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How to Set Goals - and Reach Them

Posted by Theresa on March 26th, 2007 filed in Goals, Goal-Free Living

Getting Unstuck: 8 Simple Steps to Solving Any Problem

A few years ago I worked in Silverdale and had 60 minute commute each way. Dr. Laura came on right after the other program I listened to but I couldn’t stand her. She’d make me so mad because she didn’t listen to her callers and jumped in with her legalistic viewpoint on what she thought they were going to say. I’d find myself arriving to work angry and frustrated. I started searching the dial for another show. That’s when I found Dr. Joy Browne.

She was so much better than Dr. Laura. She listened to the callers and offered real advice, not some canned commentary. I found myself in a much better mood when I arrived to work. Sometimes I had to force myself to go into work because she was right in the middle of something good.

I ran into an article by her in last Sunday’s Parade Magazine: How to Set Goals - and Reach Them. What she had to say was a confirmation of the way I view setting goals now, which is different than how I used to see them.

Goals are a manifestation of our dreams, our priorities and our value systems, all of which shift with time. Yet it is surprising how often we allow goals to become carved in stone.

That’s because, even as the value of a certain goal diminishes, the urgency and the yearning associated with them remain.

Emotional resources can be squandered by holding onto goals that are no longer meaningful or even counter-productive to the life you actually lead.

I was doing that for awhile, until I read Goal-Free Living by Stephen Shapiro. I learned that it was okay to move on and change your mind about what seemed important back then.