision of the future creates fulfillment in life.

And a fulfilling life is something you deserve.

Talk soon,

Zach

P.S. Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways that I can be of help to you:

1. Follow me on Instagram here if you want a source of bite-sized ideas and content that can help you reach your next level in life.

2. Book a discovery call for one-on-one coaching here if you are an entrepreneur or a sales professional that’s currently looking to create solutions to a problem or challenge in your life but you seem to be stuck.