You hear a lot of talk about goals and how you have to set goals and strive for them and that is all fine and good, goals are something that we each need; but are we working towards them in the way we should be?
　　Many times, we tend to set these grand goals that we feel like we will never be able to attain. But, there are a few things that we fail to miss. Large goals are made up of A LOT of much smaller goals. Avoiding other things, responsibilities, activities, problems and issues, is not working towards a goal even if it does get you there.
　　I’m a runner, it’s an activity that I blame my brother for getting me involved in. There are times when you go out to run, your grand goal for that activity may be to run 6 miles. However, that doesn’t get you out the door, many times it will keep you from going out the door. To complete that 6 mile run, you will have to develop a lot of little goals along the way. In the back of your mind, you may be thinking of and remember that your overall goal is to complete 6 miles but first, you have to get dressed. Your first goal may simply be getting out of bed, getting dressed and putting on your running shoes. This can be a difficult goal to accomplish because that first cup of coffee is calling to you. As silly as it sounds, you push through it and stick with determination to get ready to go run. Then you ‘run’ into your next obstacle, getting out of the door. This can be easy on a beautiful spring morning, but it’s not a beautiful spring morning. Yet, you find your reason to open the door and step outside. Maybe it is as simple as, “Hey, I got dressed for a reason.” But whatever it takes, everyone and everyday is different. You start out walking, just to ‘loosen up’. Then you begin to pick up the pace and start jogging a bit. As you move further down the road, your body begins to do weird things, muscles begin to hurt, you start to gasp for air and your mind begins to question why you are doing this. Your mind starts to try to convince you that you’ve ran far enough, you could quit early and head home (nobody would know the difference). Your mind tells you all the reasons you can’t or don’t want to continue, convincing you to quit. You decide to set forth some determination instead of giving in. You set a smaller goal, ‘I’m going to make it around the corner’ or ‘just to the next telephone pole’. At the completion of each smaller goal, you continue and you set new small goals. Before you know it, you have reached back home and have completed your run of 6 miles, accomplishing your grand goal!
　　Now that may seem a bit overgeneralized but that is usually how goals should be approached. Too many of us set a grand goal and only focus on that, rather than seeing and focusing on all of the small goals along the way. It’s like sitting on the couch in front of the TV and we keep repeating to ourselves, “I’m going to run 6 miles”. We can keep telling ourselves that but, it doesn’t get us dressed and out the door. We can’t forget about the small goals along the way. It is each one of these small goals that create the grand goal.
　　There are many times when we get sidetracked towards our goals. We end up running away from problems, issues, responsibilities or activities. There are ties we try to convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing because we are being responsible. It is kind of like going out running and working extra hard to avoid cars. If we change direction every time we see a car, we may eventually accomplish the grand goal we set but we didn’t do it in the most efficient manner. If we allow the winds of change to plot the course for us to reach our grand goal, it may take a long time to get where we want to go, if ever. Instead, if we focus on the small goals it takes to reach it, we will get there in a much more productive method.
　　Putting our energy into avoiding the distractions is not the way to reach our goals. Additionally, it adds that much more stress and worry into our lives, if we just accept it and let it pass, handling it if need be rather than letting it control our actions, we are much better off.
　　It is a matter of where you choose to put your focus. If you are not focusing on the correct thing, then your activities will not be congruent with what you want to accomplish. All of your energy will be wasted on the minor things, issues, problems or unneeded responsibilities that take up your time and sap your energy. This will lead to frustration and can even lead to depression.
　　There are times that you think you must take care of these issues or that if you don’t do it, no one will. You think you have to take care of it, because it is important. But all of that is wrong, it is only your mind trying to convince you to give up early, to quit, to change your focus.
　　You need to keep your mind on what your main, grand goal is. Focus on that and create smaller goals along the way that are in line with that grand goal. Accomplishing this will allow you to complete your grand goal. Now that you have a good grasp of that, it is time for me to go run.