Beware of 'Goal Creep'

I couldn't believe my eyes - the email read - "I'm feeling so disheartened lately. I have not hit any of my goals. I missed my personal best by 25 seconds. My list of contacts has not been growing at the same rate. I haven't reached my revenue targets."

Can you relate? Have you got goals you are just missing? Haven't had any big wins lately?

It all sounds reasonable fodder for a bit of a whinge and grumble...

Except that:

• My friend - let's call her Tracey - is now running faster than ever - at 40.
• She has been busting her guts for the last six months in total commitment to her training program.
• She is mega healthy and looks fabulous.
• She actually had a stomach bug on the day of her run.
• Her list of contacts is actually 11,000+. That's eleven thousand. That's, like, mega huge by any online marketer's standard. Plus the list has been growing at 200 per week. As I told her, I would sacrifice body parts to have those kind of numbers!
• Her revenue targets per month are more than many people make in a whole year.

'Hohum', she says.

'Hohum'? How about hallelujah! How about, I rock my own socks off - I am so terrific! How about, I am an inspiration to my peers, my family, my clients, my cat and the chickens next door!

'Hohum'. Sheesh. Time for a perspective makeover.

There are a couple of things going wrong here:

1. Tracey is suffering from 'goal creep'.

When she first started out I can guarantee my friend would have been ecstatic with a jog around the block and 5 people reading her newsletter each week. These small wins would have made her jump for joy! But as she started to achieve more and more and more, she got addicted to the craving for more.

Like a crack-head junkie, she needed even greater hits of 'hitting target' adrenaline. Once she hit a target, she started searching immediately for the next hit. Goal Creep. Very addictive.

2. Her definition of success is all pear-shaped.

For Tracey, success means hitting targets. And if you miss targets, you feel like a failure. That's in spite of all evidence of massive 'success': service to 11,000 people, revenue that meets the bills and more, a magazine-cover-worthy body.

Listen up people, success isn't anything you do, produce, or check off a list.

Success is a feeling.

It's a glorious, sexy, exuberant, joyous, powerful feeling. You get to choose it. You get to choose the reasons for that feeling. I suggest you pick really easy reasons to feel successful. Kind of like finding lots of (any!) good reasons to eat chocolate. Except the feeling of success is calorie free and ramps up your attraction to the opposite sex.

OK I made that last one up, but the principle is the same - when you feel successful, you feel powerful, attractive, dynamic and gorgeous. Why not feel that every day? Why wait until you reach some magical and made-up number?

How about using these reasons to feel successful:

• Today I am above ground and breathing.
• I am having a go.
• I am a determined and courageous person.
• I am always learning and growing.
• I have good hair.
• I have a smile that would knock Adonis off his perch.
• I am a warm and loving person.
• I am fantastical good at making a good pot of tea.

You get the idea. Turn up your self-appreciation dial.

3. Tracey stopped rehearsing success.

As soon as you start making targets your reasons for feeling successful, you destroy the joy of the creative process. It becomes all about the destination, and not about the journey. Annoying cliche, but true.

If you are to savour the creative process - picking a goal and discovering ways to achieve it - then you need to rehearse that super-duper buzzy success feeling - every day.

It's about self-love folks. It's about appreciation. It's about realising you are making a massive impact on the world, and allowing you to feel that joy - now.

If you rehearse feeling successful, you attract more of the experiences that facilitate your feeling successful. If you feel successful with little things, the big ones get savoured too - while you're getting there, and when you get there.

Coach's Challenge:

So let's hear it - what are your reasons for feeling succesful right now? I invite you to share with the world and let your light shine on us all.

Zoe

P.S. Want more success strategies and wickedly wonderful insights? Jump in now with the home study program, Three Pillars of Personal Power. Get started now here.