January
17, 2006
The Problem With Setting Goals
Interview
with Steven M. Shapiro, author of
Goal Free Living
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Mike
Carruthers:
January is the month we tend to set our goals for the new year
and for our future. But interesting thing about goals…
Steven M.
Shapiro:
Goals are good if you use them in moderation, the problem for
most people is that they tend to have a grip on you and they
prevent you from really living life the way you really want
to because you've convinced yourself that you will be happy
when you achieve your goal.
Steven Shapiro,
author of the book, Goal
Free Living…
So, I did a survey
and 41% of the people that I surveyed said that they were actually
disillusioned and dissatisfied when they achieved their goals
because it didn't give them the pleasure and satisfaction they
were looking for. And that's the 41% that achieve their goals
the other people who don't achieve their goals feel like a failure.
So, it's this recipe for just constantly chasing the future.
Steven is not
saying that you should never have goals for your life…
But, you want
to relate to them in a healthy way. And the key things that
I think are important for somebody to relate to their goals
in a healthy way... one is to remain detached. And remaining
detached says the goal isn't really the most important thing,
it is the journey or the process of getting there. And what
I've found is that people who are really truly detached from
the outcome tend to be more successful in achieving their goal
than people who try particularly hard.
Steven says you'll
discover some real benefits when you become less focused on
your goals.
One of them is
you tend to discover things that you wouldn't have discovered
otherwise. Because when you get focused on your goals you become
very myopic and you lose your peripheral vision and miss out
on other opportunities.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
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