Aiming High Leads to Bigger and Better Goals
Raising the Bar When Setting a Goal Yields Greater Success
Jul 21, 2009
Human beings are great at staying within their comfort zones once their reach a plateau because it is a lot easier to deal with routine than to challenge the status quo. Some people even choose to stay within their comfort zones out of personal preference, whilst others may feel unsatisfied to chug along “middle of the road,” but feel less inclined to take the leap of faith in execute goal plans.
Comfort zones serve no real purpose because they offer little personal and professional growth which is why it is important to consistently set bigger and better goals by aiming high. Interestingly, playing small will only yield smaller results.
Limitations Are Often Self Imposed
Human beings are “doing” creatures and revel in engaging in activities and meaningful development and playing safe when it comes to development rarely yields any great results. The following analogy is quite apt for many people who wish to appreciate the importance of avoiding the comfort zone. A ship that's idly docked in harbour is of very little value to its owners and offers most value when it out to sea carrying cargo or passengers. Likewise human beings gain very little when they cling on to their comfort zones, because the potential for personal and professional growth is minimal.
Personal and professional comfort zones are a manifestation of limiting beliefs, fear, procrastination, an anxiety of the unknown, and the reluctance to expend the necessary energy to engage in setting bigger and more challenging goals. Incidentally, all of these limitations act as “brakes” which prevent people from moving forward despite all their good intentions to actualise goals.
To illustrate this point further, an individual may have every intention of setting and actualising his/her goals, but his/her limiting beliefs and other obstacles will stop him/her dead in his/her track. This is resultant of a mindset which is still clinging onto the comfort zone because the conscious mind is tricked into thinking the comfort zone offers “safety” and less “harm.” This is also one of the main reasons why many goals fall to the wayside even before the goals journey has made any significant progress.
Aiming High Leads to Bigger and Better Goals
However, growth comes as a result of taking risks and pushing the comfort zones further away regularly. Initially the process may be very daunting because of the prospect of facing unknown challenges which may ahead, but it is the journey itself which will provide the greatest opportunities to for personal and professional growth. To begin with most people will tend to start off being quite tentative and set smaller goals and despite the tentativeness of hesitation, this is better than not setting any goals at all. This inevitably leads to greater confidence which will be reflected in subsequent goals set.
A great starting point when deciding which goals to set whether they are personal or professional is to identify which areas require further development. This process is likely to take a little bit of time if an individual is unsure how to pinpoint the exact areas of development needs, although instinct is a great guidance tool. Some questions which may serve as a starting point are highlighted below:
- Which areas of personal and professional life would benefit from greater growth?
- Which of the identified areas require prioritisation?
- In what ways have limiting beliefs, obstacles and comfort zones prevented greater growth levels in the past?
- What goals now need to be set and by what time frames are needed to actualise the goals?
- Which obstacles or limiting beliefs are likely to waylay well intentioned plans?
- How could more be achieved if goals were bigger and more challenging?
As confidence in goal actualisation increases, subsequent goals increased are more likely to get bigger and more ambitious each time they are set. The natural progression of the goals process leads fluently to the next level but this is only guaranteed if an individual stays on course. What may have once felt like and impossible feat is far more obtainable as a result of being committed enough to see the process through from conception to actualisation.
Benefits of Setting Bigger and Better Goals
There are many additional benefits of aiming higher when it comes to goal setting and below are just a few:
- By pushing comfort zones further, additional opportunities are created which encourages an individual to be more adventurous and flexible when it comes to setting new goals
- Greater personal and professional achievement and increased fulfilment
- Personal and professional growth is taken to the next best level
- Increased motivation and enthusiasm to progress further
- Adopting a proactive outlook whilst incorporating the learning opportunities into daily life
The fun part of a goals journey is to continuously seek ways to set bigger and better goals. This will ultimately lead to a greater sense of achievement and bigger results as well as paving the way upon which further goals and dreams can be built.
References:
- Brian Tracy. Goals! How to Get Everything You Want – Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2004.
- Anthony Robbins. Awaken the Giant Within, Pocket Books, Jan 2001.
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