An email from a fellow writer turned me into a fiery dragon. Their goal was to start writing again. It’s the thing they love more than anything in the world.
“I am thinking that I would love to write in mid-December during our Christmas holidays because I have more time then to really focus on it. But we’ll see…” (slightly edited). I don’t understand this way of thinking.
You’re never going to have time to work on your goals.
What’s the point of living a fantasy life and thinking the holidays will save you? The time for your goals, that light you up, is NOW.
Delaying your goals leaves you feeling empty.
I meet people all the time who feel empty or unfulfilled and they can’t explain it. It drives them nuts. This empty feeling in my life occurred because I knew there was something outside of my 9–5 job that I wanted to do and I kept delaying it. It’s not that I didn’t know what the activity was. It’s that I put my goals on hold to prioritize someone else’s.
You feel empty inside when you don’t work on your most important goal. You have the power to change it.
Let your schedule become extremely uncomfortable.
This one may not be pleasant to read. It’s the truth. I worked on my writing goal during extreme discomfort. I tried to work a job and battle mental illness, which took the majority of my time. There wasn’t any time left to write. But I didn’t wait for that twice a year fantasy of holidays to save me.
Instead, I made my schedule uncomfortable. Rather than a gorgeous schedule that was open and flexible, my Outlook Calendar was a rainbow mess of colors. There weren’t any gaps. I pushed my schedule to the limit to find the extra time to write.
You can be harsh towards your schedule if you want to find the time to work on your goal. Discomfort works with your calendar too.
The passion spreads like a virus into all other areas of your life.
By not delaying my main goal, the passion writing gave me bled into every other area of my life. That’s the power of your most important goal. Achieving your goal feels much better than thinking about your goal and feeling guilty.
The time to take action on your goals is when you decide what they are.
Let me give you a crystal clear example. A few years back I wanted to get fit. My body was becoming an anorexic, discombobulated mess. Muscle was being replaced by skin and bones.
I decided I was going to join a gym at 10 PM at night. The problem was the gym wasn’t open to go down and join. Using the “today mindset” I went on every local gym’s website and left my name, email address, and phone number. The next day the gym vultures transcended on my weak body. They attacked me from every angle. There were emails, phone calls and SMSes, all forcing me to take action and respond. The gym staff were relentless.
As a result, I had leverage on myself. I couldn’t delay the goal or pretend I’d forgotten or became busy by life. Within a few hours of waking up I had a gym membership and had done my first workout.
“Never leave the site of a goal without first taking some form of positive action towards its attainment.
Right now, take a moment to define the first steps you must take to achieve some goal. What can you do today to move forward?” — Tony Robbins
How to do it: Put action steps into your calendar, or email yourself the moment you think of them.
Crises will always occur.
You work around a crisis. You don’t stop and daydream during a crisis.
I have written through every major crisis of my life. If your goal is important enough to you, you will keep going despite what’s going on around you. What worked for me was dialing things back a little when chaos entered my life — not completely going into hibernation and waiting for the storm to pass.
When one crisis ends, another one is ready and waiting for you.
If you wait for a calm moment in your life to work on your goals, you’ll be unlikely to ever work on what matters most to you.
Fall in love with today, not the future.
You could be dead. That’s the harsh truth. At any moment your life could be taken away and you could prematurely exit this world.
There isn’t time to fantasize about the perfect environment, conditions, and people to enter your life so you can achieve your goals. It makes me sick to watch people waste away their entire life, delaying the simple habit of doing something they love doing.
When you prioritize your goals, you find your potential. When you find your potential you will realize that the distractions that take up all your free time can eventually be discarded. How?
Working on your goals allows you to eventually make a living from your goals.
This was the big realization for me. A goal is just a hidden way for you to earn a living that you haven’t figured out how to monetize yet.
Any goal can be turned into content. Content can be one way you can earn a living that will help you find many other ways to charge money for your skills associated with your goal.
Takeaway
Listen carefully when you say the following:
- I will do it ‘one day.’
- I don’t have time to work on…
- I will do it in the holidays.
- I am too busy with my day job.
- I have no free time.
These phrases are excuses. They are the silent killers of your goals.
When you work on your goals you create meaning and fulfillment in your life. The best time to do the thing you love is right now. I am begging you to stop delaying your goals.
Right now, go take one action towards your biggest goal. Notice how you feel. Bottle the feeling up and repeat the process. The time for your goals is now. The time to utilize your potential is now.
Instant gratification beats delayed gratification that will never happen, because you’ll be too busy.