Last night, I set aside a larger chunk of time (45 minutes) to simply sit with a notebook and write out goals for the various parts of my life. I was to do it quickly without a lot of editing or worrying if it was feasible or not. I had some base questions I used and also was trying for a mixture of goals that fit into a 1, 3, 5 and 10-year timeframe. Goal-setting for me has become a reclaim your life type of activity.
I actually had a tough time initially and heard my Recovering Perfectionist and Judgmental Voice saying things to me like:
- This exercise should be fun & easy but you’re making it more difficult
- You really should not have any financial or abundance-related goals on here. That’s just selfish
- You’re too old to start some of these goals and you should just be happy with any basics that come your way
- You should just stop this exercise now since you’re not ready to do this very well
Wow. This all came pretty quickly and I had at least enough awareness to be more amused than frustrated with the quick barrage of excuses and negative thinking that showed up.
I kept on after squelching those thoughts for the time being and finished listing out a number of goals without regard to timeframe. I then went back to count up how many fit into the various timeframes of 1, 3, 5 and 10 years. It was yet another revelation – most were of the short-term with just a few smattering in the 3 & 5 year timeframe.
I know for most of my life, I’ve worried way too much about what other people think. Or how my actions might affect them. I also had some early childhood programming where if I had successes as a child that I needed to be really quiet about it so as not to make others feel bad.
I had to admit during the goal-making session, I was still operating under that premise that working towards certain achievements was really not so noble.
Earlier that day, I’d caught up with a great blog post on The Daily Love about The Key to Creative MASTERY that seemed very timely. I often will hear inner excuses when I consider doing some important activities, like goal-setting, writing my own blog posts, etc. I know that the process does not get better merely by me thinking about it: I have to dive in and take action regularly even on the days when I can come up with all sorts of reasons why not.
This post is a form of accountability for me then. I cannot just say that I’m a Recovering Perfectionist but must take action regularly that rewire the restricted, limited thinking in my brain. The great advantage of neuroplasticity is that anyone can start applying this as a benefit at any age. I know I’ve been doing plenty as of late and the benefits are very evident already. Your childhood thinking & beliefs may describe your history but they don’t have to inform your future. We all have that choice to start to choose differently.
Do you have something important you should be doing regularly but find yourself putting of for lack of “perfect circumstances” or other excuses?
What can you start to take charge of today with ACTION on the road to Mastery?
How can you start to Reclaim Your Life next?