Is it important to keep setting goals?

When I launched my book in June, a question I was often asked was “What are you doing next?” On one hand, I felt proud as I know I have always pushed myself and am always trying new things, but on the other hand, I felt frustrated - this was a huge goal of mine and part of me just wanted to enjoy this without having the pressure of deciding what to do next!

I had to accept responsibility though. I love that I have an ever growing bucket list and talk about my challenges. This means, people naturally ask and are interested as this is what I’ve put out there. Just because I wasn’t ready, or didn’t know, what the next thing was, didn’t mean others didn’t have that expectation because that is always how I had been previously.

I think I had become so focused on launching the book that the real frustration was I didn’t know what was next. I felt that I had achieved something amazing, something I had been talking about doing since I was a teenager, and that in many ways I was done. This, obviously, is not true as I believe I can always learn and improve on any skill or develop new skills and set myself new goals, but because I had been so focused on this long term goal for so long that everything else had slipped away.

I think it also highlighted something else for me - and that is that I don’t take my own advice! I advocate for BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals) and then celebrating your wins and achievements. I, however, have rarely really done this before moving onto the next thing. As such, not having the next thing ready meant I had to focus on the current moment and enjoying the achievement. It was also highly uncomfortable for me to do! I had to slow down because there wasn’t the next thing to rush on to. 

Slowing down did feel odd, but as the lockdown had forced this slowing down anyway, it feels that it all came at the right time to allow me to just ‘be’ for a bit. As I have shared previously, there have been Netflix binge watching weekends, time to read books, time to exercise, time to connect [albeit virtually] with friends and family, time to become involved with a Think Tank for Women in Business and Technology, time to be a judge for the Female Executives and Entrepreneur awards, and it has felt good and been good for my soul to take the opportunities that present themselves, as they present themselves, rather than always having the focus on a future end goal.

Having had the chance to luxuriate in achieving my goal of becoming an author for a few months, I have recently invested in Jim Rohn’s One Year Success program. I am loving taking some time out and looking inwards as to what I now want to achieve over the next year and beyond, celebrating where I am and then deciding the action plans to move me towards my next goals. 

I have set myself some ambitious goals to serve and empower more women than ever before to have strategies to overcome imposter syndrome and create a life they love to live, as defined by them. It is from here that I have had the time and headspace to create an exciting new program for my clients on building confidence and have some more exciting changes to the programs I offer coming up in the near future! 

I have spoken about this, and even include it in the book, that goal setting and how to focus on both short and long term goals to create a life you love, is an ongoing process - there is no end point and it is a constant evolution. But, like all of us, I’m a work in progress and what I understood on one level, it wasn’t until I experienced something that made me question it (like publishing a book and then not knowing my next goal!) that I have come through with a deeper understanding now. I’m sure if I ever write a book revision I will include this story and how things changed between theory and practice!

So, to answer my question - yes, I do think setting goals is important, but I also now really understand the importance of celebrating them when you achieve them. Be present and be grateful for where you are at the moment, whether that is appreciating what you’ve already achieved or the work you are doing to achieve what you want in the future. Or maybe it is knowing that your next goal is going to be the goal of some space and time to just be for a bit!