A Goal Can be Bad?
Having a goal is a little like having a destination. It gives you something to aim for, it gives you something to target and it generally gives you a structure and a direction that might be lacking otherwise. So, if you think of a goal as a destination and life as a journey, it becomes apparent that without a goal of some sort, you are likely to be directionless.
How can get to where you want to be if you don’t know where that is? Thus, one of the most important aspects of creating a winning mindset is to identify the goals that you hope to achieve. But in order to do that, you also need to understand how to go about writing a useful goal. Because not all goals are made equal and actually, a ‘bad goal’ can be a very destructive thing.
In this guide, we’re going to take an in-depth look at precisely what makes a goal good or bad and precisely what you can do to increase your chances of reaching those goals in minimal time and with minimal challenge.
Wait A Goal Can be Bad?
Yes, a goal can be a bad thing. And there are a number of reasons why. Firstly, a goal can be bad if it is kept vague and if it is used as a tool to help placate yourself. Let’s be honest, many of our ‘goals’ are not really goals at all but rather dreams. These are ‘pie in the sky ideas that we like but which we make no real moves toward accomplishing.
We are so often told that having goals and constantly visualizing them will help us to achieve whatever we want and to be enormously successful. But have you ever actually checked the science? Unfortunately, the research paints quite a different picture. Rather than helping us to get to where we want to be, it appears that goals that take such a vague form actually hinder our chances of success.
The problem is that we end up dreaming about what we want and visualizing it but don’t actually go after it!
In fact, it might be that having a goal to visualize is what prevents us from feeling the need to take action. In one surprising study, it was found that talking about a goal could actually make you less likely to accomplish it. Want to lose weight?
Keep it to yourself.
Want to stop smoking?
Don’t tell anyone. The reason for this is simple: once you’ve told someone, you already feel ‘ownership’ of that goal. You already feel as though it is a part of who you are. This is a problem because if you now think of yourself as someone who is fit or someone who doesn’t smoke, then you’re likely to feel as though you don’t have to make any major change to your lifestyle. You’re already that thing, so why bother?
It may well be that visualizing a goal or a dream does the very same thing. When we picture ourselves rich, when we tell ourselves the narrative that one day this is going to be the case, suddenly we remove the incentive to take action. As far as our brains are concerned we’re already there! While it’s not a nice comparison to draw, this always makes me think of Auschwitz.
There, the Nazis had a large sign that read ‘Arbeit Macht Frei. This translates to ‘work makes free’. In other words, the objective was to provide the prisoners in the camp with just enough hope to keep them working it was enough to prevent them from trying to take that freedom.
In your life, work doesn’t make you free. Just like it didn’t back then. If you want to be free, you need to change your approach and you need to take action.
source ContentXpress
